It has popped out a handful of times and third gear is a bit hard to get into. That and all of the metal on the drain plug led me to want to take the rather drastic action.

 

Could he really move the shift cables ever so slightly? Is this possible if you just disconnect them? I asked him this and he says it is not possible. I must raise this issue with him again...

I am not driving my car. Waiting for detent, as soon as I get it goes in.

What are your views on the UK builder quote I've posted?

 

Finding some metal bits on the plug is due to normal wear. Take it to somone who knows how much of bits indicates a problem. Otherwise, I think you are jumping the gun a bit - pulling out your gerabox.

 

I agree, i may be jumping the gun, but I spoke with Eric at some length about this. The fact that second and third gears are hard to get into at times and that it will pop out of second gear on deceleration, plus having 77k miles on the tranny, it seems like it's worth it. Waiting only could lead to potentially more damage.

 

i couldn't live with that 2nd gear popout sh*t either. you're both right to get it sorted. gl.

 

+1 here I had it done too while my engine was out for a new clutch and I notice no difference. I have a factory SSK in the car too.

 

The shift cables have to come off to remove the gearbox.
Then every shop I have ever deal with uses different methods to secure them. The OEM "tabs" don't hold them good enough so sometimes the cables can pop off. Therefore any good shop will secure the cables on the tranny with wire or zipties. Do it a little wrong and this causes tension at certain parts of the cable travel which could add a little negative force to the shifter when in 2nd, 4th and 6th gears and make it more prone to pop out of gear back into neutral. It's a stretch but it's worth checking.

I recommend the pop out detent and if it's still there, pull the trans and have the shims readjusted and dogs on 2nd gear inspected.

 

Thanks mate. That was my plan. Detent first, tranny out if it happens again. Cables though I will be asking him to check this too.

 

I installed a 2nd gear detent in my trans when it was out over the winter for a throw out bearing instal. Went in easy while the trans was out, And no issues thus far. I never did feel any difference. I did not have a 2nd gear issue to began with though, i did it as preventative maintenance.

 

My understanding is that it's great preventative maintenance, but it's too late if you already have the pop-out issue. It's SOP for Eric to install the new detent when he does his work on a trans...

 

I'm no mechanic, but I will say that after putting the detent in, it certainly feels like it goes farther into each gear.

I found that before it, I would put it in 1st, 2nd etc. and sometimes I just felt unsure it was ACTUALLY in the gear. so I would put it back in neutral and reshift it just to be sure.

With the detent I havent' done that once in the last 3-4 months.

Mechanically does it blow things up? No idea. I'd imagine if I was a tranny builder I would say that too since this is the only product of it's kind and it's unlikely the tranny builder has deep experience or knowledge of the product.

 

There are more than a dozen different thickness of shim that go behind the 2nd gear idler. The reason that Porsche had so many problems in the first place is because when Getrag was assembling these gearboxes they weren't bothering to measure the stack height and used the same shim in pretty much every box.

To give you an idea of how sensitive this stuff is, the shims move up in thickness in 0.05mm increments. That's about the width of a hair. If your replacement bearing was ever so slightly skinnier than your original bearing, then that could explain your problem. Sounds to me like the builder didnt' measure the stack height and just assumed that he could replace parts with like kind and not have anything change. He may have been wrong.

 

that would've been my uneducated guess having been down this rabbit hole myself. i figure if it happened to a porsche tech at a dealer, it could easily happen to an indie tech that doesn't "specialize" in pcar trans'. the same assumption that "factory spec" would be sufficient on a rebuild, turned out not to be true. at least in my case.

 

Damn forgot to close the thread;

My cables were fine. Had it fitted, went to the local track and really abused 2nd gear for a while up/down the rpm range with max acceleration and abrupt lift offs. I couldn't pop-out the gear. It also seems my gearstick slots into gear a bit better. And when I lift off abruptly it seems car jolts tighter. So far, so good, I recommend the fix.

 

After all this time, I've had my 1st pop-out again! .

Might have been driver error? I am such an old forgetful prat. I had some errands to run so I only drove my car 2 times 2 miles with some stops inbetween and then gave it some beans completely forgetting the car was still cold! (Gearbox still cold). I arrived at my favourite corner and quickly went from 3rd to 2nd and gave it some gas, with a nice back end power slide and POP! I might have rushed the shift, whilst still on the clutch... I bloody hope so.

I then warmed up the car properly and went for a serious 2nd gear abuse spirited driving. Downhill, low revs, high revs, max revs, lift offs, 3-2, 2-3, and I couldn't pop it again.

I hope it was me, being **** - driver error! Will keep you posted.

Would cold gearbox make a difference as far as pop out issue is concerned?