Clunky Shifts

I've been in my 02 4s for about 6 months now. I have noticed in the past few weeks that the transmission is a little clunky between shifts. Not hard, no noise, just a little resistance between each gear. There doesn't appear to be any resistance going into neutral. Any idea what could be causing this?

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All gears or just from like 1st to 2nd?

All gears.

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Explain what you mean by resistance. Are you saying the gears don't want to engage... in other words, it's hard to get the gear shift into the gear before releasing the clutch? Now the "clunk" you speak about, does that happen as soon as you release the clutch or when trying to engage the next gear?

Thanks for your help. I feel a bit of resistance past neutral, going into the next gear before releasing the clutch. There is no additional clunk (or noise) just the feeling. I should have worded the issue a little more clearly. The only issue is the resistance in going into the next gear while the clutch is engaged. I am not having to jam it or force it in, it is just noticeably more than before.

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IMHO, this sounds like a normal thing because Porsches have very notched shift channels. At first, you may feel like you can't find the next gear, but after a while it becomes second nature. But you don't want to compare it to a Japanese cars that have very soft clutches and loose feeling shifters. Porsche have always been "notchy" to me. You should look under the car at the transmission/shift linkages and make sure they are snapped in correctly into their mounts. These cars are known to have the linkage pop out. Flat 6 puts a safety wire around the linkage to prevent this problem from occurring.

How many miles on the car and it what conditions? Thinking maybe you need transmission cables. Never hurts to pop up the shifter boot and apply some lubricant to the swivel joints on the shifter.

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Sounds good, thank you for all the help this morning! 56k miles on the car, I have only put 1k on it since purchase so hard to say what conditions it was previously driven in.

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Watch this video to understand what I was speaking about in regards to the linkage popping out... jump to 6:55. You Tube

Have the motor mounts ever been replaced? Any shaking at idle? i had a prior issue with occasional 3rd gear engagement, almost as if i was locked out on first attempt. New motor mounts and no longer happens. Good Luck.

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I don't believe they have ever been replaced. No shaking at idle.

Take a look at your tailpipes. Here�s my 4s before/after new mounts. Small difference but noticeable when shifting gears.

I had, and still have to a lesser degree, similar conditions to what you’ve explained. I’ve owned my 2003 C2 996 for about 3 months now and prior to that, had a base model 2002 Boxster with a 5 speed trans. There is definitively a much different feel to the shift engagement between both cars. The 5 speed Boxster was smooth and effortless. Originally, when cold, the 996 was difficult to place into gear (any gear). After driving for about 15 minutes, shifting was better and more like a bolt-action feel. At the suggestion of some members here, I changed out my motor mounts over the past weekend. I’ve experienced a nice difference where that cold operation shifting condition is gone and the shifter now reacts similar to when the car reached warm temperature running. I‘m still not sure if this is the intended or original shift feel, but is much more driveable since the change-out. I think I’ll still take a look into cable adjustments, connections and overall shifter performance to consider a change out to a 997 model shifter at some time.

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What would be the appropriate lube to apply to swivel joints?

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White lithium. I have the same issue. I�m planning a clutch change, as I think what you�re experiencing is exactly what I�m feeling in my 65k mile C2, that being very slight clutch drag. My transmission is hard to shift when cold, and it starts to ease within the first five minutes, and after 20 minutes it is �pretty good�, and after an hour it�s �fine�. But it�s not �perfect�. Perfect to my mind should be totally intuitive, either when going down the �box pulling up at stop lights or junctions, selecting first at the same, or when I�m completely �on it� on my favourite back roads. Currently it is none of these. Instead it is the slightest bit baulky when I�m on it, and very slightly obstructive when going down through the �box approaching junctions and stop lights. And here�s the cruncher (almost, but not quite literally) when sat at stop lights and anticipating them changing to green, the �box can be obstructive going into first, even when the transmission is hot and at optimal temperature, and what you can feel is the action of putting the shifter into first is actually �fighting� against the rotation of the mainshaft and layshaft, because the clutch hasn�t actually fully disengaged the drive to the transmission�s input shaft, thus making the selection of first gear baulky, and sometimes you can actually hear and feel the gears in the transmission stalling before and as first gear is engaged. Changing the gearbox oil helped and maybe improved matters 10-15%, and changing the engine mounts maybe another 10% (though they�ve changed the chassis dynamics massively (positively) and improved them 100%). From FCP�s excellent overview of 996 transmissions : �The most common failures on the G96.00 and .01 gearboxes come in some form of issue with second gear. Depending on what went wrong, the transmission will grind during engagement, put up a fight during engagement, or pop out of gear under trailing throttle. Worn synchronizer assemblies are the root cause of the grinding noise during engagement. Second gear sees extensive use, and not every owner can shift their transmission as they should. However, clutch adjustment issues can also cause grinding. If the clutch doesn�t disengage completely, there will be an excess strain on the gearing that�ll cause rapid degradation of the synchros. Not every owner is gentle on the synchros, either. Hole shots and quick shifting put excess strain on the internal components leading to this failure. I believe it�s the latter highlighted in bold that is the root cause of my shifting issues, and I suspect yours too. I�ll most likely do a clutch change, along with a new clutch slave cylinder and shift cables over this Winter, if that doesn�t fully address the issue, the transmission will pulled over the Winter next year, and be fully rebuilt.

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What you describe in the first quoted paragraph is exactly the situation with my car. Changing to Porsche branded transaxle oil helped, some. But it's still there. Also like you, if I drive long enough -- an hour or so -- it improves some more. HOWEVER. When I had my engine done I also had every single thing relating to the clutch replaced with new. Surprise surprise, the issue still exists. It's not a faulty clutch adjustment, or leaky/bad slave or master cylinder though, because if I wait an extra second the issue goes away completely. I've also been told, by folks who've driven a lot more 996's than I have, that my car shifts very well. I've come to the conclusion that it just seems to take an unusually long time for the transmission input shaft to slow down.