I just got back from a track day and alarming thing happened in the afternoon runs. Coming down the straight and hard braking for turn 1, down shifting from 4th to 3rd and then into 2nd while heel/toe braking, I couldn't get the car into 2nd gear. Had to pop it back into 3rd which was god horrible accelerating out of a slow corner. This happened several times in the afternoon but not consistently and on a 3rd to 2nd shift as well. The car drove fine on the way home without any problems getting into 2nd gear. A bit worried about the next track day in a couple of weeks. Anyone experienced this and any idea what could cause this.

 

Your engine mounts or transmission mounts shifting too much and allowing the engine/tranny to move around which causes the tough shifting. Known issue on the track. You can get wevo SS mounts for the engine mounts, but there is no real bolt on solution yet for the bushings in the tranny mount other than filling the bushing with 3m window weld to stiffen it up.

 

I know T1, third gear would suck coming around that one.

Who's day was it today?

 

It was VCMC's track day. 4 run groups, 4 runs of 20minutes each for the day. This morning was slick as hell in the rain. One guy put his yellow MR2 into the left hand wall on the Straight after turn 9. Spun, hit the front, sheared his tie rod, and then put the rear quarter into the wall. Had to get towed. Feel for the poor guy.

Yup, it really did suck having to take T1 in 3rd. My car doesn't have much torque below 4000 RPM so not being able to shift into 2nd going into T5 sucks for me as well.

Taking the car into Bernie at MBEuro to have him look at the transmission and engine mount. Got some Pagid Blue pads from Jeff for Bernie to put on while he has it up on the hoist. I might get Jeff to install the Softronics Software to see if that would help get some of my mid/low end torque back.

 

The concrete is horrible at Mission, I much prefer the tracks in WA and OR.

Bernie should be able to get you going again, let us know what he finds.

 

Dropped the car off at the shop an hour ago. They are taking it for a test drive and then will be draining the transmission fluid after that to check for any signs of wear (ie. metal bits). I'm told that the 2nd gear and sometime 3rd gear synchros on the 996 and early generation 997's have issues. The car has only got 28K on it so and the cost of that repair is estimated around $5K !!!! I was also asked if the car ever had short shift kit put in and as far as I've owned that car, it has not but I don't know if the 2 previous owners had it installed and then taken out when they sold the car. Apparently poor quality short shift kits and poor installation of them will cause misalignment so those who have this problem and had short shift kits installed should have your shop check that. Another cause might be the fluid. I'm told the factory spec fluid is too thin and as the transmission heats up, it does not provide enough (grip or something ?) and a better quality thicker or heavier fluid will resolve some shifting problems when the transmission heats up. Should be getting a call in the next hour on what they find. Hope it's not synchro issues then I'll have to consider upgrading to another car !!!

 

At 28k mi, if you are still on the original fluid that would be the first place I would look, especially with the problem only happening late in the day when the oil has gotten good and hot. It's got nothing to do with the quality of the factory fill. It's got to do with the fact that abusive driving (which pretty much all of us P-car owners do) wears out the fluid much more quickly. Porsche's 90k mi service interval is a joke.

Anyone who tracks their car 4-6 times as year at open events/DEs should be changing their gear oil annually, if not twice a season. If you are doing more days or actually racing your service interval will she shorter.

Bernie is top notch. He'll sort it out for you. And just since I haven't had cause to bust this out in a while, here he is at Daytona this last January...

 

OK, Super good news for me !!! No major metal shreds or metal dust found in the tranny fluid. The test drive suggest more of a clutch issue. Got some Pagid Blues installed for dual purpose track/street use while the car was there. Booked in for a clutch job, oil change, replace all the seals and front camber adjustment next week. This gives me the go ahead with the Softronics Software upgrade as well. Throw on some fresh RE-11 and I am set for the rest of this season. Got about 8 or 9 more track days planned for the rest of this year. I'm a happy camper and all the guys from the shops I've dealt with have been just super terrific !!!! I love this Porsche community and the people who live by what they do.

 

Good news.

 

Sounds like good news Echo. If you are doing that many track days, perhaps getting some R comps for the track might be a good way of using your car for street and track use.