1st gear problems, going through PCNA

Since I got my car in Jan 2006, I have always had an occasional problem with shifting into first gear from a stand still, and would happen once a day. I took it in immediately and was told this was "how a Porsche behaves". At the same time, I would get a exhuast smoke puff on start up once and a while and that too was normal, which I believe it is. So I lived with it for over 2 years, until now. So...with that said, I trusted my service advisor until reading this board and hearing about different problems people have been having with 1st gear. I took it in again yesterday and they won't look at it further and advised me to contact Porsche USA. I opened a a case and they are looking into it. 1. Cannot reproduce on demand and dealer could not reproduce. 2. Happened once a day starting in 2006. 3. I install the B&M short shift in 2008 which might be a problem with warranty 4. When the issues occurs, it won't go into first, so I have to go into second, disengage the clutch to lurch the car forward, stop, then it will go into 1st fine. 5. The required movement of the car and clutching, makes me believe it is something related to the syncro's and/or gears. 6. The rest of the gears is fine with no issues. 7. Has happened when the car was cold, warm, driven etc. no apparent pattern. I understand the dealer's perspective as they can't crack open every transmission and motor without reproducing the problem but as a customer, this is frustrating. Anyone else have this specific problem with 1st and had a resolution? Any PCA tech's care to comment on possibilities?

Re: 1st gear problems, going through PCA So clear back to 2006 you were not able to put the car into 1st gear? If so, I would have thought that your dealer could have reproduced that by now.

Re: 1st gear problems, going through PCA The car is fine 99% of the time. The problem would happen only once a day at first but more recently, maybe once every 2-3 days. I hope it gets resolved before my warranty is up in Dec this year. When PCA asked what my preferrable course of action was I wanted them to authorize the dealer to tear down the cluth and transmission to get to the root of the problem. I originally asked them to just upgrade me for free to a new Turbo but they didn't go for it. Got the lady to chuckle though 2005, 5-speed, 2.7 Box

Re: 1st gear problems, going through PCA When this occurs have you tried releasing the clutch for a moment when in neutral and trying again to put it into first? Sometimes that's all it takes...

Re: 1st gear problems, going through PCA Yeah tried that. I have to put it into a gear (2nd) and release the clutch just a touch to cause movement in the tranny. It will then go into first fine.

Re: 1st gear problems, going through PCA This rarely - maybe once every couple of months - happens to me, but when it does, I usually do what the Cayman Club Outsider does as described above... You also may have a problem getting them to fix this because you've installed the non-factory B&M short shift. They may require you to re-install a factory shift cage... or they may not, but be prepared for that. Also, the people you're dealing with is PCNA - Porsche Cars North America. PCA is an independent car club, not affiliated with PCNA or Porsche in Germany. brad

Re: 1st gear problems, going through PCA Have you folks tried coming to a halt in second, turning off the ignition and leaving it in second as it is parked? Then start with clutch in, still in second, then shift to first, after it is started, with clutch still in? Or my old standby, putting it in reverse? mike

Re: 1st gear problems, going through PCA I am getting the organziations wrong....I called 1-800-PORSCHE to report the issue so you are right, PCNA. Thanks!

There is a thread on here from back in 2006, wherein a guy had the same or similar problem as you with shifting. And he had installed a B&M short shifter himself. Fearing taking it back to Porsche because of the aftermarket mod, and possibly because he may have botched the install, he wanted to put an original shifter back in. I had one and gave it to him. He installed and an the problem persisted. He took it to the dealer and they installed a new transmission - problem solved.

Here is the thread: http://www.planet-9.com/cayman-boxster-modifications/9693-ssk-technical-question-am-i-screwed.html

:wall CNA called me back today and they said unless the I can replicate the problem in front of the dealer they can't won't look into it further. I understand their position but as a customer this really bites. Their suggestion is to take the technical manager for a longer drive with the hope it happens when he is with me. I don't think this will work as sometimes it is as infrequent as every 2-3 days. I asked what would happen if I forced it into first gear on next occurnence and hope it results in something that needs to be fixed. They said that was borderline "customer neglect" as that will not be covered. I argued and said, well that is not neglect as the operation of 1st gear is not supposed to occasionally initiate a work around by engagig 2nd gear and then first. She agreed to that point. The paperwork from the dealer explicitly stated I had a B&M shifter which the manager said might be a problem but PCNA didn't mention it at all during our calls. Ugg......:wall::argue:

it happened to me once (2007 model with 25k miles). One thing I have noticed that because the clutch pedal is not a straight push, but rather in an angle with the left foot, I have the tendency to leave about an inch of travel, hence not disengaging the clutch 100%. I have no idea if that has anything to do with this problem, and how close disengaging the clutch is with respect to pedal travel.

