jk335

consensus is when the car is warmed up, shiftign becomes smoother.

I think what we all hate is the notch or thump sound we get. Its not present on BMW because Porsche tends to use steel syncros. I believe thats whats makign the noise and discomfort feel.

cbzzoom

Yeah, I think it's clearly an issue of the syncros not lining up and not being very forgiving. It works much better when the tranny fluid is at operating temperature. And yeah double clutching or nipping second can get them to line up and slot in, though if you're unlucky you may have to do it a few times.

A few things still bother me :

1. Is there a better fluid that will make it work better, especially when the car is cold? (I've read a lot of other threads on this but don't see any consensus, and a lot of the threads are for the GT3 or something which is not the same tranny).

2. Apparently some people don't have this problem very much at all, they claim the shifts are smooth all the time. Is that true? And if so, what is different about their cars?

jk335

1. wonder if it does work. I would make my dealer swap it out if it was the truth...

2. I bet they are just used to it. I come from a quieter, friendly bmw. This beast shifts hard and is all about speed...

Bigwave

I have had this issue and I believe its being blocked by the reveres gate and here is why. Every other car I have owned I could from Neutral hit the clutch, slap the stick up and take off all in one quick seamless motion. I found that I was locked out of first like the rest of you from time to time. What I do now is while in Neutral I move the shift up closer to the 3rd gear gate. A very light lateral push on the spring and it slips right in. As the saying goes "A light touch and a pair of thin shoes and this car will do whatever you want it to do" Try it.

surfer

Happens to me almost on a daily basis. Usually when I come to a stoplight on an incline with a row of courses behind me LOL. I usually do the 2nd to 1st trick but this morning for some reason I went to reverse and then 1st without problem.

kauai_diver

I have this problem on cold mornings and when the car is warming up, that's about it. And yah, usually trying second or reverse then going back to 1st usually helps.

cab&coupe

Same issues here with my `06 C2S when cold.

Marlon Targa 86

I've been driving my 997S 2006 (40K on the ODO) for about 2 weeks now and I do experience some notchiness on 1st & 2nd when the tranny is cold. I used to drive a 915 in my '86 911 and that behaved very similar, but worse. Which is understandable because the tranny & technology is much older.

But back to the 997S tranny. The thing that very rarely happens to me is the lock out trying to get into 1st. Shifting into 1st from neutral from a stand still is always smooth. I don't do anything special like going into 2nd or reverse. When stopping at a redlight/stopsign/whatever, I use my brakes. I never downshift. It's a leftover habbit from driving my 915 tranny. There the common rational is that it's much cheaper to replace brakes then a tranny/engine. Even on the track I would shift to neutral, brake hard and turn in. No down shifts.

Anyway, my 2 cents in a nutshell: when cold, the 997 tranny is a little notchy in 1st and 2nd. The rest functions great.

PS: one thing I've become an expert at is gauging when the light for the perpendicular traffic will turn red. It's second nature by now, but I'll stop so I can see the other light and/or the pedestrian light. Or if I can't see both, I'll spot the car in front and try see when it starts rolling. All so I can shift comfortably and in time Pretty sad really Again, a leftover from driving the 915 tranny...

San Rensho

Its really simple.When at a dead stop, if you put the clutch in the input shaft stops. If it happens that the input shaft sprocket, by chance, is tooth on top of tooth with the 1st gear sprocket, it will balk. The solution is, right before you put it into 1st, before you push in the clutch, put very slight pressure on the gearshift towards 1st gear, then. push in the clutch and it will go into gear every time.

This is not peculiar to Porsche. every stick car I have had will exhibit this behavior. Well, except for the Italian cars I had, which all had worn 1st gear synchros after a couple of thousand miles, but thats another story.

alexb76

+1.

In addition to proper shifting technique, here are some other things that HAVE improved this exact issues on mine:

- CABLE adjustment! My 1-2 shifting was driving me nuts, I had taken it to dealer, a cpl of shops, all saying different things. Now, after my console was removed for painting, I said, what the heck, let me get the cables adjusted.. I did, AND, it did indeed improved shifting noticably. The 1st/2nd is STILL hard to get into at time, and you need to do as ADias just mentioned, but the frequency of doing so is less than before.
- Transmission oil change. I am going to this next week... BUT, from reputable shops I've heard that it does improve shifting, and I know 2 folks who changed their oil and had quite a bit of improvement

Overall, it's normal for 1-2 to be harder to engage, and proper shifting technique helps, but this happens more on some cars than others mostly due to cable adjustments not being perfect, and on older cars, transmission oil change would most likely help.

Jim 'n' SC

The reason 1st & 2nd can be a little difficult to engage sometimes is that they are steel synronizers. 3-6 are brass. They are made that way on purpose for more durability.

Lvt19672

Always happens to me when I'm stopped at a red on an uphill incline lol

Devil Boy

1st gear can sometimes be hard for me too. Thinking ahead when I'm at an intersection and using the tips in this thread keeps me from sitting there fumbling after the light turns green.

jfoxny

This makes sense. So, this is also why letting the clutch out and putting it back in a second time fixes the problem, right? That's how I have learned to fix it.

San Rensho

Exactly. You've moved the gears in relation to each other so hopefully this time they mesh.