hi all, please bear with me as you read this. i was driving to work this morning, and after a turn I tried to shift into third and the shifter went limp.. like I lost the connection with the transmission. I pulled over and realized the tranny was in second, and the limp shifter no longer allowed me to go into neutral or any other gear.

I had it towed to my local dealer, and as I expected he said it was a broken shifter cable which needed to be replaced. He quoted me $880 to fix it.. WTF?? I talked to him for a while, and negotiated down to $720.

I know I'm getting ripped here to some degree, but considering my situation with schedule, work etc. I just needed to get it fixed (didn't want to have to deal with towing it again to an indie shop, etc.)

Now for my questions:
- It's hard to believe that a broken shifter cable (and this happens to a lot of our 996s and 997s from what I read on here) would render our cars helpless and undriveable like this. Is there any way to swap out or upgrade parts so that this never happens again? I mean, is it a d$@%! rubber band connecting the shifter to the tranny? Why can't they make the connector with metal instead of cheap plastic? These are sport cars meant to be driven hard, why can't something as important and highly used be made out of metal?? Sorry I'm venting..
- If the answer to the above is yes, WHAT ARE ALL THE PARTS I NEED TO BUY to fix this weakness in the transmission system? Would getting a new shift linkage like the billets ones from EVOMS or Agency Power etc. be enough? If not do I need to replace these d$#@ rubber band connectors with other metal parts?? I just dont ever want to deal with broken shifter connections again. These cars should not have these problems. THE ENTIRE SHIFT MECHANISM should be made out of titanium or some other HARD METAL so that it doesn't break whenever I shift hard. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE STUTTGART ENGINEERS?? I realize they may do this so that our local dealerships can charge us $800 to replace a stupid rubber band under the center console. This is unacceptable by me.

OK guys sorry again, had to vent. If anyone can PLEASE answer my questions above I'd greatly appreciate it. I just want to make my entire transmission system linkage metal, titanium, magnesium.. WHATEVER IT TAKES so this doesn't happen again. THANK YOU FOR LISTENING!

OK quick disclaimer: I don't know if these shifter cables are really made out of rubber or plastic. Maybe they're actually made of metal, and are not rubber bands as I mentioned. I don't know. What I do know is that they shouldn't break this easily. I really want to upgrade whatever is necessary to make this shift mechanism bulletproof.

 

Well I think they are actually plastic.....reading here!

http://www.evoms.com/marketplace/Vie...3CD0F56E553%7D

Might be worth the upgrade!


Stacy

 

thanks stacy, I saw that EVOMS linkage unit too. I would ask if this is the only part I need to fix this problem. From what I understand there is the shift linkage (the EVOMS unit) and there are also cables involved. In any case I'm going to order the EVOMS unit tonight and get it in my car ASAP. If anyone knows if I need anything else (upgraded cables, etc.) please let me know! Give me the details so I can fix this.. I dont want to be driving a d$#! time bomb. thank you!!