Floppy shifter car stuck in 3rd

As per title - was driving along and went to shift from 3rd to 4th but the gear stick just flopped freely back and forth with no side to side movement. managed to get the car home and get the gator off to have a look. my lunch break was running out so only had time to have a quick look with a torch. Looks like nothing is attached to the lower part of the stick (below the pivot point) I could also see a bit of white plastic/bush lying to one side. Anyone experienced this? is it likely to be something snapped or just popped off and is it a fairly DIY fix. If someone could point me in the right direction with part numbers to order etc.. that would be a big help as I need the car on the road asap. Also if you have any advice on uprated parts to prevent something like this happening in the future.

It will be most likely one of the cables at the gearbox end. If you are lucky it will be one of the clips has broken, and you can tie-wrap it back on, or it might be the cable itself:

oh no I was looking for reassurance that it was the loose greasy plastic bit that I saw lying near the bottom of the shifter lol. Is it fairly easy to spot the cables shown in the pic from below the car once raised? And which side am I looking at.

I'm not sure about the stick mechanism, as I haven't heard of one breaking before. You should be able to see if the cables are attached at the back end easily enough. Driver's side of the transmission casing. Just forward of the drive shaft, which you can see in the picture. If they look OK, then you may well be correct that it is the shift lever mechanism. You can buy the fastnings where the cable goes on to the shifter, if that's what has broken.

Im hoping its at the shifter end as I saw that loose bit too. Ive done a bit of searching on a few other forums and it seems they fail at both ends pretty frequently so it coul be either. Im going to take the trim off inside the car first and investigate what that greasy bit of plastice was. Im pretty clued up when it comes to finding parts for VWs but this is my first porsche so can anyone direct me to a comprehesive EPC showing doagrams and part numbers. Also the best and quickest way to get genuine parts online or locally (berkshire) apart from the obvious OPC. Also you are round the corner from me Richard, know of any mobile porsche specialists that would come out to have a look if need be?

You can get a PDF of the parts list from here: http://www.porsche.com/uk/accessoriesandservice/porscheservice/originalparts/originalpartscatalogue/ Reading OPC is the obvious place for parts, but other companies like Euro Car Parts and Design911 do online/Mail order. I don't know any mobile specialists in the area. Closest indy to me is NineX in Maidenhead, and although I don't use them, they are building a good reputation. Owner Andy Duncan was a previous GT3 Register Secretary for the Club. If you are Reading direction, there is Ray Northway at Beenham, or if near Slough you have RSJ, or Peter Tognola at Datchet.

ALL FIXED! turns out the socket end (balljoint) of the cable which attaches to the bottom of the shift rod had popped off. Ive pushed it back on and tested it a bit and it seems ok. I will probably order a new part now that I know where to get the part numbers as it is probably worn and likely to reoccur. thanks for all the input

can anyone suggest how I might go about rectifying this for good as Im a bit paranoid it might do it again. I need to know if the socket for the ball on the end of the cable is actually easily renewable and if that would be of benefit. Ive seen it mentioned elsewhere that installing a short shift mech will make the problem go away completely, does anyone know if this is true and if so how does it make it go away?

Replace the shifter with the 'improved' 997 unit? fitting guide: here closest in below:

do you think only the 997 short shift is better or would the normal one be a good upgrade too? Mine feels notchy and its annoying at times.

can someone please help with this. I just need to know if the standard 997 shifter is an improvement over the standard 996 shifter?

No personal experience, but if you do a search on www.renntech.org in the 996 section you will get lots of posts from happy campers. Search for "+997 +shift" (without the quotes).

thanks, couple of useful threads on there. I have decided to go with an Agency power shifter linkage to address the dodgy balljoint and an OEM 997 shifter which is supposed to have a nicer shift feel than the standard 996 item (£50+vat from porsch-apart)

The green part on the 997 shifter i posted above is an alignment tool required to set the shifter position. I guess you won't get this with a secondhand shifter, not sure if it can be bought from Porsche on its own?

You can buy them separately, and they are only a few quid.

Part number shown here: http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php/topic/3424-adjusting-the-shift-mechanism-tools-dyi/page__view__findpost__p__16446 Edit: 000.721.961.90 - £2.75 +VAT

that was going to be my next hunt (for the green aligner) that links just made it easy thanks. Although the one with the part number above is orange in colour. Could the green one be different? EDIT: Green one is 000 721 961 91

They come in white, green, blue and orange, but as far as I know they are all the same. 000 721 961 90 is what is listed in the 997 workshop manual (dated 2006) so I suspect that 91 is just an updated version. 000 721 961 91 is even cheaper, at £1.83 +VAT!!

I haven't had a chance to call yet but do the main dealers deliver bits? update: yes they do.

Have you fitted this yet?

The one in leeds does but i dont know if theres a size limit.

Finally fitted all this last week before taking the car to North Wales. I had ordered the agency power shifter link from porscheshop but they did not have any in stock for over a month so had to re=order from design911. Anyway the AP link is a very tight fit compared to the original which I managed to push back on by hand. The shifter has a slightly shorter throw than the 996 item so all in all feels better than before but if you are after a shorter shift then go for the actual short shift kits.