Transmission popped out of 2nd gear

I was going fairly slow, had just shifted to 2nd and it popped righ back out to neutral. I've never had that happen before. Should I be concerned, or just see if it happens again and watch for a pattern to develop?

My rule of thumb - if it happens only once, don't worry about it. It it happens again, you've got a problem.

Was the transmission at running temp? I used to have that happen when the car had just started up. After the transmission was at running temp, no more problems. I changed my transmission fluid and it's never happened since.

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Same here. If it's not happening persistently you don't have a problem. - more likely you were too fast off the clutch when you were still engaging the gear... ask me how I know that one!

I have this problem at times also. Definitely more pronounced when the car hasn't yet warmed up fully, but I have had it occur even at full operating temp. The 996TT has this problem a bunch, that crowd talks about it like we talk about RMS failures. It is common enough that there are rebuild kits available (aftermarket) for the transmission now. My car clearly has issues with 2nd gear, but I've learned to be more gentle with it and have not had it pop out of gear for almost a year. Oddly enough, the advice that 'solved' it for me was simple: use 3 fingers to shift. This forces you to pay more attention to what the gearbox is telling you, and I've found that I can tell immediately when the shift did not work correctly. When that happens, I simply pull it into neutral and try again, rather than forcing it and having the resultant pop-out. Since it cannot be reliably reproduced, I'm just waiting for it to get worse before having it fixed. I have a warranty, so when it finally happens frequently enough to show a tech, I'll get it fixed. In the meantime, I deal with 2-3 bad shifts per week. I've NEVER noticed this problem because I was too fast off the clutch. It always happens immediately after a shift that felt odd, and almost always when I'm not pushing the car.

I may have been too fast off the clutch now that I think about it. Irksome, I did a search on Renntech about this. You may want to also.

Once I changed my transmission fluid, it's never happened since. I replaced with Red Line 75/90. I don't know if the brand had anything to do with it, though. I had 80,000 miles on the transmission, so it was due a change.

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While I won't swear I've never shifted too fast, that is definitely not the source of the recurring problem. In almost all cases, I detect the problem long before I release the clutch. When it happens, I can feel the gear either not going all the way in or feeling 'crunchy' as it goes in. In most cases, pulling it back to neutral and back into 2nd fixes it. I know from experience that if I ignore these symptoms and continue (ie, release the clutch), the car will pop out of 2nd gear about 25% of the time. Oddly enough, when I AM quick-shifting I never have problems. At least, I haven't yet. I only quick-shift when the car is warm (and the problem occurs most often when it is cold), and rarely do I do so outside of autocrossing.

I do have the same experience as Irksome's. I also found out you need to rev match the speed with your 2nd gear, if that makes sense to you. At a higher speed while downshifting to 2nd gear will likely to give you a pop out!

I had the same type of issue with my 98 VW GTI. While I know the cars are completely different, a small adjustment to the linkage and the issue went away

I have heard many 996 owners speak of an issue with 2nd, and that dealerships are aware of a gearbox wear issue that causes this on some cars. I won't say it's common, or a feature of the 996, because last time I did, I got hammered for dissing the car... And it's always 2nd gear - FWIW

I've had this issue in the past, and it def. seems to be more common with TT's. It is difficult to reproduce, but when mine does it, which is not often...I am coasting in 2nd gear...usually down hill, even a slight incline when it slips out. Zero issues with regular shifting, so it doesn't bug me too much. J

All of the 996 transaxles have this problem sooner or later, we fix it all the time. Feel free to contact me for more information on this, I know that I have posted several explainations about why this happens already, but here is the real rule of thumb on this issue, if it happens once, it is only going get worse as time goes on. My recommendation, is that you catch this issue as soon as possible. It will only get more expensive to fix it in the long run if you do not. Just my 02 cents. For those who do not know, we specialize in transaxle rebuilds, and the 996 is a very difficult gearbox, so be careful who you let work on it. Warmest Regards, Erik Johnson Carquip Sales [phone removed] ext 2 work

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Can you work with extended warranty companies? What do you do to diagnose and confirm that there is a problem? I've been waiting for it to get worse just so I can get the dealer to back me up when we go to the extended warranty to get it covered...

I hate to be the bearer of really bad news for you, but your extended warranty company is probably not going to cover this. I have seen this a time or two, and it has never worked out for the car owner. Sorry to have to tell you this. The dealership is probably not going to be of much help to you here either, as I know they have not allow this as a warranty claim by Porsche. I would be happy to give it a try, but ultimately, I am not too sure that this is going to fly with them. Hope that this helps. Erik Johnson Carquip Sales [phone removed] ext 2

Why would that be? I have an exclusion warranty, and the transmission is definitely NOT excluded. What possible reason could they give to deny the claim?

Sometimes I wonder if it has to do with the cable system used? Cables stretch and it wouldn't take too much slack to deter full engagement of the slider hub.

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Erik, can you give the 2 second recap on why the issue happens?

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+1 ....I researched this issue a few months ago without many results...and what is the ballpark cost of the fix?? FWIW...my car did this the third week I owned it...and that was a year ago and almost 18K miles ago. It still does not do it very often. J

what is the recommended trans fluid for my 99 996 C2 with a manual transmission.

I've seen the problem first hand in my friends 996 c4. It started off occuring only now and then, until it got worse. The car was autocrossed in San Diego a lot. It turned out that he wore out the dog teeth on the second gear and needed a new second gear and synchro. He said that he put tension on the shifter while shifting and turning he would hold on to it for support. That's why his wore out.

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That is wierd... there is a perfect "support" right in front of you to hold on to in the corners...(hint, its round and big) I have met other people that hold on the the stick and jostle it about while driving and always thought that can't be good.. Thanks for the post

I started having this problem a few years ago. It was infrequent -- once or twice a month -- but was annoying. I installed the B&M Short Shift Kit and never had the problem again.

I have a slightly longer story to tell. Bought my 99 with about 16k miles on it. Right away I noticed difficulty in getting it to slip into first with any forward motion. Took it o the dealership and they replaced the tranny. Didn't have it very long when the new unit starting slipping out of second. I had done DE events and took advantage of the dealership's offer to tech the car for free. When they decided to replace the replacement transmission, the PCNA zone rep was there. He said whoa, this guy tracks his car (he figured that by looking through the records and finding my free tech inspections), we are not giving him anything. The dealership went to bat for me, so I have a third transmission with the same issue "given to me" by PCNA under a gifted letter. It says they are not responsible from here on out. Had I known the full extent of this issue, I probably would have insisted they replace first gear synchos in the original transmission rather than do the swap out thing.