Very Odd Boxster Problem - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

austinkthompson · 09-04-2014, 08:21 PM

Okay, so this is a pretty long story so stay with me.

I recently bought a 1999 Porsche Boxster. It's beautiful, in incredible condition, but the transmission is a bit odd. Here's a list of all it's little oddities.

When I pull up to a stop sign, my Porsche idles in 2nd gear (which is normal). But when I stop completely, the car is actually in neutral for about 5 seconds, then switches into 2nd gear. So if I pull up to a stop, I can't go anywhere until my transmission sets in again. Mind you, my car is an automatic.

If I'm accelerating and switch out of second gear (automatically) the car sits in neutral for a second or so and then slams into 3rd gear. Like someone is dropping the clutch into 3rd gear.

If I pull up in a drive through, my car stays in second gear, but I'm not moving. If I don't move for a long enough period of time, 2-4 minutes, the car has a transmission error. It's hard to explain, but my car says I'm in 2nd gear, but acts like i'm in 5th gear trying to move. I basically have to gas it all I can, running 5-6K RPM just to move. And then the car gives me a transmission error and I have to turn my car off and back on and it works fine then.

Lastly, when I'm in 5th gear, holding a steady speed of around 40-50 MPH and around 2K-3K RPM, the RPM wobbles. It'll wobble between about 100 RPM. I can hear it so I know it's not an issue with the indicator, and I can feel it cause the car slows down just a tad bit and then picks up again as it wobbles.

So, do any of you have any idea what my problem could be? If it's any help, I bought the car from a mechanic in my town (he works on foreign cars like Mercedes, BMW and Porsche's) and rebuilt the transmission on my car, which is why I think it may have been an issue with rebuilding it. But I still can't figure out what it is that is causing this problem. It's consistent too, the car is always like this, ever since I've had it it hasn't run correctly.

Hope some of you may be able to help me or point me in the right direction!

Also, here's a photo of my Boxster just so y'all can see it. :)

Xpit77 · 09-05-2014, 04:53 AM

My 99 tip works fine.It has never done any of these things you describe. How does it shift in manual ?When I had the LN installed I had the do the trans. New filter fluid etc. Now it works even better.Time to go to a dealer.

jdraupp · 09-05-2014, 05:28 AM

My WAG would be something with the tip computer not jiving with the rebuild. Maybe some kind of remap needs to be done to correctly mate the trans to the computer? Or your tip computer needs replaced? This is not normal and you really shouldn't be driving it as is.

seningen · 09-05-2014, 05:34 AM

I'd ask why it was rebuilt in the first place and what exactly was done.
I would do it in a manner that wasn't accusatory -- just like
hey dude -- I'm trying to figure out what is going on and I need
to have a baseline.

Clearly this isn't normal.

Any idea what fluid is in it? Does it have the proper amount?

It's possible there was debris in the oil pre-rebuild and it didn't all get cleaned out
and its gumming up the valve bodies.

I'm not sure if something like a Duramatic can read the actual codes and
see if the tranny can tell you what it is unhappy about.

Mike

austinkthompson · 09-05-2014, 06:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jdraupp

My WAG would be something with the tip computer not jiving with the rebuild. Maybe some kind of remap needs to be done to correctly mate the trans to the computer? Or your tip computer needs replaced? This is not normal and you really shouldn't be driving it as is.

I had thought it was the computer. I had brought it back to the guy after it started happening the first time. He had reset the computer saying that because of the rebuild, the transmission and computer weren't in full sync. It solved the problem for a day or so, but it just came back right after that. It's definitely not normal and I shouldn't be driving it, but it's my only mode of transportation right now and I can't afford to not make it to work and stuff.

I had called the guy again and told him about the issue continuing to happen and I'm going to be bringing it back to him on Monday for him to thoroughly go through everything and solve this problem once and for all.

austinkthompson · 09-05-2014, 06:44 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xpit77

My 99 tip works fine.It has never done any of these things you describe. How does it shift in manual ?When I had the LN installed I had the do the trans. New filter fluid etc. Now it works even better.Time to go to a dealer.

In manual it shifts very well. I don't have the neutral at a stop light problem since I just shift down to first gear and it clicks in once I do that. But shifting from 2nd to 3rd, I still have that short delay of being in neutral while the gears shift.

austinkthompson · 09-05-2014, 06:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seningen

I'd ask why it was rebuilt in the first place and what exactly was done.
I would do it in a manner that wasn't accusatory -- just like
hey dude -- I'm trying to figure out what is going on and I need
to have a baseline.

Clearly this isn't normal.

Any idea what fluid is in it? Does it have the proper amount?

It's possible there was debris in the oil pre-rebuild and it didn't all get cleaned out
and its gumming up the valve bodies.

I'm not sure if something like a Duramatic can read the actual codes and
see if the tranny can tell you what it is unhappy about.

