Boxster S 2000 Shift Cables – semi-Solved

[mark near chciago]

I picked up a 2000 Boxster S (46K miles) about 2 years ago and was never satisfied with the shifting. My ’97 Boxster had silky smooth shifting while the ’00 was notchy and rather stiff when cold. I tried the usual cures – change tranny fluid & front engine mount & check tranny mounts for wear - all with no significant improvements. What I did notice it that when I tried to align the 2 shifter cables, the blue selector cable was about a ¼” short of properly fitting in the adjuster (as designed). The black shift cable fit just fine in its adjuster. What I did was to use my Dremel to grind off the back ridge on the adjuster so that the cable would lie in the adjuster with bit hanging out the back end. I secured the cable end in place using a small hose clamp. On my test drive this thing shifted like silk. I’ve driven it for a few days like this and I’m going to drive it for a few more days before reinstalling the console.

Am I disappointed in Porsche for having to do this modification – yes. My ’97 which I bought new had no real problems but it was built in Stuttgart. The ’00 was built in Finland and I was the third owner. However, when I got the ’00 the rear speakers were not working. Cause of problem – when the car was assembled apparently the speaker harness was caught by the roll-over hoops and shorted out. Was the car in a wreck? No, I’ve been playing with cars for the last 40 years and I think I can identify damaged cars. This is my 5th Porsche. Hope this helps someone out there.