Help needed for newbie! 6spd 986 problems

[luffy]

Hi everybody, I wish my introduction here was under better circumstances, but here goes:

I have a 2001 Boxster S that I recently purchased. It has a slight 2nd gear grind and previous owner said service center had used a generic transaxle fluid. I picked up some OEM stuff and decided to try doing a fluid change late at night after the kids were in bed. Drain plug cracked open easily, then i found what I thought was the fill plug. I open it with a torx and started filling. About 3.5l in i realized I did something wrong. I checked the diagram I was using and it was for a 5spd. I removed something else, basically the bolt at the 11 o clock position relative to the axle shaft on the passenger side. I put the bolt back in, opened the correct fill bolt and drained the excess fluid. The bolt i removed is circled in red.

The massive problem is now I can barely select gears and I fear the bolt I removed has misaligned the shifter assembly or something preloaded. The shifter will not move to the right or self center. There is a chance I moved or knocked the shift cables and this is a coincidence but I'm not confident of that.

Anyone know what that bolt retains and how it could impact shifting? Any guidance at all would be appreciated as I fear I've done something that will require a rebuild or disassembly.

Thanks again, have already gained a wealth of knowledge from these forums.

[Starter986]

Originally Posted by luffy

Hi everybody, I wish my introduction here was under better circumstances, but here goes:

I have a 2001 Boxster S that I recently purchased. It has a slight 2nd gear grind and previous owner said service center had used a generic transaxle fluid. I picked up some OEM stuff and decided to try doing a fluid change late at night after the kids were in bed. Drain plug cracked open easily, then i found what I thought was the fill plug. I open it with a torx and started filling. About 3.5l in i realized I did something wrong. I checked the diagram I was using and it was for a 5spd. I removed something else, basically the bolt at the 11 o clock position relative to the axle shaft on the passenger side. I put the bolt back in, opened the correct fill bolt and drained the excess fluid. The bolt i removed is circled in red.

The massive problem is now I can barely select gears and I fear the bolt I removed has misaligned the shifter assembly or something preloaded. The shifter will not move to the right or self center. There is a chance I moved or knocked the shift cables and this is a coincidence but I'm not confident of that.

Anyone know what that bolt retains and how it could impact shifting? Any guidance at all would be appreciated as I fear I've done something that will require a rebuild or disassembly.

Thanks again, have already gained a wealth of knowledge from these forums.

A wealth of knowledge?

Good luck on the outcome. I'm going to be following this one...

[paulofto]

Luffy, you say the shifter won’t move side to side. To eliminate anything outside the transmission try moving the 2 pivots on the transmission by hand. If they move freely the jamming is likely in the cables or shifter. If you can’t move them freely by hand the issue is likely inside the transmission. I’ve had issues with the cables and linkage and resolved them but anything inside is voodoo to me. A visit to a Porsche Indy may be in order.

PS. You said you got 3.5 litres in through the wrong hole? Where did it go?

[luffy]

Just going to keep updating this with my solution. The bolt indicated in my post retains a spring loaded arm. The spring and arm were loose inside my tranmission. I hadn't seen it done, but its relatively easy to split the transmission while its still in the car. I removed the exhaust, 2nd gear detent and split the back half off the transmission. This gave me access to find the spring as well as locate what I had screwed up.

Will add some photos to clarify for anyone else who finds themselves in this situation in the future.

[911monty]

There may be a spacer that was on that shaft. Have a look at the attached thread for some diagrams that may be useful.

Transmission gear oil change made easy.

[MrBen]

I'm not all that techy but I do recall someone else did the exact same thing you are dealing with. It was probably 2 years ago. If I was techy I could probably dig up that old thread and post it for you. I do remember the conversation