slight difficulty shifting (manual)
 

From second, sometimes a bit of a grind in gears...sometimes the tranny seems to slip back...and third somewhat the same...

The car has under 30,000 miles on it...I can't believe the transmission is going.

Anything to service for this?

Thanks!

Common problem -several causes.
1. shifter cable loose on side of transmission.
2. 2nd gear dog clutch /synchro worn but usually at 3x your miles.
3. sloppy engine/transmission mounts
You need to inspect from underneath to give us more info.

Popping out of second gear is a widely-reported issue with 996 transmissions. If treated early, you can apply GBox's "second gear detent" - but if it has been ongoing for too long, there will likely be transmission damage.

I'm assuming this is a manual car.

You are correct but recently CMS and Gbox have been contradicting that saying the old detent/arrestor will eventually cause more damage.
There are 2 devices
1. detent
2.shift arrestor
Here is the latest I have for others to play with:
http://www.gboxweb.com/detent.html
https://californiamotorsports.net/pr...shift-arrester
I wish either or both companies would write a detailed description of the issues and why their mutually exclusive alternatives are better and what exactly was wrong with the old ones. I have the old design f detent so am anxious to know if I should replace it even though it has zero miles.

Hmmmm. Confusing. It started recently.

after a little research I ordered the detent replacement from goboxweb.com

I will have my indy install it.

And let you know. Thank you.

Maybe your clutch isn't fully disengaging? If you depress the clutch and shift through the gears with the engine off does it still grind? If you're taking it to your indy for the detent, I'd have him/her take a look at the slave cylinder.

weird, it didn't do that today...super weird...

Mine popped out of second when the gearbox was cold in under 40F ambient temps. It would go to a half engaged position that would grind second. Gbox detent seemed to fix the issue on mine.

If you are planning on replacing bits, start with the cheap ones.
I would recommend replacing the transmission fluid.
If it is old replacing it will improve shifts.

Yeah the fluid was the first service I did on the car. Clutch /brake fluid.

Millemiglia was referring to the fluid inside the transmission (gear oil). I believe the service intervals is around 100k miles (don't quote me on that). Its possible it is low and/or needing to be replaced + there is always the possibility that someone put in an inferior fluid (I have read people post they immediately noticed a degrade in shifting after switching to something other than the Porsche fluid).

I agree with the advice above, start with easy things like checking to make sure the clutch is fully disengaging, transmission fluid is topped off and good, shift cables are operating properly. All easy fixes compared to dropping the transmission out of the car.

My shifter is very stiff in the mornings but seems to loosen up once the car is warmed. I'm assuming this is normal.

Mike

Ahh, thank you!

When my car is cold 2nd seems a little harder to get into, but when it's fully warmed up it's fine. After doing a search it seems like the 997 guys experience this as well and just call it normal. Others have said it's a bad synchro which is probably what worries me most.