Shifter Slow Return to Center
 

Issue with my 2001 Boxster S, when in neutral the shifter is very slow to return to center. This is in the left/right plane, forward/back is totally fine. The issue is at the transmission, I released the cable at the transmission end and it moves smoothly when operating from the shifter. The arm at the transmission is obviously internally spring loaded and is very slow to return when moving by hand. Any suggestions? The car only has 50k and the fluid is new OEM, I recently purchased it. It gets slightly better when hot but still not acceptable. I've had quite a few of these cars and know what the shifter should feel like, I've never experienced this before though.

I had this before and despite cleaning and greasing the cable ball joints at the rear the best fix was to replace the cables.

Unfortunately my cables move freely when disconnected from the transmission. The arm at the transmission that connects to the left/right cable is sluggish when I move it by hand. There is a spring that loads from above that I suspect is the issue but it requires removing the transmission.:(

Did you ever solve this? What was the fix?

I have a similar issue on my 02’ that’s new to me but haven’t been able to Jack it up yet.