'88 Carrera won't shift into 2nd or 4th
 

I was driving today, and out of the blue, I can't shift into 2nd or 4th. All the other gears are fine. Any thoughts as to what the problem might be?
The tranny is a G50 in a '88 Carrera Cab.
Thanks in advance, Alex.

Shift into third, then loosen the pinch bolt on the shift coupler, and move the gearshift a very small amount forward. Tighten the pinch bolt.

There is no pinch bolt on the G50. It is a hard hook-up with 2 bolts that attach a plate on the end of the shift rod to the shift coupler. Nothing like a 915.

I see. How do you adjust the shifter then?

Loosen #19, and adjust #7?

Thanks a lot for the answers and the diagram. --Alex

What do you use for workshop manuals? Is there a preferred manual for do-it=yourselfers? Do any of you use the CD's? Do any of you recognize the source of rusnak's diagram above?
Thanks, . . .Alex

Please give us some history on the car; (1) mileage?, (2) trans been worked on (recently)?, (3) car valet parked recently?, (4) anything else...like do you keep coins in the shifter tray, or has the car been high-sided on something?

That is Factory parts list- called PET.

Thanks. Here's some history . . . I bought the car about two years ago. The shop that I bought it from rebuilt the engine after an engine fire. It has about 150K miles and I drive it daily. There hasn't been any transmission work since I bought it. The last work done on the car was replacing the original evap lines (for a smog cert), then replacing tie rods. No work on the G50 transmission. A mechanic has told me the clutch is worn, but I don't experience any clutch-related driving problems.

Also, the car has never been valet parked, and never high-sided. And I don't keep coins in the shifter tray. Are you thinking that a coin may have fallen into the shifting linkage?

The day the problem popped up, I drove to the hospital and everything was fine. On the way back home, I was downshifting into 2nd and the shifter would only go half-way, not engaging into 2nd.

As you know, on a G50 transmission, only 2nd and 4th are on the "bottom" of the "H" shifting pattern.
1st, 3rd, 5th, and Reverse are all at the "top" of the "H" pattern.

Thanks, --Alex

What does "high-sided" mean?

Bottoming out the bottom on a curb or speedbump or something.

While this certainly could be in the linkage I think it is more likely that there is an issue internal to the gearbox, a shaft that is out of place could certainly cause this. While not what you probably want to hear, if the gearbox has the same amount of miles on it as the engine did, it is probably ready for a rebuild.

Let me know if I can help at all, we do these all the time.

Erik Johnson
GBox Performance Transaxles
(303) 440-8899 work
(303) 895-4828 cell
www.gboxweb.com

I do not want to Hijack this thread and appologize if I am doing so But i did not want to start a huge gearbox rebuild debate but thought I would Ask Erik as he posted here and I imagine others would want to know ...... so here goes

lets say I have a great working gearbox in all respets other than the typical 1st, 2nd scnchro issue ..

How much do you think it would cost for the parts to fix this myself. I was thinking of maybe first and second scnchros and dog teeth, a seal kit. Asuming everything was okay when you took it apart of course .. I am not planning this soon as it is only a minor annoyance but when I pull the engine I will consider doing this, also is there anything I have missed for parts.
.

Thanks .. and sorry for the hijack

ice

ice: If those wheels are still on the car you'll have to add 20% to all estimates... :evilgrin:

In the meantime... http://porsche.wikidot.com/ ...will show you what you'll probably be facing. Click on "915" to read my Tutorial.