s-spiff

I have a fairly new to me 996 turbo that I have problems shifting into 1st gear about 50 to 75% of the time from a dead stop. It feels like it's blocked out. When it does feel like it's gone in, sometimes when I let the clutch out, it grinds or pops out.
I had it into my mechanic and he's diagnosed that there is significant axial play in the selector shaft that holds the 1-2, 3-4 and 5-6 selector forks (controls the front to back motion in the shifter) . He's looking into what the fix is and if there is a repair/rebuild kit for this and mentioned that the 1st gear synchro would also need to be replaced.

My questions are: is anyone familiar with this type of issue?
Is there a repair kit for the selector shaft or does it need to be replaced? Can it even be replaced?
What special tools are required to get at this in the transmission?

I've known my mechanic for 25 yrs, and he's a die hard Audi guy so he has all the special tools for that brand, but doesn't normally go this deep on 911s although he's done many other jobs on a 911. So he doesn't necessarily have the tranny gear tools that may be unique to the 911.

Also, anything else I should be doing while the tranny is out? I just replaced the accumulator and the slave doesn't seem to be leaking. The car has 80k miles and clutch feels strong but I may change it anyways while it's out. Thanks in advance...

Macster

No direct experience but when my 2003 Turbo 6-speed was found to have a selector shaft leak and we were waiting to hear back from the factory what it was going to do -- the car was under a CPO warranty -- the Porsche techs talked to me about the Turbo transmission.

They said while it is not the same as the transmission in the regular Carrera it was similar, shared some parts, and they could rebuild it to take care of the selector shaft seal leak and while it wasn't mentioned I'm sure take care of anything else they found needing attention "while there". I would have had them do this anyway and even if the parts were not covered by the CPO warranty would have paid for them out of my pocket.

The transmission didn't have but IIRC around 30K miles on it. While the transmission never popped out of gear it was in other respects not a very good transmission. Its shifting was not very smooth. This even after the stock shifter broke and the tech installed a 997 shifter.

There are about 25 pages (703KB) that is the section from the factory manual that covers partially disassembly and assembly of the 6-speed Turbo transmission.

If you send me a private email with your email address that can accept a PDF file as an attachment I'll send the PDF of this section to you.

"02996ttx50

you replace first and second triple cone synchros at the same time. whether they need it or not ( which they do ) also refresh the bearings. once inside, count yourself lucky if that's all you need to replace. assuming gears aren't munched, it's a simple 3k$ trans refresh. delvac or redline 75/90 will do. GL w it.

addendum: you didnt mention the year of your tt but i'll assume its either an "01 or an "02. gear stack placement was amended slightly with newer shim tolerances which cured the dreaded "2nd gear popout". ( or first gear in your case ).. same parts, so swap 'em and yeah, clutch too. no reason not to at 80k, unless you "know" the clutch has meat left. oh yeah, rms also. lol..

ok, i'll stop.

911mhawk

I'd just send it to ttx50 with $3k for a simple refresh.

s-spiff

Thanks all. It's an '03 so it should have the updated tolerances.

Mhawk... ttx50?

911mhawk

I was just being sarcastic, the idea of a $3k repair on these transmissions is quite optimistic.
$3k may cover the parts to do some bearings and synchros, mechanic would have to work for pizza.

At 63k my transmission didn't like to go into first all the time either.
I'd do the into 2nd, then 1st gear trick, or double clutch; often helps on worn or cold boxes.
That may or may not have been a sign of things to come.
Next my transmission started to make more noise, whining sound.
Drained & Refilled with M1 Delvac, found some metal shavings on drain plug.
Noise about the same, continued to get worse; drained and refilled after <500mi, more metal on plug
Decided to pull transmission for a refresh/bearings, consulted experts, chose Brian Copans.
Transmission got rebuilt but needed a few more bearing$ than expected and a couple gear$.
Took rebuild time to upgrade $ome internals.
Very happy now with smooth shifting transmission and no issues and several track days.

No "kit" I've ever heard of, an experienced re-builder of these will determine what should be and what needs to be replaced.

You can replace a few things while transmission is out, lot more if you take the motor out with it.

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-turb...nsmission.html

"02996ttx50

hey hawk! your thinly veiled attempt at "sarcasm" has only succeeded in making you look foolish lol.

to support my earlier posting vis a vis the "3$k" to open the g50 box and swap bearings ( duh ) here's a thread that mentions by name, a guy well known in the racing community here, "lance aspesi" ( aka speed gallery's "dan aspesi's brother ) that are both highly respected, and known to many in the local la porsche racing community. in fact, he's often referred to as a "porsche guru".

