Hi a newbie here, just got 2003 2.7 manual boxster with 55k miles which has been standing for about 6 months, but was driven in according to the owner.
Inherited a dead battery and inoperable hood cable.
Now the car when started wont engage into gear even reverse. Clutch is not soft and has a strong response. No grinding or slipping. Engine runs smoothly. No abnormal alert lights lit up in dash. Any advice m

uch appreciated.

 

The gear shift cables may have popped off the selector.Look on the outside of the gearbox for where the cables attach and get someone to move the gear shift lever. Then report back.

 

mechanic has checked gear can be engage, no cables loose as suspected earlier. Wonder why car can still be moved with gear engaged even if engine not started. ?suspect by mechanic gearbox input shaft broken!!

 

While the input shaft could be snapped, that's a very rare failure. That's one tough shaft. All the torque of the engine is carried by that shaft to the transmission. Even with stop light launches and power shifts the input shaft takes a licking and keeps on ticking.

A more common failure is the shift linkage either outside of the transmission or inside the transmission.

If the tech has eliminated the linkage outside the transmission then the transmission will have to come out. At this time it should be obvious if the input shaft is snapped.

Regardless the transmission will have to be opened up and the input shaft or whatever internal is wrong dealt with.

 

Abracus, Your mechanics diagnosis is logical if he is 100% sure the cables are correctly connected .
This is simple to diagnose.From underneath the car manually operate the gear change lever on the side of the gearbox. Put it in gear -any gear .Start the car with clutch depressed.Slowly release the clutch. Report back with what happens. I wouldn't be surprised to hear that when you try to manually select the gear from the lever on the side of the g'box you find the fitting on the end of the cable had popped off.While you are under there, have an assistant operate the gear lever in the car.Observe for loss of motion at the gearbox .

 

Yes, all that had been done, mechanic lying under car , gear manually engaged from inside, he can move the gearstick from down there and engage in any gear position. Car was started with gear depressed, when clutch released slowly nothing happens, no jerking or crunching. BTW the car can be moved with the engine off but gear engaged!!

 

That is a new symptom !
Remove gearbox and investigate.

 

Could it be a burnt clutch???

 

It is a possibility.

I came upon a 996 in for a bad clutch a few months back. The driver got caught in a horrendous back up on one of the bay area bridges and inching along up the incline severely (an understatement) overheated the clutch.

Overheated it to the point the friction disc delimitated.

In this type of failure the input shaft is not being turned even though the clutch is not disengaged. Thus one can shift with ease.

But of course the car won't move when the clutch is released because the clutch isn't engaged due to its condition.

Also, the car can be moved with the transmission in gear as of course the clutch is not engaging at all due to its condition.

One might be able to check for a goodly amount of debris in the bell housing if there's enough of an opening through which to check.

Or use a shop vac cleaned out and a narrow nozzle to vacuum out through the small openings at where the bell housing contacts the engine block and check for what the vacuum picks up.

If it manages to get anything more than dust that is a good sign the disc has come apart.

But even if the clutch being apart explains the behavior the transmission will have to come out of the car.

This is very important and why I stress eliminating something amiss with the external shift linkage. Dropping the tranny is a big step one that one does not want to do unless necessary.

 

Finally the answer revealed itself on lowering the gearbox...a completely worn clutch!

 

Thanks for the update. Glad you got it all sorted out.

 

Now to have the clutch changes and also look into

the IMS