+1 I don't see any other way around it. I also agree that the service dept. will highlight ANY type of mod. no matter how small. I recently completed a thread where my local service dept. attempted to void my warranty because I used tire dressing on my sidewalls. I can't imagine getting anywhere with a non-OEM shifter. Good Luck

Wow, tire dressing...now that is crazy. Next thing is no warranty because used the wipers when is was not raining. Uggh....well the positive thing is that since I installed the short shifter over a year ago, the problem does not repeat as often.

Generally a test for transmission/shifting troubles involves with engine warm and idling with car on level ground you should be able to with the clutch fully depressed shift from any gear to any other car without difficulty. No grinding, crunching, or any great resistence. Some little resistence can be normal though. In your car's case there could be a shifter adjustment problem or a bent shifter fork or it could just be normal. Neither of my two Porsches has exhibited any problem shifting but other cars have exhibited a bit of a reluctance to shift into 1st or reverse at a standstill. What I found worked and became second nature for me was to put transmission in second -- never had any trouble selecting 2nd -- and just let clutch out enough to move car a bit then depress clutch and shift into 1st. It took no time at all and as I said became 2nd nature. Same with getting transmission into reverse. All manufactured parts/assemblies have differences even if otherwise "identical" and sounds like your car's transmission has differences that add up to a bit of difficulty getting transmission into 1st. You should never force the shifter though cause this can bend shifter fork and then transmission can start popping out of gear. This never gets better with miles/time but always gets worse. 'course I'm assuming we're talking about a rather minor reluctance to shift into 1st. That it does't happen all the time and dealer can't reproduce it suggests very strongly to me the symptom is nothing more than just a characteristic of the transmission arising as I mentioned above from normal differences that can arise in manufacturered assemblies. Dealers are very relucant and in fact will not do this unless authorized by factory to essentially perform exploratory surgery on a car to get to the bottom of a symptom. What will happen if the symptom deemed serious enough and dealer of course can reproduce symptom consistently -- sometimes factory aware of the problem and provides guideliness to use to classify symptom and its severity -- the offending part or assembly will be removed and a new one installed. Sincerely, Rockster.

Um. What about double clutching into 1st? If it double clutches into 1st fine, but has difficulty under normal conditions, me thinks synchros. Also, every single transaxle car I've owned is hard to shift when cold, especially when compared to a standard transmission. I double clutch mine till it gets warmed up. (No I have no idea why this problem exists, but my Corvette does it too)

Well, if something doesn't work the same way all of the time, then it isn't working correctly. A case in point would be a ring gear on a fly wheel. If it had a tooth missing, it is possible that the car could start lots of times in a row without encountering the bad spot. So, it appears ok; but if you encounter it, then the car doesn't start. The same thing can happen with the transmission. If the tranny warms up and it is better, it is due to thermal expansion of machined parts, causing the tolerances to be in the range that they are engineered to operate during optimal temperature. Lots of Porsches have temperamental 1st gears. IMO, they get that way because folks shift them like a Chevy. Porsches aren't American muscle cars and they weren't built to be driven like they had a M21 rock crusher in them. Shifting for 1/4 mile times hurts gears and syncros. And if the syncros start to get damaged (or the shifting mechanism, forks, etc, get bent), then the infrequent shifting issues will arise. Continued wear and tear will make the problem less isolated over time. The dealership always wants to fix the problem; they just don't want to pay for the troubleshooting, if it turns out to be fruitless. If they can't identify a cause to Porsche, then they won't be compensated. My truck had a cd player that would occasionally display some stupid error and make a noise on a cold morning. It was very infrequent. So, I took it to the dealer. They said the same thing. If we can't see the problem, then we can't fix it. I said, just put a new player in there. That will fix the problem. After all, do you think I would waste my time coming here to get you to replace my factor POS cd player with another factory POS cd player just for fun? And then they changed the player. The dealer buys lots of parts and cars from Porsche. They are a big customer, each one of us is not. The dealer has the power to replace your transmission - just because - and state that the problem, as you identified it - occurred and it warranted replacement. It's really that easy. Perhaps PCNA isn't the place to go for resolution. Maybe its the state's consumer affairs division, bureau of automotive repair.