1st gear sucks!
 

2000 Boxster S - 6 Speed
No aftermarket mods
82,400 miles

Ok... Can't quite put my finger on it, but...

When I bought my car a few months ago it had great pickup and if I wanted to I could peel out (not that I wanted to). Now for whatever reason 1st gear kinda sucks. Car just doesn't launch me into orbit like it did when I bought it. Higher ears still give me goose pimples on the highway, but 1st feels like I really have to push it now.

- I have no codes
- No idle problems
- Clutch is still engaging low
- I'm not experiencing gear "slippage" (as far as I can tell)

Took the car to a local indy shop and they said that the clutch still felt pretty good to them. They would need the car for a day or two to diagnose... Not excited about that idea.

Things I've read:
Could be the MAF. (Durametric data says it reads normal)
Could be the Cats. (Don't know what to look for)

Any ideas what else?

Have you had the battery disconnected lately?

My last "issue" with the car was a vacuum leak. While hunting it down the battery was disconnected a couple of times. Why do you ask?

Because it takes up to a couple hundred miles for the DME to readjust it's mapping after being reset by disconnecting the battery. Before that time, the car will run a little funny.

Hmmm... Come to think of it...

After the car came back from the mechanic the DME was reset. It drove great for about a day and then after that it went limp.

I'm gonna try disconnecting the MAF and driving around a little tomorrow. If that doesn't help I will try resetting the DME via the battery trick.

I am thinking that if the MAF is good and the DME reset helps couldn't there still be another issue if the car goes back to "limp 1st gear" a day later?

Thanks for replying - BTW

All help is very much appreciated!

I'd just drive it around, normally, for a couple of weeks and see if it goes back to the way it used to be.

I guess that's the thing... I tried that. The car came back about 7 weeks ago. So the wait (I think) is over.

Yeah, if you've been driving it, it should be back to normal by now. Have you been driving aggressively?

Did you change tires?

No more than any of us... :)

Not recently before or after this started happening.