Mike

I don't know what fluid is in it. I know that when I bought it from him he had replaced all of the fluids right before. So it's new oil, transmission fluid, everything. He had rebuilt it when he bought it from the original owner because he wanted to make sure everything was okay because of that IMS bracket problem a lot of older Boxsters have. While replacing that IMS bracket as a precaution, he just decided to rebuild the whole engine to make sure everything was in working order. My grandpa has one of those devices you can connect to the onboard computers to look at what errors you get. I may ask if he can run it real quick and see if the computer is complaining of anything.

Taipanic · 09-05-2014, 07:52 AM

About 5 months after I bought our '98 tip for my girl it started slipping in Auto mode. Manual mode was still shifting good. Car had around 100k on it. Had the transmission fluid flushed. About two weeks later had a complete transmission failure. Ended up having the transmission rebuilt, along with replacing the IMS & RMS through a local independent. Total cost around $3600, which I considered a good deal, considering the R&R, rebuild, & IMS replacement.

austinkthompson · 09-05-2014, 08:32 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Taipanic

About 5 months after I bought our '98 tip for my girl it started slipping in Auto mode. Manual mode was still shifting good. Car had around 100k on it. Had the transmission fluid flushed. About two weeks later had a complete transmission failure. Ended up having the transmission rebuilt, along with replacing the IMS & RMS through a local independent. Total cost around $3600, which I considered a good deal, considering the R&R, rebuild, & IMS replacement.

Okay, thank God I'm bringing it back to the mechanic to repair it now. I can't do without my car. I work an hour away from my home so I need it, and I don't have any other car. Plus, a $3,600 repair would be too much for me, especially considering I bought the car for $7,000. Thankfully, since the mechanic sold it to me with this issue, after he said it didn't have any issues, he's willing to fix the problem for free.

Here's to hoping it all works out well! Fingers crossed.

seningen · 09-05-2014, 09:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by austinkthompson

Okay, thank God I'm bringing it back to the mechanic to repair it now. I can't do without my car. I work an hour away from my home so I need it, and I don't have any other car. Plus, a $3,600 repair would be too much for me, especially considering I bought the car for $7,000. Thankfully, since the mechanic sold it to me with this issue, after he said it didn't have any issues, he's willing to fix the problem for free.

Here's to hoping it all works out well! Fingers crossed.

That's very honorable, let's hope he can get you back on the road.

Keep us posted!

Mike

runjmc2 · 09-05-2014, 10:45 AM

I mean this is a constructive way….having a '99 986 as your only vehicle with a long drive and not being able to afford expensive repairs is not a good situation to be in. There are many issues that can and will come up….especially is it's approaching a maintenance cycle. You may want to consider a back up plan or possibly a different car for now. I hope it is something simple and you are back on the road quickly.

austinkthompson · 09-05-2014, 05:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by runjmc2

I mean this is a constructive way….having a '99 986 as your only vehicle with a long drive and not being able to afford expensive repairs is not a good situation to be in. There are many issues that can and will come up….especially is it's approaching a maintenance cycle. You may want to consider a back up plan or possibly a different car for now. I hope it is something simple and you are back on the road quickly.

Well I work at an airport and my boss is a pilot there. Since he lives in my town he is able to fly me to work if I need to. That's what he does most of the time. So I have somewhat of a backup plan to at least get to work. But outside of work I'd have nothing I can do to travel.

NewArt · 09-08-2014, 11:55 AM

I had to add fluid 3 separate times after a fluid change to get it to the proper level. Temperature is also important.

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flaps10 · 09-08-2014, 01:50 PM

Sounds like the valve body problem in our VW Touareg (commonly manifests itself as a really hard shift from 4-5 or 5-4).

We have the valve body on order from this place. $695 is WAY cheaper than paying someone $4-5k to do a transmission.

I just looked at the place ours is on order from and they don't list Porsche. But. I did find this (same transmission as a passat)
5HP-19FL valve body rebuild DIY

This is where ours is coming from. You'll need to figure out which one yours is.

flaps10 · 09-08-2014, 01:52 PM

Sorry, fat fingers

austinkthompson · 09-08-2014, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seningen

That's very honorable, let's hope he can get you back on the road.

Keep us posted!

Mike

So an update! I took it back to the mechanic today and he took a look at the transmission to see what was up. He found out that my Clutch Pack was broken. It kept falling out of sync with my transmission, which causes it to go neutral to help save my transmission, and then attempt to reconnect (which caused my bumpy reengaging of my transmission).

All-in-all he said he may need to keep the car for a week to get the part and do the repair but he's doing it for free as well since it was something he says he should have caught when he rebuilt the engine.

So I got to save $500+ and finally have a beautifully working Porsche. I couldn't be happier, even with not having my car for a week.