Dislike driving my car the first 5 minute at the start of everyday
 

Before my the water temp gauge reaches 180 degree's, i really dislike driving my car. Here is why.

1. 2nd gear seems to not engage as easily until engine was passed the 180 degree mark. The only way to get it to shift into 2nd is to really pull back quite hard on the shifter and all is fine. Or sometimes I just skip 2nd gear until the water temp has warmed up.

2. If i'm coming to a stop and i'm at about 2-5 mph and want to shift down to 1st gear, it won't go into first gear unless i make a complete stop first.

Thoughts on these conditions and any fixes you guys can think of?

You don't mention year / mileage or clutch operation of your car, but its worth replacing the oil with the genuine Porsche lubricant and making sure its at the correct level.
Don't be fooled by "other" brands of gear oil claiming its compatable - nothing works as well as the genuine stuff, especially if you have a few miles on the car or existing lube.....

Sorry, forgot to mention. I have an 03 Boxster S with approximately 75k miles on her. Clutch works perfect and was replaced by previous owner at 60k

I have similar symptoms, to a lesser degree -- about 45k miles.

Try changing your tranny fluid.

My first thought is, don't force anything. Then, don't shift into 1st anytime you are moving. Now that we're not damaging anything, get your car serviced with special attention to your linkage adjustment and transmission fluid change. NEVER rely on what a previous owner "says" he/she did and how they say they did it. Get your own baseline inspection/evaluation.

second that, from the research here it seems maintenance may seem to be a little pricey but repairs can be alot more.

Try some Red Line in that trans.

I have the same thing in one of my other cars in the mornings when it's cold. What I have found is that if I shift through each of the gears a couple of times while I sit in the garage as the car is warming up, I find it easier to shift when I begin to drive.

You might give that a try next time and see if it helps..

He appears to be in Southern California. I doubt it's a "cold" thing. Even here in Colorado my car left in the garage never has stiff shifting problems that he describes. He needs maintenance/service.

I have a similar issue with getting into 2nd gear in the morning here in SoCal. While its not freezing cold here, the temps do get down into the 40's at night (and then warm up to mid-70's during the day).

The key thing is NOT to force anything and be gentle with your shifts until the trans warms up a bit. I simply shift from 1st to 3rd for a few blocks, no big deal.

Of course, the first step is to change the trans fluid and have a mechanic look at the car. In my case, these didn't help but that's not to say that it wouldn't help someone else.

With my car, cause is most likely a balky syncho which becomes more evident when the trans is cold. My trans fluid is changed twice a year and the cables are adjusted at the same time as part of my track support relationship with my shop. Someone along the way probably blew a few 1-2 high rpm shifts and now the syncho doesn't quite synch as well as it originally did. As the fourth owner, hard to know what happened before I owned the car.

With all that being said, after 102,000 miles and 25 track days per year and an engine that still runs like its brand new, I have no complaints! :D

Mine is similar, worse when it is cold. Been like this since I bought it a year ago. I put Red Line in it and it got a little better, but not much. I might put genuine back in just out of curiosity. I have a 2000 'S' with 57k miles. One would think it should be a little smoother, I'm guessing something isn't perfect and might need some work but I live with it, it's not bad enough in my case to be bothered by it. I agree if yours is really difficult to shift then get it serviced.

I did bring this issue up with my mechanic and he mentions the 996 has a 'fix' for this.

2ND GEAR POP-OUT UPGRADE-GBOX Transmission

It's called a 'detent' which fixes the 2nd gear pop out issue. i contacted the company and they said they made one for the boxster too. Anyone have experience with this product?

Cold is relative. The gear oil is cold relative to operating temperature in CA too.

I agree with Brucelee, Try Redline 75W90 My shifting now feels ....GOOD !!!

my new (to me) 02 S has 43k miles on it with less than 4k on a g-box rebuilt tranny b/c of the 2nd gear syncro "problem." the tranny fluid is swepco 201 as recommended by g-box. same problem. very difficult to shift when cold. only takes 2 min to warm up, but it's a tranny issue and not a clutch, linkage, etc. issue. i just drive it down our 1/4 mile driveway in 1st to warm up the tranny internals. it seems to go away pretty quickly and all is well. i called g-box and they said to check for oil on the clutch disc, etc. i am going to keep an eye on it, but i think it's just a quirk and a little annoying. fwiw my old 914 with the 901 tranny did the same thing.

brad