2nd Gear Grinding problem - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

gdalby · 05-07-2009, 02:35 PM

I've read a lot on this topic and I figured I might as well give a perspective in real time regarding a widespread issue on the Boxster and many of Porsche's other vehicles.

A few weeks ago, my 02 Boxster S (70k miles) started grinding at random times when going into second gear. It mostly happened in the mornings and was VERY intermittent, thus I regarded it as not something I could even replicate with a shop and continued to drive it being very careful in second gear in the mornings and night.

On Tuesday night, around 1 AM, I was driving home and the issue occured again. However, I could not get the car into second gear AT ALL, no matter how hard I tried. I took the car into the shop yesterday morning and it has been there since. I have an aftermarket warranty through Elite Warranty, so hopefully this ends up with it being covered under that.

Currently, Elite is telling my shop they will cover up to the cost of a used replacement transmission. I would rather have a new gear box installed, as why would I desire a transmission with a WIDELY known failure of this kind? It looks as though a new gear box will be more expensive than the coverage they are authorizing however, so I may just go with the transmission and if the problem occurs again, well they can repair it AGAIN.

I have to say I love my car, but after an extensive amount of web searching, this problem seems to be inherent in Porsche's vehicles. I understand problems are part of car ownership, but problems that take a repair job in the thousands of dollars that are caused by a well known, seemingly design-inherent problem aren't a mark of quality I want to associate myself with.

Sputter · 05-07-2009, 03:49 PM

Widely known? I must have missed the memo.

Look through here and other sites. Considering number of owners here I don't recall seeing very many tranny issues.
You may have better information than I do (i'm only guaging from what I read here/ppbb/rennlist and some smaller sites)

aside from that, I hope it works out for you.

Quote:

Originally Posted by gdalby

I've read a lot on this topic and I figured I might as well give a perspective in real time regarding a widespread issue on the Boxster and many of Porsche's other vehicles.

A few weeks ago, my 02 Boxster S (70k miles) started grinding at random times when going into second gear. It mostly happened in the mornings and was VERY intermittent, thus I regarded it as not something I could even replicate with a shop and continued to drive it being very careful in second gear in the mornings and night.

On Tuesday night, around 1 AM, I was driving home and the issue occured again. However, I could not get the car into second gear AT ALL, no matter how hard I tried. I took the car into the shop yesterday morning and it has been there since. I have an aftermarket warranty through Elite Warranty, so hopefully this ends up with it being covered under that.

Currently, Elite is telling my shop they will cover up to the cost of a used replacement transmission. I would rather have a new gear box installed, as why would I desire a transmission with a WIDELY known failure of this kind? It looks as though a new gear box will be more expensive than the coverage they are authorizing however, so I may just go with the transmission and if the problem occurs again, well they can repair it AGAIN.

I have to say I love my car, but after an extensive amount of web searching, this problem seems to be inherent in Porsche's vehicles. I understand problems are part of car ownership, but problems that take a repair job in the thousands of dollars that are caused by a well known, seemingly design-inherent problem aren't a mark of quality I want to associate myself with.

CJ_Boxster · 05-08-2009, 01:47 AM

You could have badly worn out transmission mounts and a broken motor mount.

mylamb · 05-08-2009, 07:13 AM

It is widely known. You can find many posts here & on Renntech. Just about any P mechanic you speak with will confirm that it's frequent. It was a problem with the 6 speed manuals on 986's & 996's. Your warranty will either ask to have it rebuilt, or as you said, swap it out for a used unit. It may be rare, but most non-Porsche warranties are not going to authorize a new gearbox - $7500 + roughly 7 hours for R&R.

Cloudsurfer · 05-08-2009, 04:01 PM

If you are given the option of having it repaired vs a used gearbox, I would strongly recommend going with the repaired route, and I would send it to G-Box and have them freshen it, with all their little improvements so that you wind up with a solid gearbox. While it's out, it's also worth looking into an LSD....

gdalby · 05-13-2009, 08:34 AM

Well, after getting the numbers back from the shop I originally took the car to, I decided to go get a second opinion. The first shop was suggesting either putting a used transmission in the car, or having a gear box from California shipped in that supposedly "solved" this issue. I thought it funny that the shop could make a decision on what needed to be fixed with the car without even taking the transmission out and resorting to a $6500 fix. Thus, I contacted a friend of my father's who owns several Aamco Transmission shops in the area and took it to him.

