professsorz

It's now happened 3 times and that's enough to say "what's going on?" Carefully backing up into a parking spot. Slotted into "R" but transmission actually grabbed 1st. Quickly stopped, waggled the shifter in N, slotted into "R" and car grabbed 1st. Etc. Eventually got it happy by shifting into a different gear and then trying R again.

Then yesterday the opposite. Slowly backed out of a spot. Shifted into 1st but transmission actually went into R. Waggled. Still R. Etc. Again, eventually, got it moving.

It's intermittent, seemingly, although I'm going to try some testing. Vast majority of the time there's zero issue with any of the gears. But these rare "I won't choose the right one" are (A) embarrassing as it looks like I can't drive a stick (I can - and have been for decades) and (B) irritating because usually something is going on - like oncoming cars, etc - and I don't need to be motionless trying to move. It isn't that I'm blocked and unable to slot into gear. It goes in smoothly. Just into the wrong gear and only with regard to 1st/R. And both of those physically live close to each other in the shift pattern, clearly. And by now I have a good feel as to which is where and yet ...

If it just went wrong on the first attempt I'd think I'd somehow done it wrong and not moved the shifter far enough. But by the 2nd and 3rd attempts I'm paying close attention to the positioning.

Any experience that might indicate what the issue is? 987.1 RS 60 2008.

TMc993

Over the years, I've experienced this and similar gear selection problems with a number of aging manual transmissions, Porsche and otherwise. I found that when the problem occurs, shifting into neutral then releasing and depressing the clutch pedal will usually get everything "spinning in the proper direction" and enable me to select the gear I want.

That said, problems like this are often related to wear and tear. Since this is a recent development, I'd be looking at the shifter linkage, bushings, etc in hopes that it isn't something internal.

(EDIT: To be clear, pumping the clutch is just a "get me home" work-around which should certainly be followed by diagnosing the actual problem. Linkage/bushings/cables is where I' would start looking.)

Good luck.

andy7777

Doesn't sound normal. My '07 Boxster S with 54K shifts just fine without the problem you've encountered. Putting it in neutral like suggested above may ameliorate the issue, but I'd have it checked out. It would be a bit disconcerting to launch backwards from a red light.

professsorz

Indeed. And that's kind of exactly what I'm experiencing. First example was parked on a hill, facing up, car 12 inches behind me and Rosie decided to use R rather than 1st. Sheesh!

andy7777

It really doesn't sound like a transmission problem so much as a slop in the shifter and cables problem. There are many threads about that on the forum. It is a very subjective issue, but there are any number of options to choose from. Maybe the simplest is swapping out the shifter for the GT3 shifter, and updating the cables. But that's not inexpensive.

professsorz

That's very much the question of the day for me. It's not clear to me from the threads if the sloppy shifting refers just to the 1-2-3-4-5 and even 6 gear changes or includes R. Shifting to R is different from forward gear changes, involving getting an additional reverse gear into the act. I haven't pondered an actual Porsche transmission and shifter setup and so I can't visualize if slop that would be addressed by a new shifter body or cables might be the issue.

kiznarsh

Have you installed the Numeric cables yet? I noticed shifting from 5th to 6th requires more precision, in that if I have any inadvertent outward force on the **** while trying to push down, it'll get stuck. Wondering if it's something similar and that you'll eventually get used to it.

Unlikely but maybe the nuts holding down the shifter have loosened, so the whole shifter assembly is moving slightly and making the lever motion less direct.

professsorz

I have not done the Numeric install - not cables nor shifter assembly. I'd like to know beforehand if the odd 1/R behavior is something that the numeric items would resolve before going to the trouble and expense of purchasing and installing them.