techweenie

Second gear popouts are odd critters. With my prior car, I had a couple and installed the ball bearing fix and subsequently was 99.5% popout free. But there were a couple popouts on one specific corner at low speed - after the bearing fix. And one more pop out on straight line deceleration - this over an 18 or 19 month period. I'm convinced the bearing helped, but also that upgraded engine/trans mounts played a role. I could feel the lever move on deceleration, but it moved significantly less after the mount upgrades.

napoleon1981

True, but replacing the clutch, and afterwards finding out that your tranny has to come out again is even worse. Anyway, to me it indicates what you suggest, the car was maintained for the least amount of $.

"02996ttx50

I had a car that popped out of 2nd going UPhill once lol almost unheard of

mbaran

Interesting. Wonder if engine and/or trans mounts were replaced at the same time, hiding it.

Also, I've got a '14 Volt, looking at a 996tt.

"02996ttx50

I agree Napoleon I would never drop the trans replace the clutch without opening up the box and fixing what was what!

Kind of like General Patton not continuing on into Moscow when he was almost "there"!

Gofishracing

ummm. A proper rebuilt on transmission- based on your usage ... is NOT 5 k.....
Not sure where you are getting that number ..double it

32krazy!

fully built trans from rader is 7k

mbaran

seems like the price wildly varies. If the transmission is in smooth operating order and has no major grinds in and our of 2nd, and does not pop out, shouldn't it fall on the lower end of the spectrum as far as costs to fix?

10k seems awfully high, considering new ones were only $11.5k from Porsche.

Turbodan

to the OP. the car has popout issues so it MAY need to be addressed in one week or 2 years or never who knows. You are deceiving yourself thinking the clutch replacement helped the popout issue. Face reality. If you buy this car you may have to address the trani. These are great cars and the secret is out so you will either pay now or pay later...you choose.
The seller has told you it pops out so you can't complain to him later. you know what you are getting. either accept that you may need to pay in future or walk away. End of story.
don't trick yourself to thinking this car has zero problems, it does and is reflected in the price. At 80 k there will be other issues and these are not cheap cars.
whatever you decide good luck. as I said before these are great cars and...life is short so enjoy.

mbaran

I hope I haven't represented my self as taking the bait, so to speak. I understand that it should be carefully reviewed and weighed before making a decision. No one has ever made mention that a clutch job resolved this, so I don't intend to believe that either. My curiosity is mainly that, as the seller has stated, the issue hasn't returned in quite a while.

That said, aside from CMS and Gbox, any local recommendations to the LA/OC area?

32krazy!

when it comes to the inside of the g50 box it doesnt matter if it is in great shape or bad. the labor is the major cost. if your only dealing with 2nd gear your looking at 1500$ worth of parts. and the labor. if your doing a full rebuild with 997gt2 1-3 gears and 6 sets of steel syncros the cost is 7k$. labor is the same since the disassembly for a single gear or all of them is just about the same. theres no way to determine the condition of any gears or syncros until the trans is torn down. you can opt for a the lowest cost but if your ever planning on modding the car doing a gt2 setup while its out is cost effective and will eliminate doing a build down the road. you also get better gearing than the oem setup.

rader transmission in vegas is the go to place. one stop shopping and they have a full test rig to test the new trans for proper engagement and gear install before ever dropping it back into the car. oem trans has brass syncros. they dont do well with either power or missed shifts. it only takes afew to hurt them permanently. steel is much stronger. the 997 gt2 first/second gear shaft is much stronger than oem. and 3rd is taller. i run 70 mph in 2nd and approx 115 in 3rd.

at 80k mileage you may find a lot of friction material in the fluid and inside the case as the syncros wear down.

mbaran

Spoke with the owner.

Clutch was done at 38,000 miles. When it was done, it was found that the pressure plate had cracked, so in went a new clutch and pressure plate, plus pentosin.

Still says that since 38,000 miles (currently at 80k) the popout has not re-engaged. I would think with 42k miles on the clutch, I am looking at doing that job sooner than later as well? I don't know the total life estimate of these clutches, but I think 50k is going to be pushing it.

I suspect though that if I go in guns a blazin asking for $5000 off because it needs clutch/popout fix, I am going to find myself getting some choice words from the seller. The car has extensive service history otherwise though from Porsche dealerships.

mffarrell

Depending how the car was driven, 50K mi. may not be excessive. There is a member here that has over 150K mi. on his clutch and still has more miles left on it.

"02996ttx50

a porsche dealer can charge 8k to r&r 2nd gear pop. thats 2nd gear and 1/2 synchro's only. i have an invoice from them for that paid under cpo coverage and cpo repairs covered by pcna have to be "lower" than they would be for the retail customer.

an indie will do the same job for 5K incl parts IF you have the "right" indie. whether that figure includes the 6/8 hrs and labor $ to drop and re-install the g'box is debatable. probably not. although, i last had my g'box r&r'd and wavetrac installed, new bearings, etc for about 4k. but then it's not my 1st rodeo with g50 repairs.

re: the clutch at 40k miles? depends on how the car has been driven, one long time owner, i would think would treat the clutch better than a succession of owners. but absent deliberate abuse ( or riding/dropping the clutch lol ) these can last up to 100k on an oem sachs. i would drive the car POST ppi, and you'll "know" how the clutch feels then. then if ok? offer to split the difference. ask for 2500- from his "ask" based upon admittedly requiring ( at some point! ) a repair to bring it to back an oem "condition". the key to any neogotaion it would seem to me, is that a propensity toward 2nd gear popout has already been disclosed to you. how often it does/does not do it? is secondary. he should see the wisdom of that, if he wants to sell NOW. on balance, you need to keep in mind also that you're looking at a 15 yr old car with MILES. a split of "5k" seems perfectly reasonable.

techweenie

Cool. Gen 2 Volt is even better - and good stablemate for a 996tt.

My longtime friend, a factory-trained master tech is working at TRE in Van Nuys and is my go-to guy for anything having to do with the Turbo.

I'll throw out another suggestion here: I had considered at one point going to a a later box - an 03, '04 or '05, as I understand they are different and not susceptible to the pop-out. I could have bought one outright for under $5K, then sold my original as a core for at least $3K...