2nd gear "pop-out" issues? Click here.

[Erik @ Carquip]

Hey everyone,

Well I have been dealing with the second gear pop out issue for some time now, so I thought that I would explain to everyone what is going on and why this is common with this generation of gearboxes. The 996 street and turbo gearbox is a Getrac unit that has a three piece synchro engagement for first and second gear.

It was thought at the time by Porsche that a smoother shift into and out of 1st and 2nd was a more desirable thing then the strength of this setup, just my .02 cents. Unfortunately this setup is a weakness in these gearboxes. The actual area of engagement between the operating sleeve and the dogring on the gear is less then 4mm. That is not a lot of material to handle a fairly large dose of HP. Combine that with the natural tendency to occasionally rocket first and second gearshifts, and it becomes easy to see that one missed shift could result in a substancial amount of damage to the gearbox.

To add to this, the detent areas of this gearbox suffer from wear, as well. These two things, combined with normal wear and tear, and the occasional missed shift, are what is actually leading to the 'pop-out effect' of second gear.

We have come up with a few things as already mentioned to help strengthen these areas, but the only true fix would be to find a 993 cup car box. This gearbox did not utilize this 1st and 2nd gear setup. (I have one if you need one.) If you are going to push hard, and do not want to worry this is your solution. If you simply want to do some modifications to make these area stronger, then this can certainly be done. It does not cure the issue, but will help to keep it from cropping up quite as quickly.

As many already know, we rebuild these gearboxes, and I must caution all that are thinking that they can have anyone do this work. They are very difficult to work on. They have gears that are interference fit, rather then gears that ride on a splined area. In order to work on these gearboxes, the shop MUST HAVE a 40 ton press. I would recommend finding a shop that has some experience in these, as well.

Well I hope that this has helped to shed some light on things. Feel free to contact me with any questions you all might have.

Warmest Regards,

Erik Johnson
Carquip Sales
(303) 443-1343 ext 2 work
(720) 980-9407 cell

[WOODTSTER]

Good Advise ^^^^.

Todd Knighton rebuilt mine but later complained it was a little more difficult
than he had predicted. I added steel synchro rings 3rd thru 5th. So far so good.

MK

[6SpeedPorsche]

I have a 2000 Boxster S With 25,000 Miles. And currently I am DAMNED with this extremely annoying problem!!!! Unfortunately I don't have the money to fix this problem and I just got my car a few months ago so I just don't drive it anymore!!

[ExclusiveTT]

Originally Posted by rajtt

Word! What is outrageous is that PCNA treats their loyal customers this way and yet an independent warranty company like the one I have didn't as much as raise an eyebrow when it came to coughing up the 11 large for a new tranny!

sorry to bump an old post, but what warranty company did you use?

[911mike]

I used Easy Care for my rebuild. No problem with them.

[ExclusiveTT]

Originally Posted by 911mike

I used Easy Care for my rebuild. No problem with them.

Sweet. With all these cars going out of warranty around now, its gonna be time to start looking for a 3rd party warranty just in case this problem occurs. Thanks a ton

[flash68]

I think mine just started doing this pop-out again lately. The previous owner had it "fixed" about 18 months ago and less than 10k miles ago. That doesn't seem right.

Anyone know of this happening again so quickly? Guess I need to find out what he did (and did not) do...

[silver_6r]

Hey everyone...

well, i have a 1999 996 with SSK... and my 2nd gear started to be tough to engage followed by almost impossible to get in to 1st. i dealt with this for about 1mth. shortly there after in the course of one week, then box went to hell and started to sound like crap...

end result, a bearing let go..and made a mess of everything...

please read my post aobut the awesome service i got in dealing with my "problem" with help from GBOX and MZ Motorsports...

Big Thanks Mz Motorsports And Gbox!!


if you are having issues... fix it BEFORE its turns into my big problem!!