This morning he informed me he had priced out the parts it would take to repair the second gear and also that Porsche has released an upgrade for this second gear problem, something the last shop had mentioned nothing about. His estimate is about $3500 to rebuild the second gear and all affected parts. Luckily, my warranty will cover up to $2500 for it, so I wont be out that much.

Does anyone know anything about this upgrade for the second gear from Porsche? I find it very odd that the first shop mentioned nothing about it. In any case, I'm happy that the car is finally getting towards a solution and I should be getting my car back by Monday or Tuesday. I think I might have forgotten how to drive a clutch!

Cloudsurfer · 05-13-2009, 09:12 PM

Um.... $3500 for a rebuild? Considering G-Box rebuilds are typically around $2k, unless you have serious stuff damaged in there, $3500 seems extremely high.

Also, for what it's worth, while these gearboxes don't contain rocket science, it's certainly outside the norm of what most generic transmission shops tend to work on (domestic auto gearboxes typically).

If you're pulling the gearbox for a rebuild, and your warranty will cover $2500, I would send it to G-Box rather than pay more out of pocket to have someone who is likely not all that familiar with a manual transaxle do the work.

Just my $.02

Cloudsurfer · 05-13-2009, 09:15 PM

By the way, with respect to the 2nd gear issues, G-Box does have a proprietary (so they claim, at least) "update" to the 2nd gear dogs I believe, that cures the popping out of gear problem. My guess, however, is that you just have very worn syncros, and that a normal rebuild would likely cure all your problems.

I don't know that Porsche has ever released updated components in this area.

mylamb · 05-14-2009, 07:46 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gdalby

Well, after getting the numbers back from the shop I originally took the car to, I decided to go get a second opinion. The first shop was suggesting either putting a used transmission in the car, or having a gear box from California shipped in that supposedly "solved" this issue. I thought it funny that the shop could make a decision on what needed to be fixed with the car without even taking the transmission out and resorting to a $6500 fix. Thus, I contacted a friend of my father's who owns several Aamco Transmission shops in the area and took it to him.

This morning he informed me he had priced out the parts it would take to repair the second gear and also that Porsche has released an upgrade for this second gear problem, something the last shop had mentioned nothing about. His estimate is about $3500 to rebuild the second gear and all affected parts. Luckily, my warranty will cover up to $2500 for it, so I wont be out that much.

Does anyone know anything about this upgrade for the second gear from Porsche? I find it very odd that the first shop mentioned nothing about it. In any case, I'm happy that the car is finally getting towards a solution and I should be getting my car back by Monday or Tuesday. I think I might have forgotten how to drive a clutch!

I just went through this ordeal so PM me if you have specific questions. Porsche has made an update to the gearbox & when yours is rebuilt, it should be slightly reinforced from the original unit. I had it done. Seriously, it's an extra sleeve, but it apparently makes a huge difference.

I would probably keep looking or as other members suggest, try Gbox. At least give them a call. My warranty company also wanted me to go to AAMCO for the repair. Even at a Porsche dealership or Porsche specialist, there's usually only 1 guy on the premises who works on transmissions. I do not have faith in asking AAMCO to rebuild your transmission. Good luck!

gdalby · 05-14-2009, 10:47 AM

Unfortunately Aamco is already taking out the tranny, so at this point I'm going to let them go through with it. If the problem happens to arise again, I will look at Gbox, thank you for the input!

Cloudsurfer · 05-14-2009, 07:14 PM

I'm very curious to hear how this works out- best of luck to you.

I did not know that there was an update to the gearbox, but when mine is out to do my 3.6 swap I will certainly get the updated parts.

myfirstporsche33 · 08-17-2009, 06:07 PM

please keep me posted on your solution. I fear that my second gear problem is getting worse. I took it to a local shop, and they wanted to rebuild the gearbox...claiming the synchros were messed up.

ekam · 08-18-2009, 06:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mylamb

It is widely known. You can find many posts here & on Renntech. Just about any P mechanic you speak with will confirm that it's frequent. It was a problem with the 6 speed manuals on 986's & 996's.

And yet when someone asks which Boxster they should buy, everyone says go for an S. Maybe a base model with 5spd is a blessing in disguise?