Lost all gears in my 2001 Boxster today...Help! - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Hello everyone, I've attempted on searching for an answer to the following question, but have had no luck. Here it goes... I had just pulled away from a stop sign, hit around 20 mph in first gear then shifted to second. Instantly, I heard/felt a loud bang from the back of the car. I immediately pulled over, looked on the ground/didn't see any damage or anything hanging. It idles completely fine. I then tried to put it back into gear and nothing, all gears are gone from 1st-5th plus reverse. Anyone ever experience this problem or something similar? Here's some background information. The car is a 2001 Boxster 5spd manual with the 2.7 liter engine. It has 82k miles on it. I've owned it since 60k, and it has never been raced or abused. At 65k I had a new air/oil separator and mass air flow sensor installed, at 80k I had a new clutch and rear main seal installed. All the work was done at Rennsport Porsche in Tulsa Oklahoma which is one of the better Porsche specialists in the area. Between the clutch job and today I have never had any problems with the car. It gave absolutely no warning and was driving perfectly just before the incident. I would greatly appreciate any thoughts. Thank you!

first guess would be clutch failure. axles still attached to the trans?

Quotes source post: 421784

Wouldn't be surprised to see the 1/2 shaft bolts back out. Be surprised if both sides happened at the same time tho. Mike

Shift cable came loose or broke?? If it just came loose you may be able to re-attach & zip tie in place.

I don't know enough yet to help diagnose your problem beyond what the others have said, but I do happen to have a wrecked 2001 2.7 5-speed that I will be removing the engine from on Sunday/Monday. If it turns out to be something that you want used parts for, I'm only 1 hour Southeast of Tulsa and would rather make you a deal than store them.

First check the half axles as others said, if not than my best guess is clutch.

Is it making any noise while spinning with clutch out. You could have broken all the bolts off in one half shaft. With out LSD the car won't drive. I've had this happen.

I bet the axle on the driver's side disconnected... The bolts came loose (some fell out) and you broke a couple. Since you just had the clutch work done I'm guessing they didn't secure the bolts.

Thank you all for the quick replies. I've been browsing this forum, and I think it is very likely that those bolts have come loose/sheared off from the axle. I had it towed to my Indy shop this evening and they are going to look at it in the morning. I will keep you all posted, and update the thread once I learn more. Hopefully it will be warrantied under the clutch work I just had done with them...or at least not empty my wallet. I wish my first post here was under better circumstances but oh well...life happens. Also, thank you for the offer 78F350, if it turns out that it was in fact my transmission disintegrating then I will be sure to send you a PM.

Quotes source post: 421806

+1 + always recommend to re- torque the bolts after 500 miles. especially on the 6 speeds trans.

Same happened to me - driver side axle unscrewed from the transaxle. If you were to roll the car (too late now, I know) you would hear it flopping around. A little work with a torque wrench and you're in business

Just wanted to update this thread and provide a conclusion. As many of you had stated, the driver's side axle did in fact come unscrewed from the trans-axle. However this story does have a happy ending. My shop, Rennsport Porsche (the place I just had a clutch job completed), are providing the fix under warranty. They also stated that due to the bolts shearing/trans-axle unscrewing that part of the rear suspension became damaged, but they are fixing everything free of charge. Even though I am slightly inconvenienced by not having the car for a couple days, they are also performing another alignment, and it has been a fairly painless process overall in dealing with them. In the meantime though I'm driving my sport package equipped 2000 540i. All's well that ends well!