Manual 981 Cayman S clunky shifting - Page 1 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

I purchased a second-hand manual 981 Cayman S ~2 years ago and it has ~70k miles. It shifted great when I bought it, but it needed a transmission replacement due to a manufacturer defect (The pin for the 5th/6th fork fell out and damaged other components. Porsche covered some of the cost themselves outside of warranty). They replaced the transmission and I got them to replace the clutch/release bearing/etc., at the same time. Since then I have rarely had smooth shifts and it feels like the transmission is "catching" on the gates? E.g. If I shift from 3rd to 4th, it's not a smooth action, it feels like hard and you can feel resistance. It's hard to describe, but it feels like I might be pulling it to one side when moving the stick, but I have tried changing how I move the stick without success. In these cases with the clutch fully depressed I can move the stick in and out of 3rd a few times and it doesn't feel great (while moving). When not moving it feels great. With the cold weather yesterday it dipped down to -5C/23F and it was so incredibly hard to shift into second. Even with the clutch pressed as hard as I could against the floor, it would grind like I hadn't pressed the clutch in. I have taken it back to the dealership and they haven't been able to find anything wrong with it and said it would take time for the transmission to break in. It's been about 6 months now and it's better, but still worse than before. Does anyone have next steps from here? Edited by Noobdog on Friday 29th November 14:32

Noobdog said: I purchased a second-hand manual 981 Cayman S ~2 years ago and it has ~70k miles. It shifted great when I bought it, but it needed a transmission replacement due to a manufacturer defect (The pin for the 5th/6th fork fell out and damaged other components. Porsche covered some of the cost themselves outside of warranty). They replaced the transmission and I got them to replace the clutch/release bearing/etc., at the same time. Since then I have rarely had smooth shifts and it feels like the transmission is "catching" on the gates? E.g. If I shift from 3rd to 4th, it's not a smooth action, it feels like hard and you can feel resistance. It's hard to describe, but it feels like I might be pulling it to one side when moving the stick, but I have tried changing how I move the stick without success. In these cases with the clutch fully depressed I can move the stick in and out of 3rd a few times and it doesn't feel great (while moving). When not moving it feels great. With the cold weather yesterday it dipped down to -5C/23F and it was so incredibly hard to shift into second. Even with the clutch pressed as hard as I could against the floor, it would grind like I hadn't pressed the clutch in. I have taken it back to the dealership and they haven't been able to find anything wrong with it and said it would take time for the transmission to break in. It's been about 6 months now and it's better, but still worse than before. Does anyone have next steps from here? Edited by Noobdog on Friday 29th November 14:32 Why would it take 6 months for the transimission to break in? Patent rubbish as all/most new porkers would have rubbish gear selection problems from new! Why do garages (and not just an OPC) trot out such insulting nonesense? I think the gear shift mechanism needs adjusting, simple enough.

I would make sure you have Mobil PTX 75W90 in the gearbox, don't listen to the BS at OPC about how the Shell stuff is also Porsche approved, you will get exactly the issues you have described. PTX or nothing at all, it makes that much of a difference.

Ed.Neumann said: I would make sure you have Mobil PTX 75W90 in the gearbox, don't listen to the BS at OPC about how the Shell stuff is also Porsche approved, you will get exactly the issues you have described. PTX or nothing at all, it makes that much of a difference. Interesting.. my first thought was replace the transmission fluid to rule that out - until I saw that it won’t go into gear without grinding when cold, with the clutch fully depressed. That made me think it was out of alignment. I’m in no place to argue - but would better fluid help there? OP - you’re being told some rubbish. Brand new manuals from Porsche have beautiful shifts. Mine is 10 years old and I’m still yet to find a nicer one. Also, when your sorted I can recommend the GT4 short shifter. It just perfects the whole thing and takes a couple of cm off the stick height.

