Second gear when cold.........
 

Hi All.

I am based in the UK and have a Boxster S in Viola Metallic.
I have noticed that in the cold the gear linkage to 2nd gear is very awkward. Once the gearbox has warmed it is a little better, but still not great.

I had the gearbox oil replaced, but wonder what you experts suggest?

Any help appreciated.

You need to find out what brand of gear oil was used. It is the opinion of many that Porsche's manual trans fluid performs best for cold weather shifting.

I had the same problem in my 01 S. I recently flushed the brake fluid and in doing so, I also flushed the clutch fluid and the odd 2nd gear grinding stopped. It used to grind when shifting into 2nd when cold, but not anymore

Had the same problem when I changed my gear oil from original to a generic 75W90 and I couldn't stand it. Drained the new oil and put in Porsche brand and the second gear issue disappeared. I know it is expensive but put in the Genuine Porsche transaxle oil and you won't regret it.

Thanks all.

I checked the paperwork. The gearbox oil was changed to Syntrax 75/90 oil.

I have just sent my local OPC (Swindon, Wiltshire) a e-mail asking for a gearbox and clutch fluid change.

I will let you know how i get on.

second gear pop-out fixes.

expensive - requires taking transmission apart:

https://californiamotorsports.net/collections/porsche-986-boxster-5-speed-transmission-parts/products/cms-996-shift-arrester

cheap - 1/2 hour install:

2ND GEAR POP-OUT UPGRADE-GBOX Transmission

eric johnson (sp?) on this forum sells a version of the gbox piece as well - that's what i have in my car. 2nd gear engagement is a failure mode of the 986 6-speed transmission; fluid changes i think only delay the inevitable.

Are you suffering from 2nd gear pop out or just difficulty engaging second when shifting? Like Radium King says if it is a pop out issue a fluid change may not help at all. If it is a balky 2nd gear due to synchro lag the right gear oil will likely fix it. It did for me but I never suffered from out right pop out issues.

When cold I always had trouble going 1-2 and 2-3, a gearbox oil change helped and also rowing the gears a few times before cranking the car seems to help too. When it happened to me the symptom was when leaving first, I couldn't seem to be able to find 2nd or 3rd. Still get the occasional trouble finding 3rd from 2nd when cold.

Clutch fluid is simply brake fluid. The brakes and Clutch share the same reservoir. So a Brake Fluid flush/Bleed and Clutch/Bleed will change fluid in clutch.
Is your clutch peddle behaving correctly?

Thanks All. I appreciate your replies.

The clutch feels quite hard to press, but then I am used to driving an Audi as my daily.

I haven't had second gear pop out, only difficulty engaging. I will investigate the link you have provided.

Make sure the oil they use is the factory stuff. I found on our 986, new motor/trans mounts along with a 997 shifter housing made a vast improvement to the car. The mounts are particularly bad on these cars.
Regards

At my last DE at Indy, my 3-2 downshift started getting crunchy. When I got home, I changed transaxle fluid. Used Motorcraft after reading several positive threads about it. No crunching now, although I haven't done a 3-2 downshift in earnest like l would on the track. However, based on the viscosity of what came out vs what went in, I'm not surprised it would be smoother.