Transmission w/difficulty shifting and no reverse - Finally out and being fixed
 

Hello, hello! So I finally got around to yanking my 98 2.5 5sp Boxster transmission because it was not shifting into reverse and was having a difficult time with all other gears. Cables and such were fine and I used the Porsche centering tool to align everything and still no dice. Anyway, once I got it out and looked it over I saw VW and Audi stamping and I'm assuming it to be an Audi transmission from the stamping LAU 012 301 211 R.

So, now that I've got it out, where should I go? I can pop the transmission open and poke around, though to be honest I don't know what I'm looking for. Or I can go to the local Upull and yank an A4 tranny for $100 but what years should I be looking at? I don't really want to go with a Boxster trany because I could get several A4 transmissions for the cost of an inexpensive, high mileage 2.5 5 speed.

Thoughts? Thanks in advance.

What did the clutch and pressure plate look like? How do you know your problem is in the transmission and not the slave or master cylinder for the clutch? Since you don't know what to look for why would you open it. It is a VW/Audi trans, it doesn't match up with any other car as far as the gear ratios go. It looks like a Passat or front wheel drive A4 but they won't be exactly the same to my knowledge at least I haven't heard of it personally. It is an Audi 01A with a gear set and diff for the Porsche app so supposedly they are different.

My 2001 Porsche 5-speed has the same VW Audi markings.
You may find some useful information here:
http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/56662-audi-swap.html

Just so this is clear - the Audi A4 transmissions may not have the same gear ratio's as the Boxster.

Be sure to check the exact ratio of your year Boxster and the exact year of the Audi transmission that you plan to use to understand whether the difference will matter to you.

Woops, double post

That stamp was on all the transmissions I've replaced. The original 2003, the 2003 I put in first and a 2005 I put in last.

I see a Buell in the background... I had a '99 and a '00 Cyclone, fun bikes. What's that - Ulysses? XB? ...

I haven't removed them from the engine yet but I will.

Well, I am hoping someone would point me in a common fault direction but I can certainly identify obvious issues.

The A4, Passat, etc should have lower gearing, which I am absolutely fine with.

This is where I got the idea from of swapping the A4 transmission in. I just didn't realize my transmission had already been swapped. Just need to know what year A4/Passat works.

Good eye. It's an '04 XB12S. :)

Anyone out there know what year and model of Audi or Passat transmission will bolt up to the Boxster?

012 transmission from a B5 Passat or B5 A4. Late 1990s (97?) to 01 or 02. Google knows.

I recently did a clutch on my brother's 03 Passat wagon and the trans looked just like that but it's not like I had it side by side with the Boxster to compare, it just looked the same when working on that car. Btw, he had similar shifting problems and they were caused by a piece of the clutch disc breaking off and occasionally bouncing in and getting stuck by the pressure plate causing the clutch to not want to disengage fully.

Gotcha, around the same year of the Boxster makes sense. So as long as I find one stamped 012 I should be good as far as bolting up but then I'll need to double check the gearing. Just what I needed to know, thank you. I've been looking into what it takes to remove a transmission from an A4 and it does not look fun.

Thanks for the input. I actually pulled my disc and pressure plate. They look to me like they have more life left in them. I'll get pics up shortly.

Thoughts? Should I replace them? The argument of not having to take it apart again is not an issue for me since it is very easy to get this transmission out and if I can go another 2 years without issue then I'll gladly save the ~$300.

I had no idea that the Audi A4 gearboxes were so cost effective these days.

Your clutch and flywheel look fine.

You could always have your gearbox rebuilt, but I suspect that this would cost you quite a bit more than simply grabbing a good used box at this point.

Good luck with your project, let me know if I can be of help.

Erik Johnson
The Race Line
(720) 899-6005 phone

So I took the transmission apart and found what I believe to be the issue. I don't know all the terminology so I'm sure I'll get it wrong but I'm sure you'll figure it out.

One of what I believe is a selector shaft has two aluminum pins that hold it in place and one of them had snapped. This allowed what I believe to be some sort of reverse detent or gateway part to pop out and it was in the bottom of the transmission. All the gears look fine and the fluid had nothing unusual in it. I plan to just buy the pins (if I can), replace them, put the reverse parts back in place, new fluid and bolt it all back together.

Top photo is the broken pin and the other pin which has bad wear from doing all the work (poorly) of two pins. The second photo is of where each pin would go and the shaft they should be supporting. The last photo shows what I believe to be some sort of reverse gate mechanism. The brown inner plastic piece had popped out somehow. The notch fits in the selector shaft. It was removed when the second photo was taken.

Going to hunt down parts now.

Thanks for the offer Eric. Confirming my belief about the friction disc was helpful. Crossing my digits that the pins I need are inexpensive.

Finding a broken selector shaft is actually great. No guessing as to what was wrong when you find an obviously broken part. Hope parts are cheap and you can get back on the road quickly.
As for the clutch, i'm with you on this one, don't fix what ain't broken as going back in is so easy. Years ago I had a GSXR1000 motorcycle and the clutch was a little weak and would slip at times. I took out the clutch discs (11 of them if I remember correctly) and the ones closest to the flywheel showed the most wear so I swapped positions and put the better looking ones near the flywheel and put it back together. Rode it like that for 2 more years with no slip and sold the bike. It was just too easy because if you had a 2x4 under the kick stand the bike didn't even lose a drop of oil while changing it out so no loss but a half hour of my time if it didn't work.

Reminds me of a wheeler dealers episode where Edd was working on an Audi TT (I think that's what it was) where a couple of gears had disappeared. When he opened the tranny up he found a piece where a pin had sheared off. It was in the tranny, hadn't chewed up the gears. Part was not available but he extracted the remainder of the pin and fashioned a replacement pin.

Transmission out, looks like an Audi trans, what should I look for?
 

So long as the fingers of the diaphragm spring are all at an even height I'd put that clutch back in, no sweat.