Manual transmission stiff when hot

[merlin 051]

Hi guys,

Ive been a reader for a while but decided to join the forums today.

Ive got a weird problem.

When the car is cold I can select each gear freely and the stick always springs back to neutral everytime when out of gear.

However when the car warms up (20 min journey) the gear stick becomes sticky, for example, pushing up out of 2nd gear and the stick does not spring back to central neutral position. Instead it will stay between 1st and 2nd gear.

I am still able to select each gear and the car drives fine but I need to make a conscious effort to move the stick back to centre before selecting a new gear.

Ive been under the car and well oiled and cleaned the selection linkages on the gearbox and this works perfectly when cold.

Any ideas?


My car is a 2004 986 manual 2.7

[Porsche9]

Has the transmission fluid every been changed? I just changed mine and it definitely improved shift action.

[merlin 051]

The car has just turned 50k miles so I doubt its ever been changed.

How likely is it going to be that the oil is causing this problem?

It wouldn't be my first suspect as when the oil is cold (thicker) the gear stick jumps back to neutral easily and I'd expect cold oil to make this even more difficult.

[Tucker2]

57K on mine and just changed the tranny fluid. Huge difference. It's easy and just do it yourself.