Jammed cup holder… how do I remove it?

Tonight will be 1 week since I've signed the papers on an '08 Cayman S . I've already put over 2000 mi on it. I love it even more than I'd expected. Being a used car, little things pop up. While a cup holder is NOT the reason I bought this car, it would have been useful on the 2000 mi road trip. But (and I've seen this in other cars I was evaluating), the driver's side cup holder is jammed and cannot be released. I tried using a spring tool to pull it out and was able to move it out about 3/8", but something is blocking it from moving out further than that. I did notice quite a bit of friction as I slid it out but it definitely "hit" a stop that prevented it from sliding out any further. My search, here, didn't reveal any instructions for how I might release and/or remove the cup holder. Has anyone else experienced this problem? Anyone have any advice?

no experience w/ what you describe, but removal of the whole cup holder assembly is pretty easy. If I remember correctly, there are two bolts on the inside of the glove box that point upwards. remove them and the whole thing slides out like a CD. you should be able to figure out your particular issue w/ it out.

Here's an article that shows what jhthornley was saying. Removing Cup Holder Trim for Painting

Thanks, guys! Can it really be that easy?! Fingers crossed.

I've had them straight up break on 2 different cars...got jammed on my current car and I started to cuss like a sailor, thinking "here we go again"! I found the easiest way to unjam is use a thin flathead on the outward edge that open towards u, and as you pull that make sure the little basket that holds the drink is pushed up with your hand. Should pop right out...always make sure you close the adjustable cup extender before u push back into the holder, will prevent future jams.

Mostly fixed... Well, I pulled the unit, as described above—a couple of allen bolts accessible from the top of the glovebox. After not being able to unjam the cup holder, I loosened all the allen screws holding a plate which holds the cup holders into the unit. Then I was able to remove the one that was stuck. That revealed a small gear on the inside which was broken. The gear teeth that you can see near the pivot point when the holder is closed engage with that small gear. After putting the cup holder back in, I realized that that small gear dampens the arm as it swings out. So, now it kicks out. Probably not good in the long run. I have a feeling that I won't be able to replace just that gear or the dampening shaft that attaches to it, but I will check Porsche parts. Is there an online guide to such micro-parts so that I can see if it's available separately?

I just picked up a new-to-me Cayman S , two weeks ago. One of its quirks was that one of the cup holders (passenger right) lost its ability to remain clicked into the locked position. It pushed against the trim door, bulging it out and looking slovenly. Much like yours may now be doing. I pulled the cupholder unit and removed the top panel. I took the whole cup holder out from around its spindle. So, I have one swing out cup holder, now. Which is one more than my 944 had. The trim looks far better, now. I may put some sort of pen holder cubby into that slot to make it useful. It might hold USB adapters or something. Ebay has whole cupholder units for ~$300. Some parts pullers on ******** and maybe here will do better than that, if you ask nicely. For me, I probably won't fix it unless the cost goes to $100 or so.

This talk about "swinging" cupholders make me wonder.... You new folks realize that you must close the hinged door in order to lock the cupholder arms in the "out" position - right? I can't tell for sure whether that is what you are describing. Funny - when the 987 first came out - a video reviewer (Chris Harris maybe) complained about the swinging. One of the only things he didn't like about the car. I guess he didn't bother looking at the manual.

What I need is the little gear on the shaft behind the cupholder arm's pivot gear!

My issue was that the spring loaded cup holder wouldn't lock into retracted position. It was always trying to open the door. Now it is gone, and the trim door remains closed. Good info about closing the center trim door when a cup is out, however. I didn't actually know that was what you were intended to do. I don't read manuals.

It sounds like the catch-peg that should keep your cupholder locked closed is missing or messed up. Since I still had mine out, I took a couple of pics (though I took them of the driver's side, not the passenger's side, since I wasn't thinking about your problem (I was thinking about mine). There should be a metal peg towards the back of the box for each cupholder that pivots: It fits into the bottom of the cupholder, as the holder is pushed in, and locks the holder in place. Push the holder in, again, and it pivots further to release the holder: If you look at the bottom of the whole unit, you can see where there should be a plastic piece for each cupholder, the pivot point for that peg: If you can't fix yours and there is any chance you can pop the little gear off the shaft behind the cupholder's pivot, I would love it if you could send it to me!

This little blue guy? PM me information, and I will send it. Yeah, my little locking pin sheared off on the right side, so it won't hold the cupholder back against the spring pressure. No biggie. better now that it is out. Someplace to hide my wallet from banditos.

I'm really grateful for this forum and posts like this. I would be pulling my hair out otherwise. Today my cupholder jammed and with the information here I was able to remove the assembly, take it apart and at least get it to open/close again. In my case the little damper gear on the center broke and the pieces fell down inside, keeping the cover from closing. After I got it apart and removed the broken pieces I moved the gear from the damper on the right cup holder (which I seldom use) and am using that in the center. I dont know if the colors really mean anything particular, but in my case the two on the side that go with the cup holders have pink shafts and the one in the center is yellow. If anyone has a spare gear or the whole gear/damper part, I would love to get a replacement.

Check with CaymanPartsDirect, they have all the take off parts from the Cayman Interseries race cars.

Hi guys, It's frustrating to have a fancy car and simple things like the cup holders don't work...and more frustrating to have to pay $400-$500 to fix it with a replacement assembly that has the same design flaws that caused it to break in the first place. The cup holder on my '08 Cayman Design Edition failed a while ago, so I've done some engineering on it, and have more in the works that solves some of the problems. I've looked at the two common failure modes experienced by those in this thread. The cup holders either jam and don't extend/retract (swing out for use or back in again) or they will not stay locked in the retracted position when you push them in. The jamming is caused when a small gear on the damper cracks and breaks apart and the pieces stop the gears from rotating. The failure to lock in the retracted position is due to a small toggle arm that breaks off it's (flimsy) plastic shaft and can no longer hold the holder in locked position. My holder failed in the latter mode - wouldn't stay retracted. My mechanic confirmed what many have said on this forum - they break all the time. So I took mine apart, and re-engineered the part that fails and now have an upgraded assembly that's stronger than it was before. I have this available now as a repair and upgrade kit to solve that particular problem (failure to stay retracted). I'm not sure which failure mode is more prevalent this one or the jamming problem, but I addressed this one first because it happened on mine. It would be nice to get some feedback here as to the demand for this kit. It costs about $110 and takes about 15 minutes to do the repair/upgrade and you end up with an assembly that's much better than the original (for way less than the $400-$500 OEM replacement assembly with the same design flaws). Let me know what you think. Maybe I should engineer an upgrade kit so it holds bigger cups......

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Thanks for the feedback. I haven't done any work on a version that holds larger cups so no pictures unfortunately - was curious how much demand there would be for it. Focusing right now on the parts that actually break - making them better and stronger. Upgrade kit for the latching problem is available now. Currently working on replacements for the parts that jam. cheers B.