professsorz

I've noticed this issue a few times and lately have been able to take my time with it (as opposed to oncoming traffic and OMG let's MOVE!). 2008 RS 60. I believe it happens after a longish drive - not right after startup. I'll reverse out of a spot and then put it into 1st. But it doesn't "go" into first, even though it felt like it did. Still in R. Partially release the clutch and the car moves backward. This last time I tried carefully to move the shifter to 3rd and back to 1st. Still R. Then moved to 4th and back to 1st. Still in R. Couldn't easily get it to slot into 2nd for that test. Tried slotting into 3rd and trying to drive. Still R - car started to move backward, not forward. Stopped the car, restarted it, and it went into 1st nicely and I drove off. Only once has it not been stuck in R when the issue arises and that time it stayed in 1st and wouldn't go into R.

I'm trying to visualize how the shifter assembly up front is operating and also how the gears out back are operating to think of what kind of slop might lead to an intermittent problem like this. Note that for the majority of time it shifts fine. However, majority of the time isn't nearly as good as "ALL of the time".

Thoughts?

Marine Blue

Have you replaced the shifter cables yet? It’s possible they’re stretched and not allowing full actuation. Just a guess

professsorz

No. Not clear to me how metal cables would stretch, actually. However, replacing the cables means diving into the rear/middle of the car to access the attachment point (and fully disassemble the front as well, of course) so I want to have some sense of what the probably cause is before doing that.

Prelude Guy

How old is your clutch?

I had somewhat of a similar issue with my Prelude when it had 155k miles. The trans would randomly get stuck in first gear. The only way I could get it out of first gear was if I turned the engine off and then it would release. Then I could start the engine and shift gears like it should.

My clutch disk was warped. Original clutch. Resolved the issue by replacing the clutch.

First thing I would check on your car is to see if your shifter cables are binding up.

professsorz

Quite young. Owned by one person previously - careful driver. 21k miles. The operation is quite good except for this intermittent not goodness.

Voyager6

Shifter cables have nylon ends with adjustments on them. The ends can pop off the shifter or transmission. The adjustment can break.

V6

Pep!RRRR

There is a U shaped mounting bracket on the transmission. Be sure the cable hasn’t slipped out of the bracket.

professsorz

Yep, that's true. But failure of those pieces would induce complete non-operation, not highly infrequent difficulties sprinkled between flawless operation, as far as I am aware.

What I'd really like is a good cutaway drawing of the entire shifter assemblage in the Boxster. That would be most helpful for diagnosing this mystery ailment.

Prelude Guy

My shifting felt great all the time other than when it would randomly get stuck in gear.

I am not too confident the shifter cables are the problem either. The fact that it works again when you turn the engine off supports that.

I still think the clutch is likely the issue. A clutch disk can warp anytime. The bolts holding the pressure plate could've even backed out a little..

Good luck! Update this thread when you figure it out. Issues like these really intrigue me.

TMc993

The Porsche PET has exploded views: https://nemigaparts.com/cat_spares/pet/porsche/

professsorz

Nice - thanks!

fhp911

I'm not an expert, but in my case ('11 B987.2) the cables got completely garfed and wouldn't move at all, so I jacked up the rear and crawled underneath. You can easily see where the cables attach the to tranny, and if you have someone (with the engine off) shift through the gears you may be to detect if the cables are binding up.

just my $.02