Patrick L

This morning I was having a spirited drive in my '90 C4 with my friend on a mountain road in light rain. In a turn when I shifted from 3rd to 2nd, the shift lever suddently felt lose at 2nd gear place and the engine just rev up freely. Try to push into 1st but it also gone. Went back to 3rd and looks ok, as well the 4th and 5th. I stopped the car at road side, then found the 1st & 2nd gear went back again. Then I slowly drive home and found that everytime I tried to downshift from 3rd to 2nd, the shift level became loose and 2nd gear was missing (1st also missing). But if I pull the lever from 3rd to nutural and stay ther for a sec or so, I can then shift into 2nd or 1st without problem. When I stopped at traffic light in nutural, it is ok to shift into 1st and go, then 2nd and 3rd all ok, though it felt a little lose than before. The major issue is to downshift from 3rd to 2nd.

Is it some shift link problem? Which part should I take care of?

Thanks!

Oracle

That definitely sounds like a linkeage problem...I suppose you can search more about replacing bushings, etc..
Good luck!

Indycam

Thats a crazy set of symptoms .
Its will not go into 2nd until it rests a bit ?
How would linkage get better by resting ?
The lever goes floppy till it rests ?

Is it april 1st already ?

Patrick L

That sounds wired to me as well.... I guess that shift from 3rd to 2nd quickly and shift from nutural to 1st or 2nd may have slightly different movement of linkages that cause the missing gear... anyway I'll go have a check this week and post some pictures here...

Indycam

Did you find anything ?

Patrick L

It's the worn shift linkage. Bushes at both ends were broken into pieces. I was lucky enough to drive the car to the garage about 20km from my home. When I arrived the shift was totally gone and we had to push the car to the lift...

Geoffrey

I replaced mine with a spherical rod end in the front.

porscheforfun

patrick ,

I think I have the same issue on my 964 is this a difficult job , drop the tranny for sure right

Amroth

I had this happen to me before. But I was very lucky that I was parked outside the porsche service centre! I was walking away from the car when I heard a "clunk!" which was the shift rod (pictured above) falling out of the bushing and hitting the centre underbody cover. I went back to the car and my shift lever was freewheeling in every direction!

Porscheforfun, thankfully it is a very simple job! I bought a new joint for 70 USD (the smaller part in the above photo). Before removing count the amount of threads on the old part so the new one can be screwed on with the right length. Then simply unscrew the old end, screw the new one on with the right amount of turns... tighten the nut and pop it into the joint of the shift lever. Put the centre underbody cover back on and you are back in business!

altarchsa

+1

Gearshift lever won't engage gears when this linkage fails.

Drop the transmission? NNNOOOOOOOO. It's a simple job to remove the long narrow sheet metal cover underneath the car, in the center, below the gearshift. If the connector(s) are worn, the linkage will probably fall out in your hand (or face), or come apart easily when you pull on it. C4 different from C2 IIRC.

altarchsa

By the way, it's a ball and socket joint, kinda like your shoulder. The socket is lined with a white nylon-like material that wears out. Some interesting posts on here to modify and upgrade to a more reliable connection. See:

https://rennlist.com/forums/964-foru...e-problem.html

Both the upgrade and original parts shown at the bottoms of the two pages of this thread.

Patrick L

No, it's not too difficult. You need to lift the car up but no need to drop the tranny.

porscheforfun

I removed the center cover from underneath and remove everything on top as well center console and shift boot to take a peak both linkage seemed to be ok . Im getting worried that I might have a tranny problem.
Does the engine mounts having anything to do with the shifting . mine are worn out pretty bad just noticed

porscheforfun

Im going to take a closer look at part #26 i havent inspected this part yet I hope this is the problem

porscheforfun

on mine its hard to get into 1st and 2nd gear do you think i might have a different issue then the shift linkage it didnt look that bad when i removed the center under plate under the shifter I have the whole thing in pieces right now I can add some pics.