99 Shift Misalinment in neutral
 

Hello,

Im new to the forums. I have a 99 with a manual transmission and I seem to have a misalignment in my shifter. In the resting neutral position the lever leans to the right. As a result, pushing the lever forward used to put it into 3rd like normal, and now it puts it into 5th. I have plenty of spring tension when I push the lever left, but none to the right. Its important to note, the car shifts fine and gear positions appear to be correct. Has anyone heard of this? Ive searched around, and havent seen any similar situation. Are there tension springs anywhere in the shift tower that may have been weakened, or are the springs internal to the tranny? Any advice is greatly appreciated.


Jim

Found it (well my mechanic did)
 

Just incase anyone encounters this problem, there are detents in the gearcase which hold the shift in the center position while in neutral. The 5th/rev detent in my case had backed out sufficently to cause severe misalignment in the shifter. I was told if I continued driving, it was only a matter of time before this item fell in and would have caused a catastrophic failure.

Luckily, for me: it was $339 at my independent Porsche service shop for the repair and a transaxle fluid change. I cant imagine what it would have cost had I wrecked the tranny.

Happy 986'ing

Jim