I just finished having a 2000 Carrera 2 cab go through a PPI at a well respected Porsche dealer in the SF Bay area. Of course a minor RMS leak (on the Porsche replaced warranty engine w/ 20K miles on it) that wasn't bad enough to address before the next clutch replacement (which was just done 7K miles ago). The instrument panel is dark in the oil pressure area - either a bulb or the cluster is bad. I am having them remove the cluster to investigate. The bigger concern is the "notchy" description of the shift into 3rd gear (no 2nd gear pop out reported). The tech said he thought cables were non-OEM, and that might be the reason, or possibly an adjustment is required. He was all for the change to the 997 shifter mod I have read about on this site. My question: is this "notchy" into 3rd description: is this of concern, or is this truly an adjustment or new cables situation? If I change to the 997 shifter, and replace both cables, it the changeover still as simple as just the shifter unit change, or does it become a nightmare due to the new cables? Is this something I should have the dealer perform. Please advise, and thanks in advance for any help.

 

A notchy 3rd gear shift could be a number of things, ranging from a cable that needs to be adjusted, which seems unlikely to me, up to needing the gearbox rebuilt.

Depending on what you are getting in terms of a deal on this car, I would have to say that overall it really is not too much to be concerned about. With 60K miles on it, it this gearbox has not already been rebuilt, it is probably time.

Figure a complete rebuild on this gearbox with new bearings, synchronizers, and usually new 2nd gear and operating sleeve will normally run about $3500.00 give or take. Now this obviously does not include the R&R of this gearbox, but when you consider that a reman from Porsche is quite a bit more expensive, this actually ends up being quite a good deal. If the gearbox has been really well taken care of it could actually be a bit less.

Either way I think that you can probably negotiate the price a bit to address this issue and end up with a car that you will be very happy with.

Let me know if I can help you at all. We are not the only option, naturally, but we do rebuild a great many of these, and make some modifications to improve their life and shifting quality. We also warranty our work, for a year, which is a nice safety net, as well. (abuse is not covered)

I hope that this helps at least a little.

Erik Johnson
GBox Performance Transaxle
(303) 440-8899 work
(303) 895-4828 cell
www.gboxweb.com