New Transmission Questions - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Hello All! My 2002 Boxster S has had the dreaded "grind" into 2nd gear since I bought the car four years ago. It's finally gotten bad enough that it is starting to pop out of gear. That's new in the last two weeks. My questions: What is the best solution for this problem? I've already done the 2nd gear detent and fresh high end oil. Is it a rebuilt transmission? Can the current transmission be fixed? Where do people source rebuilt units from? What else is typically done when swapping transmissions? - Clutch? - Rear Main Seal? - IMS Bearing? - Anything else? This is truly a bummer, because I know it will be costly, and there are absolutely NO other troubles with the related parts. No leaks, no IMS issues, good clutch.... Another question - what's a fair price to pay for this to be done at an independent shop? Thanks Porsche Friends!

A 6spd rebuild is usually about $4k while a clean used one from a dismantler is less than 1/2 that. I would shop for used/low miles and swap it out. Clutch, flywheel, IMS, RMS, are all good preventative measures while the gearbox is out of the way. I found a serviceable used FW for $150 which was a steal of a deal. Good luck!

Kelly, I am not sure if you are planning to keep your car for a long time. In my case I do, therefore when the input shaft bearing started to rumble (pretty bad actually) I decided to get my transmission rebuilt, originally I was expecting to spend half of what I ended paying but got a new second gear w/slider ring, and new synchros for second and third gears besides the pinion gear shaft bearings. I have driven my car about one thousand miles and honestly I am glad that I decided to do it since I love my car and now the shifting is very precise, also after recovering from the tab shock (since I was already broke...), I went ahead and ask the shop to install an OS Giken LSD... This past weekend I had the opportunity to drive my car up a mountain road (locally famous) for the twisties, called Palomar Observatory and all the pain and memories from the expensive repair bill were justified, simply awesome! There are several shops that specialize on rebuilding these gearboxes, but two of them are pretty popular: Porsche transmissions, parts, service and manufacturing – California Motorsports Inc (actually in AZ) PORSCHE RACING AND STREET GEARBOXES-GBOX Transmission (located in CO), these guys rebuilt my gearbox Good luck!

Had the exact same problem in my '02 S 6 speed and put in one of these from G-Box. This part plus fresh synthetic made a huge difference. 2ND GEAR POP-OUT UPGRADE-GBOX Transmission I'd say it's 90% better. I still notice a little notchiness shifting into second when the 'box is stone cold in the morning, so I rev it a bit higher, skipping 2nd till she warms up (about 5 mins). There's never any grinding or popping out. This is a lot less expensive to try first before a gearbox replacement.

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I do plan to keep my car. I'm think the route you took. If I ever do sell it, I'd get punished on the price due to the 2nd gear problem. So if it's going to cost me one way or another, I might as well pay now and enjoy the car! Can I ask how much it cost you (without the diff upgrade)?

Kelly, I sent you a PM a couple of days ago. I also had my transmission rebuilt by GBOX, they did a great job. No one will be able to accurately tell you costs until they open the case and inspect it, mine needed a second gear synchro and some other minor parts and ran $2500 to $3k with shipping there and back.

I didn't realize 986's had this problem too. I had to look out for this when purchasing my TT. My 986 5 speed never had this issue. I still wonder how this problem manifests in the transmission.

Second gear synchros are a known issue in the 6 speed boxes in both the 986 and 996's which is the same transmission except that it's flipped. 5 speed units in the Boxster are thought to be more robust, less hp / torque put to them also.

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Kelly as mentioned by Coreseller, the final cost will depend on the condition of your components once they open the gearbox. In my case second gear was toast ($1k extra) and that increased the cost to $4k including inbound and outbound shipping charges. For shipping, I bought a large ice chest at Walmart for about $55 (which you are most welcome to use if you are in SoCal.) If you do any performance driving, you may want to consider an LSD, it completely changes the car behavior for the best. Good luck!

Very helpful you guys - thanks so much! I think my next step is to decide when to make this happen.