I am fairly new to the forum and have been active before on the M3 and M5 boards but I am pending sale on my e60 M5 and looking to move into the 996turbo realm. I have read some great threads on here and have been perusing ebay etc. for my next pickup.

I am asking for some help from you on this example from ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsche-911-...US_Cars_Trucks

I have been looking for an 01-04 coupe with less than 60k miles with maintenance history etc. (looking to spend less than 42k if possible).
This is a cabriolet and although its not my first choice I do not hate the idea.

Obviosuly i would get a PPI done to diagnose the issue when cold shifting but does anyone know what that could be?

Thanks again!

 

Hard to say regarding the shifting issue. One has to experience it to compare it with one's experience with other cars both Turbos and other models/brands.

That said the Turbo has a big old 6-speed that is heavy duty. Cold it doesn't shift even as good as my 02 Boxster's 5-speed does when cold.

There is no real shifting difficulty just what comes from trying to move big old heavy hardware around in cold 75w-90 fluid.

You want to be sure though that if you are deliberate the shifting doesn't cause any crunching and you do not have to use any excessive force to get the shift completed.

And once the transmission has warmed up some shifting becomes noticeably smoother.

You also want to thoroughly check for any gear pop out, with 2nd gear being the most common offender.

If there is pop out walk away.

If there is no pop out and if the shifting remains difficult or less smooth there are several possible reasons. One is the transmission is worn or a shifter fork is bent. There could be possibly a linkage problem.

If the shifting is not that bad, it could be just the nature of the transmission.

A story: When I bought a low miles (10K) used Turbo the shifting was a bit less than smooth. I was spoiled by my Boxster's shifting which is hot knife through butter smooth once warm.

I lived with the transmission and it shifting which was not helped (or made any worse) by the fitting of a 997 shifter when the stock shifter linkage broke.

In the shop at around 40K miles having an early fluid change done and the tech spotted a selector shaft leak. The short version is the factory had a new transmission installed this under CPO warranty.

The improvement in shifting was dramatic. The new transmission's shifting is much better than the old transmission. Now the new one still requires some time to shift -- it is as I covered about a heavy duty and heavy transmission and my experience with cars that have a big engine and a manual slow shifting is the norm -- but the engagement was much nicer.

It has remained so now with 120K miles on the car and around 80K miles on the replacement transmission. Might mention this transmission has had one fluid service since being installed.

My point is I do not know what the original transmission's shifting would have been like had the transmission remained in the car. While it could have been ok the difference between the original transmission's shifting the replacement transmission's shifting has me believing the original transmission may have developed more serious symptoms with more miles. 2nd gear pop out? Or worse? I don't know.

Now this might not have been the end of the world. While my Turbo was in awaiting Porsche to get back to the techs, the techs told me that the Turbo transmission is rebuildable. It shares some internals with the NA cars' 6-speed and a rebuild to address the shaft leak and refresh the wear parts could run $5K or $6K. If the car is otherwise in good shape knowing one might have to put out this kind of money down the road may not be a deal killer, provided he gets the car at a good price.

But I'm not a fan of buying a car that I think will need that kind of work if I can avoid it, thus I would be reluctant to accept the car in question with its shifting issue unless a number of test drives of similar cars found the shifting issue was common and on cars with higher miles too. This would give me some confidence the transmission's behavior was not an early warning of pending doom after more miles were put on the car.

What's the bottom line? Well, you say the Cab is not your first choice. So go test drive some other cars, coupes, or even Cabs since you also said you do not hate the idea of owning a Cab. I doubt this car will sell in the meantime. Try to develop a sense of whether the shifting is while a bit of an issue cold nothing really serious or just the opposite enough out of the ordinary enough to suggest it is very likely a sign of something serious to come and are you mentally and financially prepared for that?

 

thanks for the extensie detail and personal experience. I agree with your points and will continue to look, definitely not in a rush to get in anything right away

 

cabrios for show coupes for go!! keep looking

 

Seems like a decent deal but if you don't want a cab then don't buy it.

 

With ya on this but this one has some decent mods that I like as well

 

it can have tons of mods the sad thing is any vert that shows up at any sanctioned event will need roll bars and such to be allowed to run. its a sad fact for any model car with a ragtop

 

understood but i am not interested in tracking the car, only spirited drives

 

Might want to ask about the wing? In all the pics its in the up position. May not have a functioning motor.
-C

 

Good catch...seems like a common issue. Is this a costly fix? or better off upgrading to a GT2 wing or something

 

GT2 deck lid wing. Transforms the look of the rear of this car. Looks much more aggressive the way every Turbo should have rolled of the lot....