Rod

[silver_6r]

no..but you missed the first part.. it started with second gear engagement issues.. and then 1st gear... the bearing was the final nail in the coffin...

but whatever..the turbo and NA gear box is not that different from what i thought...

[silver_6r]

Originally Posted by jcb-memphis

...the issue on the turbo's seems to be normal wear and tear and not enough material/designed overlap to handle it.....my 2c.
Jeff

yup C2 boxes are exactly the same... the box has been modified as suggested above... among other "things" that are supposed to make the box a little stronger and less prone to pop out and wear issues...

[tortesq1]

JCB Memphis,

The synchro debacle is a 100% design flaw. We can't ALL be ****ty shifters !!! I can't tell you the number of people who purchased used TT's (after I got rid of my 03 X50 in Jan. 2006) that FINALLY understood about the problems I had with my 03 X50 synchros - candidly the tranny was simply a piece of **** (actually thats an insult to a POS). Until you own one you simply assume "pilot error". Anyway, my 07 TT tip S is awesome with zero missed shifts, no noticeable boost loss b/w shifts and no "attitude" when downshifting. I miss shifting manually when not in heavy traffic, but I'll never miss the one month my TT was out of service replacing the tranny - 3 different times. I think the PDK system will once and for all kill the whole 6 speed thing. Give it 5-7 years tops and ALL of us 6speeders will be PDKers.

[jcb-memphis]

Originally Posted by tortesq1

JCB Memphis,

The synchro debacle is a 100% design flaw. We can't ALL be ****ty shifters !!! I can't tell you the number of people who purchased used TT's (after I got rid of my 03 X50 in Jan. 2006) that FINALLY understood about the problems I had with my 03 X50 synchros - candidly the tranny was simply a piece of **** (actually thats an insult to a POS). Until you own one you simply assume "pilot error". Anyway, my 07 TT tip S is awesome with zero missed shifts, no noticeable boost loss b/w shifts and no "attitude" when downshifting. I miss shifting manually when not in heavy traffic, but I'll never miss the one month my TT was out of service replacing the tranny - 3 different times. I think the PDK system will once and for all kill the whole 6 speed thing. Give it 5-7 years tops and ALL of us 6speeders will be PDKers.

I agree.

Jeff

[jcb-memphis]

Update.

My full transmission, bulletproofed (per Erik/Viperbob's stuff....a bunch of steps...call Erik), with syncros fro 3-6 also replaced and one gear for gear 2 the warranty company felt was ok...that I had replaced just to be safe....) Just under 5k. I owed 1400. 100 deductible and 1300 on enhancements made to prevent new problems down the road.

Just an fyi.

I get her today. It is supposed to be smooth as silk with a Porsche OEM ssk.


Cannot wait!


Jeff

[jcb-memphis]

Update:

Got the car back from DAS (Dougherty Automotive Services..they also do the bars...).

It is smooth as silk. Knowing what I know now, I suspect the PO abused the car. This did not come up in my PPI. It has never been half as nice as it is now. I am floored by how good the shifting is.

No issues going into any gear with the SSK. Perfect...better clutch uptake, just like butter. In looking at the engine bay, all the fittings have been updated/tidied up. If one was looked old or somehow iffy, a new, shiny one is there. It looks and drives like a brand new car. Think NSX, think honda civic si....it just shifts like nothing I have ever felt in a P car. Really. It is amazingly better.

Thank you Viperbob and Erik@carquip. I had a warranty. Total cost 4800 or so. I paid some, but I added syncros for 3, 4, 5, and 6 that were not covered at 125/each and the machining (65$) and a few springs/misc. stuff. Well worth making it all fresh in there IMHO.

Butter. Butter. Butter. If I had had this on VIR, a lot better would I have done (yoda talk comes out only when I am super happy).

So, if you have to bite the bullet and do this fix, the result may be superb. If you are in the Philly/Mid-Atlantic area, I can only say wonderful things about DAS.

Jeff

[flash68]

Excellent. Thanks for posting your results and followup.