6 speed transmission issue - need help

Hi, reaching out to other 996 owners to hopefully help me narrow down my issue. 99 c2 6 speed. Have only driven the car 1,600 miles the past 7 years. Low mileage 996. Here's the story: Noticed a couple days before the issue started that the car was being hesitant shifting into the first few gears but was still functioning. (I will rip the car around the block every so often to let it breathe) The next time I had it out, I was grabbing 1st, 2nd, and then got stuck in 3rd. I was right around the corner from my house, so I just caught the next light and coasted into my garage. Here's what is different than what I've personally read: I took the middle console and shifter apart. Everything was in tact with the shifter and cables. Next, I put the car on stands and went underneath it. The shifter cables were NOT snapped or broken. Then, I assumed I could at least manually pop the car in neutral via the shift lever underneath the car and had no luck with that. Unless there's something I'm missing, its definitely locked in 3rd gear. And if my clutch went out, I wouldn't have even been able to engage 3rd gear. Is this a synchros issue? Car has never spent a night outside in its life. Now is just sitting in my garage still stuck in 3rd. This is a bummer. Any input or direction would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance for any help guys and for taking the time to read this.

Probably the car is faking serious injury so it can actually leave the house for a change, even if it�s to see a machanic. Kidding aside, when was the last trans/diff oil change?

Cable sheaths out of the brackets on the transmission? pics of transmission linkage?

If you pop the shifter cable sockets off (ball and socket joint, pry with a large screwdriver), can you move the shift transmission from the transmission end by hand? This can help isolate which end the issue is on - in the shifter and cables or inside the transmission. You can then proceed with troubleshooting that end of the system.

^^ great tip

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Thanks for the responses everyone. I know, I'm a bad owner for not driving it much. So I removed both shifter cables and have attached pics of them as well as the trans ball joint bracket. When I go to move both ball joint levers underneath the car, they will stay in place and not want to budge. Is there a special way I need to do so in order to get it in neutral and out of third? With these options eliminated, any more guesses to what the issue may be? Synchros possibly? Thanks again

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Last flush was done about 1,100 miles ago maybe 5 years back

Synchros only come into play when trying to synchronize shifts between gears. I can�t imagine how they would come into play when trying to shift a parked car.

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I'm stumped as well. I'm hoping I'm an idiot and theres something I'm missing

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also to add, I was driving when this issue occurred although it is parked now

When I have the cables on my cars disconnected I can move them into and out of gear with those levers. Reverse is harder to get to than the other gears but you should be able to move them with your hands. It sounds like an issue internal to the transmission. I don�t know much about the internals. Hopefully someone knowledgeable will drop in here soon. I�d be curious if there is any gear oil in there... If it was me, I�d drain the gear oil and inspect for swarf. If nothing shows up and there is sufficient (~2.7 liters) gear oil, next I�d drop the transmission and see if any behavior changes on the bench. Then I�d send it to a professional. Good luck.

Exactly what I was afraid of. Definitely an internal issue. The only time i wouldve been happy to see a snapped cable lol. Well, I guess I'm going to drain the trans this evening and then go from there. Will probably pull it this weekend if I have time. Will keep this thread updated as I go

These guys have a good reputation http://www.gboxweb.com/

I would guess thar u lost a gear tooth and its jamed in there. This happened on my truck. After the tow truck snached it up and eveything got shifted around the tooth fell to the bottom and i could shift again. That may not happen with the porsche trans as there is a lot less room in it.

So, I have a broken fork internally which is why the car is stuck in third gear. And apparently mobil ptx is the best route to go when changing transaxle fluid. $3400 repair

Ouch! Is that for a rebuild? Better than $13,612 for a new Porsche manual transmission. But still..ouch! Very unusual to break a shifter fork....

I talked to a builder over the phone earlier and told him I never tagged on the car and dont bang gears, said it only has 60k original miles etc. Told me it has nothing to do with letting it sit so often and said it was coincidental. Told me Mobil and Shell are the best ways to go with transaxle fluid and that type/brand of fluid means everything. I had mine flushed at an indy years back about 1500 miles or so ago and I'm going to assume it wasnt with one of those fluids. But oh well, is what it is now. That was years ago. I even have had an RSS clutch stop installed for the past few years amongst those 1600 miles so I always have perfect shifts and never stall. Bummer.

