paulmezz

I have not jacked the car up and stuffed my head under it yet to look at the shift linkage. WAY too cold and snowy for that and the car is sleeping for the winter anyway.

I have a '89 944 S2 and one day when I was driving it the shifter went limp from neutral to the 1/2 gate. The force from neutral to 5/R increased. This is the ONLY thing that changed. No grinding or other bad-things. Where in the whole transmission scheme of things are the springs (or other mechanism) that return the shifter to a neutral position? I would guess that one side is no longer doing its job and thus the odd feeling.

Ideas?

thanks
-paul

Chads996

Hi Paul...

Welcome to Rennlist. I would try to check the shift lever mechanism itself. Pull up the leather boot (gently) and find the lever attached to the rod going back to the transaxle. The play is likely a result of a worn shift lever. That is where I would start. If that is not it, work your way back.

C.

paulmezz

Yeah, that was the first thing I checked. Looked fine under there. I'm sure some new bushings would tighten it up but that isn't the root of the problem. I have looked at the cost for replacing/updating the shift levers on the transmission but if that isn't where the return mechanism is then that would be a moot repair too. I know that if I dig into the tranny it will end up being just a swap for something with an LSD along with a while-I-am-there clutch job. Both things I don't have the spare cash for.

Stupid snow is keeping me from doing any real investigative work.... and I have a busted car in the garage I'm going to fix and sell to help pay for the Porsche

AlpharettaRK

There's 2 bolts in the linkage in the back on top of the trans that can cause problems like this. One is the bolt connecting the shift rod that runs on top of the torque tube. It has safety wire through it. The other is in the linkage in the back. It has a rounded, pointy end (called something like a "ball pin" in PET) and is not uncommon to wear gradually causing slop and then suddenly slip and cause problems. I have learned the hard way to carry a spare of each for the race car.
Good luck
Cheers
Randy
PS - we could use some "stupid snow" down here in Georgia!