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...-car-guru.html

in point of fact, he opened my g50 box and replaced the bearings for the aforementioned "$3K". oh wait! this INCLUDED the installation and machine work to install my wavetrac.

so, in an effort to mitigate mhawk911's apparent ignorance of fair and going rates for "minor" transmission repairs to the g50 box, here are a couple links on both lance's reputation, and work. that is, IF he decides to take on your particular job, as he doesn't "need" the work.

here's another! perhaps since it's from "rennlist" perhaps? you'll accept it as "gospel"

https://rennlist.com/forums/993-foru...-of-gears.html

so, all of this proves nothing other than posting ad nauseum and pontificating in here several times a day doesn't make you always "right".. ( ask me how i know ) but yeah, YOU would be forced to play far more than $3k!, of that i am reasonably certain! why?!.. because you believe you must! LOL

"02996ttx50

as far as i know, it was identified and corrected by MY "03. my 2nd gear popout issue was limited to my previous "02" car. my 03 has only needed bearings replaced along with nearly obsessive gear oil flushes.

911mhawk

Nice of you to point the OP to a possible solution that is reasonably priced. Hopefully he'll have things running well for very little cost and update his thread with the outcome.

I am certainly guilty of spending more than necessary at times, often going overkill with extras and other new parts.

Hard parts on a transmission rebuild will move the cost around a lot. The constant I found when considering a couple builders was their labor cost for the rebuild, all were well under the $3k mark, including a LSD set up.

My point is that anyone with a transmission problem where the case needs to be opened will be spending more than $3k.

powdrhound

If you're gonna spend the money to open up the box, I'd definitely swap in the 7GT2 1-3 mainshaft/gears especially if your running more power as 3rd is much bigger/stronger. I'd also swap in the cup lever. About $2500 in parts and well worth it. The stock 1-3 is way too short for modded cars...

"02996ttx50

agreed, and he doesn't have "traditional" second gear pop, but still a full diagnosis will have to be made once he has it opened up and inspected as you also know. since the description of the issue possibly includes ( if not the cause..) bad synchros which are the least expensive things to replace and one should be able to get in/out of there with just synchros and new bearings if one is not looking to upgrade the box with more robust parts we all know are available.

also agree that upgrading parts pushes you easily above 3k even nearer 7k$ and even higher depending upon what all you do..and that's on par with what the guy i went to would also charge, again, depending upon upgraded parts etc..

..and my point was that simply wasn't and doesn't "have to be" the case, since mine required opening up as well. i wasn't going to replace bearings and not replace other "worn" parts and my costs were held to the $3k i referenced, as nothing other than bearings was "needed" and the wavetrac install was a "while i was in there" decision and only added another $1300 in parts, as the "labor" all related to the bearings alone. i also hope he gets it sorted and although a porsche dealership might well charge north of 5k-7k for this same stuff? its good to know of options and pricing variables for the identical work.

why i brought it up at all lol

s-spiff

Wow. Thanks all for the information. I don't track the car, but it's nice to know what some potential options are once it's opened up. My next step then is to find a good specialist. Trying to find one in Toronto so that I can avoid shipping if possible. Will update the thread with what I end up doing and the cost.

Thanks!

911mhawk

+1 on the 7GT2 mainshaft and gears, makes the car way more enjoyable to drive.

jumper5836

I may end up having to rebuild mine as well. I believe I have worn pinion bearing, thrust bearing problem starting to manifest.

I guess the best bet is to have local indy take it out and ship it to someone in the States?

"02996ttx50

yeah, it happens. sorry to hear... there's no way to confuse a bad bearing sound/feel ( unless you're running rear r888's

but to your point.. it might well be less expensive as you say to drop the box and ship it to a larger metro area like la. options here range from:

you can rent a lift for a cpl hun if you have a pcar tech as a friend ( bring beer )... or, pay a good shop the six hours it takes to r&r the trans and take it to a pro if that shop doesn't have a trans competent person on-site...

or take it to a porsche dealership and pay them $7500.00 and they'll shuttle you home as you wait.

one thing's for sure. that noise ain't goin' away. it's not a big deal, just part of having an 'ol 6mt..but gl w it!