Hi everyone!

Yet another rookie question,
My 944's shifter has recently been becoming sloppier and sloppier of recent and to the point where when in gear (if you can actually find it) the shifter has at least 10 degrees of movement or about two inches of throw whilst still located in gear,

Alas yesterday I went to pull away from a set of lights and I couldn't find a gear.....ANY GEAR, and thus I've had the vehicle towed,

I'm assuming (from what I've read on this internet contraption) that the shifter bush itself might be worn/broken and it may be up the drivers end of the car and hopefully not down the back at the business end,

Has anyone come across an equally annoying conundrum?

Any help is much appreciated

Yours sincerely, Rookie

 

Pull up the shifter boots to where you can see the actual mechanism. Is it connected properly?

If so, you need to verify that the shifter rod (which connects the shifter in the cabin to the gearbox linkage at the back) is connected. It sounds like it could be at least one of 3 things: 1) the bolt which holds the shifter rod to the linkage is loose or has fallen out, 2) the shifter "arm" has become disconnected, or 3) a failure with the linkage itself.

If the linkage is too worn to even get into gear, there are aftermarket replacements available. In addition, this is how I personally rebuild them.

 

Thanks!

 

This is a great opportunity to change to the short shifter and linkage kit from only944.com. It makes your shifter tight and reduces throw in all axis by 30 percent. Everyone who gets one loves them.

 

I'd start with the shift lever, the lever tends to hourglass the pin and it adds a lot of slop. You can remove the pin and use a bolt with a set of radial bearings/washers to tighten it up or you can buy the lever already setup like that from Only 944. I highly recommend doing this, it eliminates the problem with the pin wearing out.

http://only944.com/partscatalog/only/shifter/

 

I also recommend the only944 shifter. You can save a few bucks using sausagehacker's rebuild method for the same result, but only944 isn't expensive and you can have it fixed in 30 minutes.

 

I had a similar problem when I first bought my 951 and it turned out to be a loose bolt at the transaxle where the shifter mechanism slides into the collar into the transaxle. The bolt to lock it down had loosened, stripped and made everything super sloppy. I had to rethread it to get it all working properly again

+1 on the new only944 shifter. I put it in (along with the front shifter) right after I repaired the collar. That along with new MT90 fluid and cooler o-rings has it leak-free and shifting smooth as butter now.

 

Thanks for all of your advice guys!

I've since pulled up the shifter boot and everything seems to be intact, so unfortunately I think it might be what NC951guy is talking about, It was on a towtruck this morning to have it looked at so wish me luck