I bought a 08 cayenne, the year I was told they were good, with a manual transmission. Having LOTS of trouble finding any details on it.. who makes it, what vehicles its shared with, etc.

So I bought the car with a conditional guarantee that the shifter was OK because it was going very hard into 2nd. No grinding or anything, and 3 to 2 is just fine. I took it to an independent Porsche shop and they said "We don't know any problems with these cars... we suggest replacing the transmission oil, and if that doesn't fix it, aligning the shifter"

reading other porsches that might share the transmission, it seems like if it has brass synchros, they are bad. If they are steel, then thats just "how they are". Given that these cars are so rare, I've driven plenty of cayenne autos but never a stick. The car has 77k miles and seems well cared for other than this concern, and before you say "Just go look for another one", finding a V6 Manual in 2008 is darn near impossible... in fact, while my research may be flawed, based on my research there are 80 in existence give or take. There's tons of info on these for the 997s, and it appears it uses the same general transmission with low 1st and 6th gears.

I can't figure out which one the cayenne is no matter who I ask-Brass or Steel? And given the low volume I don't want to just walk out based on the conditional clause. Is this something an actual porsche dealership can help with better than the independent specialty porsche shop? Everything else in the PPI was perfect, so I put a down payment on it with the transmission inspection exit clause. However the 997 brass synchro issue has me nervous.

Any advice?

Thanks!

 

Before doing anything drastic, do a trans oil change. I used to have an Italian car that had a problem shifting into 2nd until it warmed up; a common issue for the model. Red Line syn trans oil (75W90 for that trans) almost always cured the problem permanently.

 

That seems to be the leading solution based on what I read- either that or an alignment tool you can get from porsche... however it seems like the 997 used 2 different transmission designs until 06ish and then from 07+. That makes me wonder if the cayenne changed transmissions in 08 or if the 997 got the cayennes transmission late.

 

Ahhh... Called the dealership and they said they don't do pre purchase inspections so I'm out of luck. The service manager was kind enough to say they'd drive it with us free and give us an opinion.

He also said there is no information in the service manual and it pretty much will need to be replaced if anything is wrong. Since it's so rare a rebuild isn't possible and so we'd be sick paying huge sums to porsche. At that point we'd be paying almost as much as a new porsche...

But I'm leaning towards rolling the dice unless anyone here has ever driven a manual. If we replace the fluids, maybe adjust the shifter it sounds like a 95% chance of being fixed, and a 5% chance we part it out and write it off as the dumbest decision of our lives...

Chasing unicorns is always a risky proposition. If anyone has some insights though I'd be incredibly grateful.

That really stinks......

 

The transmission on our 08 shifts fine at 94,000 miles. Sometimes it's a little balky going into first when stopped, but then so is our 06 Carrera. I have a hard time believing that the Cayenne shares a transmission with any other Porsche, but I don't have any information to support that. It's a 5,000 pound vehicle that will tow over 7,000 pounds. More truck than car, but a real nice truck!

 

Thanks. Is shifting from first to second a little stiffer than the other gears?

 

First gear is quite low, so it's a little tricky to make a smooth up shift from first to second. I don't think it's anything in the transmission itself, it has more to do with timing the shift and the throttle/clutch action so second gear takes over smoothly. From there, other shifts are fine, up or down.

 

That is the same experience I have on my GTS. I have 70k miles and it has been this way as long as I can remember.

Only when cold. One thing to check is the clutch condition. A worn out clutch, weak master, weak slave cylinder or leaky hydraulics may exhibit this behavior as well.

 

My 08 GTS with 81k miles is sometimes stiff going into 2nd when cold. Its slow to shift between 1-2 if the revs are high, I suspect it takes a little extra time for the syncros to do its job. My 993 was the same way.

I'm just used to it. But I do plan to have the gear oil changed the next time its in the shop as I'm not sure if its has been done.

 

A way to check if the difficult shift is alignment or synchro related is to double clutch shift. Start in first gear, accelerate, depress the clutch to shift into neutral, release the clutch, then depress the clutch and shift into second. You can also try shifting from first to second with the car off and that too can tell you if its alignment or synchro issues.

Change the oil and my bet is it fixes the issue. I've had many a manual respond positively to this. And since yours isn't grinding now, if there is an issue it's very minor and fresh oil will help. I always like what Redline manual transmissions did to improve shifting.

 

Good guidelines. I dropped it off at the shop to do the fluid swap. We'll see what happens, and I'll keep you posted! If that doesn't fix it, I'll try the double clutching.

Since its not our DD, I probably won't pick it up until this weekend.

Still would love some insight into this transmission. The more I learn about it the more frustrating it is just not knowing how its built!