Transmission Issues
 

Just when I thought the Boxster was running well...
Came home from work today and parked the car in the garage. Nothing unusual noticed on the drive home from DC. I do have an occasional grind from 2nd to 3rd if I try to shift too fast that I think is syncro related.
A couple of hours later I get in the car to leave and the transmission won't go into gear. After some wiggling around the car will shift into 3rd, 4th and 5th- or at least the lever moves like it is doing that. I could move the car slightly in those gears. No go into 1st, 2nd and reverse. I jacked the car up and the shift linkages are all connected, i.e. nothing obviously broken. The one shaft that moves into and out of the transmission longitudinally can be moved by hand and also by the shifter. The other linkage can't be moved by hand- that's the one that is connected to a slotted plate that pivots. Clutch pedal doesn't feel any different.
Anyone have any ideas what's going on?

Car info:
1999 Boxster
1998 build manual transmission
eBay short shifter
97,000 miles
Royal Purple 75w-90

Regards,
mike

ps: At work today I got to handle the Derringer that John Wilkes Booth used to assassinate Lincoln. Very small with very ornate engraving. Thought that was kinda cool.

This is what I would do. The shaft that the linkage is connected to, there is a set screw that connects them. Pull the set screw and look through the hole it was in. Make sure that it is aligned and put the set screw back in and make it nice and tight. Also check that the cables are still in there retainers a little further up on the transmission. May also need to bleed the clutch or may even need a clutch. I hope this helps. You may know all this already but this is just my thoughts on it.

Well, it looks like the relay shaft won't pivot back and forth. I popped off the shift cable from it and the gear shift knob moves to all gear positions. Looking at the manual it looks like this shaft controls the forks for 1st, 2nd, 5th and reverse. I can shift to fifth but why not 1, 2 or reverse?
Not sure what I can do now other than have it towed to a shop for their opinion.
Already looked on eBay for used 5-speeds.
Anyone have any experience in repair/rebuilding these transmissions?

JAAY,
Set screw is fine and the cables are locked in place. Since that pivot won't move does that rule out a bad clutch. No warning signs from the clutch-shifting just didn't work after pulling in the garage. Thanks for your post.

As always, any advice is appreciated.
mike

Update...
Got the transmission fixed. Wasn't cheap at all. The two large Torx screws that one of the shift rods slides and pivots on were replaced. One sheared off and the other replaced just in case. Also, had a new clutch installed, new RMS, new IMS hardware and new slave cylinder.
Clutch pedal effort greatly reduced.

Glad it wasn't too serious.

Just curious -- since I'm also in NoVA -- what shop did you use for the work?

Lucky,
I used IMA Motorsports in Chantilly. They are behind the Cadillac and Hummer dealerships on Rt 50. Maybe 3 miles west of the Rt. 28/50 intersection.
It was pretty serious to my wallet! But it would have been worse had the whole transmission been bad.