Slack in gear shift - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

geraintthomas · 10-16-2019, 11:43 AM

Hi all,

There's a lot of slack in my gear shifter, as you can see in the video below:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVRKrOCiFZQ

But when I lifted the gaiter and inspected the cable end that it's attached to underneath, it moves perfectly with the gear stick with no visible play:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsU-A200gNc

I read up online and saw that it could be on the transmission end, but I couldn't find a definitive answer, or fix, for the issue.

Does anyone know a fix for this? It's appalling.

Cheers!

Keith Newby · 10-16-2019, 01:01 PM

Is this something new or have you been living with it for a while? It looks as if the cables have too much slack. It's been a while since I last looked at my setup.

geraintthomas · 10-16-2019, 01:11 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Keith Newby

Is this something new or have you been living with it for a while? It looks as if the cables have too much slack. It's been a while since I last looked at my setup.

Unfortunately yeah, since I bought the car 4 years ago.

tommy583 · 10-16-2019, 05:05 PM

WOW That front to back slop is insane. That is not correct. I would get under the car and have someone move the shifter so you can see what's going on. I could not imagine trying to drive with that slop. By the way the side to side is about normal for a stock shifter. Oh and your shifter is on the wrong side or maybe it's your steering wheel.

geraintthomas · 10-16-2019, 11:43 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tommy583

WOW That front to back slop is insane. That is not correct. I would get under the car and have someone move the shifter so you can see what's going on. I could not imagine trying to drive with that slop. By the way the side to side is about normal for a stock shifter. Oh and your shifter is on the wrong side or maybe it's your steering wheel.

I know right? Side to side is easily fixable with a short shifter (metal bearings) and some shims to stop the play. It's the front to back... either there's play in the transmission end of the ball bearing or maybe the cables have stretched?

grc0456 · 10-17-2019, 05:37 AM

Perhaps the ball cups (not sure of the right name) on the shifter end of the cables are worn out? Easy replacement if you are going to change to SSK.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

geraintthomas · 10-17-2019, 11:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by grc0456

Perhaps the ball cups (not sure of the right name) on the shifter end of the cables are worn out? Easy replacement if you are going to change to SSK.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

But they can't be, which is why I took the second video.

Chi-Town · 10-17-2019, 02:06 PM

When I was installing the engine back in my car I noticed a lot of slop in the bell crank on the rear of the trans. The posts are pressed into the plate that makes up the bell crank and one of mine had worked loose.

geraintthomas · 10-17-2019, 02:08 PM

Really not sure what you're referring to when you mention bell crank and posts sorry!

I can see the highlighted mechanism but can't seem to figure out which parts you mean.

Did you fix it?

Chi-Town · 10-17-2019, 02:12 PM

Sorry, the posts on #18 in the pic

geraintthomas · 10-22-2019, 01:26 AM

Is there a fix for this?

Smallblock454 · 10-22-2019, 10:38 AM

Because you have a 03 or 04 car, you have a complete different linkage for the shifter mechanism at you MT. Not the one in the picture above.

geraintthomas · 11-04-2019, 04:01 PM

Thanks for the info.

Any word on a fix here guys? Surely I'm not the only one with slack in the gear shifter.

Here's the forum I had found previously:

excessive shifter play

But the fix was a custom-made job by the sounds of it. Would really love a fix.