Boxster second gear problem?

[crashmy911]

Alright the car in question is a 2003 boxster s with 6 speed trans. It will shift into second some times and some times it won't. When it goes in it never pops out. When it doesn't go in it feels like it doesn't go in at all. The gears do not grind but it makes some weird noises. ON down shifts it almost always goes in. Help with diagnosis of what is wrong. Do I need a rebuilt gear box or could it be shifter linkage problems? The clutch is starting to get stiffer and the clutch pedal is getting higher. I know it needs to come out for a new clutch. Car has 54,000 miles on it.

[Cajundaddy]

Change your trans fluid and drain the old stuff through a fine screen. This will tell you how serious the problem might be. My trans runs high temp "motorsport" fluid and 2nd gear is very stiff when cold. I just skip-shift from 1st to 3rd until the car is warm. After that 2nd shifts great.

[B.A.M.]

Check your linkage. The rubber centers get soft and eventually will pop off. Sounds like yours are starting to go. They are not expensive and are easy to swap. There are two of them at the tranny.
Tom
Bamsport

[Mr. Boxster]

Well I guess it's not just me.

I bought my 500 Spyder SE new in 2004. Same setup as the OP, same description of problem as the OP. The first time it went into the shop for warranty work I filed this complaint:

The car will not go into first gear when slowing down until it is moving less than 10 mph.

They fixed this problem but it was replaced with this:

The car is sometimes hard to get into second gear, particularly when it is cold.

Sometimes it won't go in without a fight, sometimes it will miss complete engagement and you get gear grind (since I shift lightly, I don't feel like there's any damage being done), sometimes it won't go in fully and pops out when I let out the clutch.

It happens about twice a week (usually only once a day) so although it's not every day, it's annoying when it happens.

I complained about this EVERY time it went into the shop under warranty.

In five years, it was always "no problem found."

My fix so far is whenever it does it, I say out loud "It didn't do that because the dealer told me it didn't."

Every independent I've been to since has not been able to find the problem. No one else has ever heard of it.

110,000 miles later and it still does it.

If anyone has any ideas, let me know.

I figure if it gets really bad (it's just annoying now) then I'm going back to PNA with a fistful of service orders that say NPF.

m

[Alphaboy1]

My 2002 S is the same way with 2nd gear when car is cold. I find that I shift from 1st to 2nd gear at low RPM's (1000-2000) on that 1st shift it is fine after.

[Matt Monson]

Very very common problem on G86-20 Boxster S 6spds and G96-00 and G96-01 Carrera 6spds. At the Getrag factory a number of the gearboxes were not properly shimmed with respect to stack height and these problems are the end result.

Porsche has denied the problem for years, but when they finally released service parts for these gearboxes they made 2nd gear idler gears available for sale by themselves. This is the loose gear with the teeth on it. They have NEVER done this before in their history. All the 6spd G series gearboxes with few exceptions have both 1st and 2nd gear cut onto the mainshaft. If you have a 2nd gear go bad, Porsche has always made you buy an all new mainshaft with 1st and 2nd to the tune of $1500-1800. Not the case with these gearboxes. You can get a $300+/- idler for 2nd gear to repair your gearbox if you are one of the tainted ones and have it fixed. That's as close as you will ever get to Porsche/Getrag actually admitting that there was a problem with assembly on these things in the first place.

Regards,

Matt Monson
Guard Transmission LLC