Thats for a rebuild excluding shipping. And thats also me doing my own labor of removal/install When I drained gear oil earlier there were no obvious shavings I could find when filtering through it

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I agree that letting it sit won�t affect the transmission. But I am not buying that trans fluid is super important. Fluid in the trans matters the most when high top speed is used more often.

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yeah, I think this was one of those fluke things and nobody's fault. On my end or the past shops. I also have a hard time believing that a major malfunction is due to type of fluid but apparently it's a pretty important thing. I know if you stick a paper clip in the trans, you can tell if it is at the proper level or just feel with your finger. My fluid was all at proper level and all still there. Wasnt dirty. Had a few small shavings but nothing major. Really just tossing it up as a freak thing and not planning on it being a common issue. Warranties dont mean much to me on this car since the years usually surpass the mileage anyway. Just a situation I wasnt planning on and am pretty bummed out about it being the worst possible scenario in this category but that's life sometimes. Honestly I may just end up buying a low mileage used one with a 3 month warranty and slap that in. Will probably do the synchros mod before installing it and fix some of the common issues. Like i said, I'm not planning on every 6 speed breaking a fork. I'm going to just hope it was a freak thing and that the next one wont do that to me.

Sorry for the dumb question, but how do you know it is a broken fork? Did you already drop and open the tranny? Or is it obvious for some reason?

^^ Right - I would cautious about a repair shop making assumptions. What if they get in there and find some something simple, easy? Will they be ethical enough to not charge for the full repair bill? I had this crazy thought about starting a new mechanic business when every repair was photographed or video�d.

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Thats not a dumb question. That's why I made this thread because it's not the same scenario I've read on others. And the happenings that diagnosed the broken fork were process of elimination rather than dropping it impulsively beforehand. I called one of the few reputable porsche trans builders on the phone while I had a buddy of mine over at the house, told him the whole scenario (I had dealt with the guys before but irrelevant to this one) While I had him on the phone and my buddy here, he walked me thru how it should pop into neutral. Then told me engaging the clutch should allow the car to go into neutral and allow the car to be pushed. Then with e brake OFF, my buddy in the car engaging the clutch, car still wouldn't budge. Said the only way it would do the is a snapped fork that's lodged. Very odd situation. And yeah, I agree with you all. I prefer to do all of my own work that I'm able to do because of the trust and accountability issue mainly. I'm not going to just cough up that amount. Especially not without weighing my options. I'm probably going to finish pulling it this weekend if my schedule permits. Will definitely keep this updated as I go though.

IMHO if you are someone that is capable of pulling the transmission I think you are very likely capable of fixing it or at least cracking it open to diagnose it. I would take a stab at it. In my own personal experience with with an auto transmission (not a Porsche), pulling the tranny was more difficult than rebuilding it and a manual transmission should be far simpler.

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I dunno, I have rebuilt engines, but I found fixing a manual transmission was quite difficult when it was a Muncie 4-Speed. Maybe Porsche gearboxes are different though.

I think you both have valid points. I can definitely remove and install my own trans. But I definitely dont make my living building expensive transmissions. I'm sure there is a reason they are so expensive to repair or replace. I've been researching and although they are complicated to an extent, there is a lot of information out there on these transmissions. They havent evolved that awful much to be honest. There are a lot of DIYs on replacing problematic components with stronger ones, etc inside the trans. I have to pull mine either way and it's definitely out of commission either way. Am going to tear into once I get it out for sure..I have nothing to lose doing so and only knowledge to gain. I wont be making any financial decisions until I pull it and see for myself. But I will still probably get a guaranteed low mileage used one and do the preventative internal mods. I will also be losing my original 67k mile IMS bearing and doing the permanent fix/upgrade on that since you have to pull the trans to do so and will be right in my face. Clutch is still good. Cant wait to get it back up hopefully asap.

There are a couple good threads here outlining the entire disassembly and reassembly of the manual transmission. It doesn�t seem too difficult if you�re methodical and have access to a good size press (20 ton?). Good luck with it, and if you decide to diy please document

Could you could at least pull the cover off to take a look inside? Don't need to do anything beyond that and the cover can go back on?