Hi all - longtime lurker, first time post!

I have a '99 996 that has become basically a weekend car. But because I don't drive it much, there's an issue I have neglected and I really want to get it resolved and I want to start driving the car more and taking better care of it (this board is a great place to start).

The problem is with second gear. Sometimes (but certainly not all the time, maybe 30%?) I downshift and the gearbox just won't "take" the shift. If I'm light on the shifter, it just spits it back into neutral. If I'm more deliberate, there's just nothing to push into where the gear should be and I have to give it another push and it will take it. And if I just push too hard to start, it might grind.

But whenever it happens, I just try again a second later and it takes it fine. And then, and when all the other times it takes it right away, second gear seems perfectly fine and normal. The problem doesn't happen with any other shift.

This sounds to me like it could be a synchronizer problem - which would certainly be much cheaper to resolve than a problem with the transmission itself. Has anyone else experienced anything like this or have any thoughts/opinions?

I still think they have to pull the transmission out to diagnose and repair this, correct?

Thanks!

 

It certainly sounds like it could be synchros...

The 2nd gear pop-out issue is a seperate issue. Search for that and you'll find lots of discussion.

 

Will do. Thanks Dennis.

 

Okay, thankfully I don't think I have the second gear "pop out" issue that has been discussed. Once I'm in second gear, it doesn't come out. It has never popped out of gear after being in gear.

It is more of a shifting issue, it just won't take the shift into second sometimes. Then it goes right in no problem.

 

Mine is a little tricky too, but it doesn't sound as bad as yours. I notice the problem most when downshifting, and typically only if I downshift from 4th to 2nd. My mechanic told me that it's probably my synchro, and that my transmission will eventually need to be rebuilt. For now, I just avoid the 4th to 2nd downshift and everything is fine.

FWIW, I had my tansmission fluid changed at my 90,000 mile service and it does operate a little better now.

 

old fluid can cause finicky problems. My Dinan 5 series started doing the same as yours.... swapped ot the fluid and never had the issue again. Oil is cheap! and worth a shot.

Good luck.

 

Porsche's "lifetime" oil service intervals are just total BS. Change your gear oil every 30k mi. Do it more often if you take it to the track.

 

I agree. There's no such thing as a lifetime fluid, whether it's transmission fluid or coolant or whatever.

 

The explanation that was offered to me was that the folks at VAG are now considering the lifetime of their cars to be 90k. I didn't fully understand it but it had something to do with European laws around emissions and taxes and other such stuff. The problem is that just doesn't apply to America where we'll run the cars for 150-200k miles. And aside from that, the way that we drive our cars wears out the fluids much more quickly than that 90k service interval.

 

Try "double clutch" shifting. If it goes in "just" fine then it is more that likely the syncro. (this is the way the old guys used to down shift)