Whomightyoube

Another Boxster S with a broken gear change cable. 2011. I am pretty disgusted that this is not subject to a recall. Very dangerous to suddenly get stuck n one gear.

Does the gear cable go over the engine? Do I need to get access to both the top and the underside to replace these not fit for purpose components?

Whomightyoube

Also, how do the connectors attach at the transmission end?

Thanks in advance.

Schnell Gelb

For a 986
Yes
Yes
Push on/off
For a 987 ????Different Forum

Whomightyoube

Thanks for your prompt and succinct reply. I have not taken the top off before. Tried this afternoon but made the mistake of trying to do it without the engine running and quickly ran down the battery. Then had to emergency battery connect to open the front and then jump started it. It does some weird things when the battery runs down like shows PSM, ABS and start assist not working. I thought that I had trashed the electronics. Pfew.

When it broke down the car was stuck in 1st, but I was able to get it back into neutral by manually selecting it on the linkage under the car. It will go back into 1st , 3rd or 5th using the gear stick, but then won't come out as this involves the forward back cable pulling which it cannot do with a break. Similarly it will not go into 2nd, 4th or 6th.

The end connector appears to be ok. I tried to pull it off, but it did not budge.

I am assuming all the above is consistent with the forward backward selector cable being broken.

What with this , the front wheels clonking on full lock, and the occasional large plumes of smoke from the exhaust on start up; my confidence in German engineering has been dented. Clonking steering I am told is normal by Porsche, Porsche replaced the Air Oil Separator under warranty but it still smokes occasionally. Just out of warranty and the gear linkage snaps.

I really was not expecting a Porsche to be so full of design faults.

When I eventually get the cable off, I will be taking steps to determine why it has broken; what was the failure mode. I suspect that the design has not taken account of fatigue cyclic loading.

Rant over...for now.

Byprodriver

Is it a 2011 ?

Macster

My 2002 Boxster with nearly 310K miles is on its original shift linkage. My 2003 Turbo, bought used in 2009 with just 10K miles had its shift linkage break before the 30K mile mark. Shift (breakage) happens.

The front wheels clonking full lock is what you get when you at slow speed turn the steering wheel full lock of a car that is designed to be stable at over 155 (or more) miles per hour. My VW Golf TDi never manifested that clonking noise but it had the steering caster of a shopping cart. And a top speed just above that of a shopping cart.

The brief plume of oil smoke at engine start is just a sign the AOS is lousy at removing oil vapor from the crankcase fumes as the fumes are being routed to the engine's intake manifold. All Porsche AOS's are lousy in this regard.

In defense of the AOS (believe it or not) the AOS has a pretty tough job to do. The Porsche Boxster/911 engine is a real oil vapor producer. Dual overhead cams, splash lubricated cam lobe/lifter faces, pretty high revving engine, an oil scavenge pump under each valve cover it is a wonder the Boxster exhaust doesn't trail oil like Exxon Valdez after it struck the reef in Prince William Sound.

You can help to reduce the frequency/severity of the oil plume by not overfilling the engine with oil, not running the oil too long, and when possible avoiding short trips. Following the above guidelines my Boxster emits a plume of oil smoke in between its 5K mile oil changes just a couple of times but only towards the end when the oil is due to be changed in just a few hundred miles or so.

Whomightyoube

To Byprodriver....It is a Porsche Boxster 987 Gen 2 registered in 2011.

Whomightyoube

To Macster...

Yes, short journeys seem to be a factor.

The AOS apparently gets ruptured. Porsche did not tell me whether mine was ruptured or not. The new one seems no better.

Macster

If the AOS diaphragm was ruptured or cracked/split (due to material fatigue as was the case with the one I cut apart) you'd know it. That brief plume of smoke would be a constant cloud with the engine exhibiting serious idle issues as the failed AOS delivered too much oil vapor and unmetered air to the engine.

paulofto

Are you sure the cable actually 'broke'? The outer sheath for the 2 cables is attached to the trans where the 2 cables exit to go to the 2 actuators. This attachment point is subject to 'popping' out giving the feeling at the shifter that the cables have disconnected. I know because it happened to me not being able to shift into some gears. The fix was to better secure the attachment point. This is on my 2003 S

I can't speak about 2011 shifter linkage but I recently replaced the shifter side cable ends with new OEM parts and beefed up the trans side with TUNERS safety locks. The cables themselves were not a problem. I did this to tighten up the shifter feel and also to prevent the trans end actuator connections from ever coming loose.

onewhippedpuppy

There are also metal connectors that replace the failure prone plastic connectors at the transmission, this is an upgrade on my short list. Eventually the plastic fatigues from heat/age/oil contamination and the ball socket will either crack or simply pop off of the ball.

Benjamin Rubin

i appear to have this problem in my 2015 cayman S. i had it serviced, next week blower fan went. i had then replaced and 1week later the manual shift cable broke as i was driving in the parking garage at the local hospital

Byprodriver

Wrong forum just like the original poster