100plus

Hi guys,

Yesterday when i was driving home, I decided to try changing from gear 2 to gear 1 at about 18km/h. When the gear changed down, i heard whinning. Any ideas? Gearbox gone?

Cheers

DreamCarrera

You need to give more info. Have you tried driving the car again since this incident?

It is perfectly fine to downshift from 2nd to 1st as long as you are traveling at a moderate speed and you do not force the gear lever into 1st gear. Also, blipping the throttle and rev matching really helps with easing the gear selector into 1st. As long as you were smooth on the downshift(using the clutch, not forcing the lever, not mechanically over-revving the engine, etc.) you did not cause harm to the gearbox.

Macster

Generally I avoid downshifting into 1st from 2nd until the car's barely moving and even better wait until the car's come to a stop.

What you heard could be simply normal transmission (and engine) noise as the transmission's 1st gear internals speeded up to match the speed of the transmission's 2nd gear internals. Of course unless you rev matched when you let the clutch out the engine could have gained rpms which can add to the noise and catch an unwary driver a bit off guard.

Absent any other symptoms I'd say the transmission's ok, it is your shifting technique that is suspect.

If you want to 'test' the transmission with the car level and the engine idling and with the clutch fully depressed you should be able to move the shifter from any gear to any other gear with no grinding, or other untoward behavior.

If you can't then the transmission, or shift linkage or even the clutch is suspect.

Also, I might ask you about when the clutch hydraulic fluid was last flushed and bled and how many miles are on that transmission fluid.

A clutch fluid flush/bleed if due can improve shifting simply by making the clutch's movvement a bit more directly connected with the clutch pedal's action.

And a transmission fluid drain and refill with the proper fluid can be considered reasonable preventative maintenance.

Sincerely,

Macster.

Silver6

+1 Macster, the 2-1 shift in most cases is not worthwhile. Neutral and brake or 2nd, brake clutch. Only time I go from 2nd to first is steep hill when you are almost stopped at that point probably less than 5 mph.

DreamCarrera

Where I drive it is very hilly and I often find myself taking slow(sharp) turns at about 10+/- MPH. Second gear in these cars is geared fairly high compared to the average auto. and in these instances I find it far more convenient and easier on the engine to go down to 1st at these moderate speeds than to keep it in 2nd and lug the engine a bit going up an incline. My car willingly downshifts into 1st at moderate speeds and I can assure the OP that no harm will be done to the gearbox if the downshift is done properly. If you have a properly functioning gearbox there should be no problem downshifting into 1st gear at moderate speeds.

Again I live in an area where many roads are on a steep incline and it seems that I am always ascending these hills while at a slow speed after a sharp turn. If I lived in Kansas or Nebraska I am sure I'd be downshifting into 1st rarely if at all.

100plus

Thanks guys for your inputs, unfortunately I drive a TIP and not a manual. I have been driving the car constantly everyday and everything seems fine. The worrying thing is, I feel that the gear box is about time that it needs a rebuild.

Macster

While the Tip is quite different from the manual the Tip will experience many of the same issues when shifting from 2nd to 1st gear. The Tip will 'protest' a bit but should not suffer from this though I'd not make a habit of doing this on a regular basis. There is no need as far as I know.

How does the Tip perform otherwise? Are upshifts smooth? And at all speeds and throttle inputs? Flip the question around and are downshifts smooth.

Does the transmission enter 'park' without any protest? Can you select neutral, reverse, and drive with no untoward behavior from the Tip?

Is the Tip fluid tight? Is its fluid level ok?

When was the Tip fluid and filter last changed?

Now the techs tell me that if a Tip is way past due on a fluid/filter service there is usually no benefit to doing one belatedly. Oftentimes the Tip will develop serious problems, become essentially terminal, not too long after a fluid/filter service.

What I gather is after years of neglect a belated fluid/filter service can't work any magic. The time to attempt to prolong the Tip's useful service life is 'early' in its life, by treating it to regular fluid/filter services. One suggest is to cut the recommended time or miles of a scheduled fluid service in half or even thirds. Say the Tip fluid change is scheduled to happen every 90K miles. Having it done at 45K miles or even 30K miles is probably better than waiting for the 90K miles.

However, even if the Tip is acting up a fluid/filter change might be worthwhile just to well see if a fluid change improves things. At least one would know for sure. And the fluid/filter service might work its magic.

If the Tip is not acting up a fluid/filter change would be good preventative maintenance.

Sincerely,

Macster.

100plus

I just changed the fluid and filter on my transmission recently. Maybe 2 or 3 months back? I am not sure if the previous owner has changed it before but i m gonna take my chances on that.

The gears changes up pretty well and changes down pretty good as well although when i pull the car out from PARK on even a slight incline, it would give a loud "thud" before releasing the gear. Any ideas?

How do i go about checking if the fluid level is fine?

Just incase, where would i be able to find a replacement gearbox? Considering i have to ship it to singapore etc ...

Cheers

Topaz330ci

About the parking on an incline... A lot of vehicles have this symptom. Try this, as soon as you stop on an incline push the brake and put it in park and pull the hand brake up right away without letting the car roll back or forward. Then when you start the car and are ready to drive off again, push the brake down and shift into reverse and then lower the hand brake...

Macster

A recent fluid/filter change? Did the symptoms appear after or were they present before this service?

Also, I have to ask: Are you sure you put in the right fluid and the right amount of fluid?

The thud when shifing from park on an incline suggests the pawl is sticking.

Really you should when you park the car set the parking brake sufficiently hard to prevent the car from rolling and then shift the transmission to Park all the while holding the brake pedal down.

Shifting the transmission from Park on an incline with nothing holding the car from wanting to roll and putting some pressure on the shifter pawl or having the car roll back and stop only from the pawl's action will load the pawl and when you shift this load causes wear and tear on the pawl. Eventually the pawl will fail to hold the vehicle under all conditions.

The pawl while it will hold the car -- at least for now -- is not the best way to hold a car from moving.

The parking brake (hence its name) is for that. But of course almost no driver of an automatic transmission car does this. I didn't used to until once my vehicle decided to roll backwards into another car in a parking lot. Luckily no damage worth fixing was done to either car.

But it took another incident to really cure me of the bad habit. I parked this same vehicle at a convenience store with just the transmission lever in Park and ran inside the store. I came out of the store with one hand holding a cup of coffee and the other hand holding a donut and looked at where I had left the vehicle only to see it not there. I quickly looked around and spotted the vehicle over a car length behind its parking space, rolling, and gaining speed down across the parking lot rolling directly towards the parking lot entrance and the busy street it intersected.

I shoved the donut in my mouth and moving briskly caught up with the vehicle and with one hand grabbed the door handle and opened the door and got the brake on before the truck rolled into danger. If I had locked the door...

Since then I have never parked a car equipped with a manual or an automatic transmission without setting the parking brake.

Oh where to buy a Porsche Tip transmission...

One source would be to buy the Tip from an authorized Porsche dealer in your area, or one closest to you. I do not know how this works in other areas, but in the USA the Tip would come with a 'parts' warranty of some time and miles. If you didn't have the Tip installed by a dealer it would not of course come with any labor warranty.

A new Tip though would be expensive. Roughly I estimate $11,000 (that's USA dollars) just for the Tip alone and your old Tip would likely be required for a core exchange. Then there is shipping and installation. You could be looking at nearly $15K USA dollars for the complete Tip out, new Tip in job.

However if a new Tip is needed....

But I'd make darn sure a new one was needed to state the obvious.

Sincerely,

Macster.

logray

The better question is what happened to the cup of coffee.

And did you manage to eat the fluffy donut?