Thanks for the replies! I was starting to think I was going mad as it has been in twice for them to look at the shifting. The first time they said the tech could feel it on a roadtest, but nothing was wrong. The second time they said it was fine, even though the tech said he struggled to shift from first to second when he handed me the keys back. (The shifter is also incredibly easy to remove now, like gentle upwards pressure and it will come off, something they also said was normal). I have ordered some of oil, going to look at the workshop manual to see how to perform the alignment. (I don't see where to get the 981 alignment tool?) Edited by EvasiveDam on Saturday 30th November 21:42

Where is the clutch bite point? Near the top or the bottom of the pedal stroke?

EvasiveDam said: Thanks for the replies! I was starting to think I was going mad as it has been in twice for them to look at the shifting. The first time they said the tech could feel it on a roadtest, but nothing was wrong. The second time they said it was fine, even though the tech said he struggled to shift from first to second when he handed me the keys back. (The shifter is also incredibly easy to remove now, like gentle upwards pressure and it will come off, something they also said was normal). I have ordered some of oil, going to look at the workshop manual to see how to perform the alignment. (I don't see where to get the 981 alignment tool?) Where have you ordered the oil from as it is only available in 20L drums. Unless you are outside the UK of course or have ordered 20L. Also, better to align it by feel than that tool.

> Where is the clutch bite point? Near the top or the bottom of the pedal stroke? A few inches off the bottom. I got them to replace the clutch when they did the transmission swap and it normally feels great. > Unless you are outside the UK of course or have ordered 20L. I ordered a 20L drum, seemed like the easiest thing to do and wasn't too expensive.

EvasiveDam said: I ordered a 20L drum, seemed like the easiest thing to do and wasn't too expensive. You can buy some 3 or 4l plastic cans with security caps, for under a fiver each. Then sell them on for £60 for 3 litres delivered. Which is enough to do a change on a manual 6 speed boxster, cayman or 911. One of the guys on 911uk.com has just done it and sold it all in days. I think he charged £45 plus shipping, but I and many others would be happy to pay £60 to cover hassle. The difference between PTX and other stuff is like night and day, even more so as temperatures drop.

The fact you changed your username between replies was extremely confusing!!

Ed.Neumann said: The fact you changed your username between replies was extremely confusing!! I changed it before I made the topic, but I don't think I waited long enough for it to take effect Ed.Neumann said: One of the guys on 911uk.com has just done it and sold it all in days. I think he charged £45 plus shipping, but I and many others would be happy to pay £60 to cover hassle. I have contacted the Porsche owners I know near me and a few have agreed to buy some. If I have any left over I will put a post up on here!

Yeah, sure some will be very grateful if you do. I still have enough left for another change, maybe two. Mind you, I have a leaking rear drive seal on my 997 at the moment, did the other side last year and now this one is leaking, so will lose some while doing that I suppose. But think Mobil could make a fortune selling 3 litres of PTX for £59.

Dealer talking BS. It should be nothing but smooth from day 1. The cables or mech need adjusting, its on them not you.

Adjusting the shift is easy. First of all get the alignment right across the horizontal, you want it to naturally sit so it is between 3rd and 4th. With the engine off you should be able to slick it between 3rd and 4th without thinking about it. Once that is aligned, you then need to adjust the distance on the vertical, go for a drive and you want to find the sweet spot, so going into 2nd and 3rd feels as equal as possible. Sometimes it is just the case that going into 2nd (which is usually the softest feel) runs out of cable, so give it a smidge more. You might find 3rd no longer has quite as much 'clunk' but it is about finding a balance. I drive around with the console off and keep tweaking it until it feels the best it can. Do this along with PTX and it should feel great. Also, make sure your engine mounts are OK too, as they start to age the gear shift gets more rubbery too.

Oil hasn't arrived and aligning the cables didn't help, so I took it to a specialist nearby. They disconnected the cables and shifted the transmission by hand when it was on a ramp; no issues. Then attaching the cables again resulted in it being notchy and clunky again. They then lubed the cables and it's apparently much better! Seems like the cables were the root cause, something Porsche hadn't checked both times it went in. I will probably try to get them replaced under warranty, but I am happy it's working better now. (I am unsure why they only started acting up after the swap though?)

Of course they are easier to change holding the lever directly at the gearbox, putting 2m of cable in a sheath between the gearbox and the change will always feel more notchy. There is a lot more play. Try squeezing a brake calliper together on a bike by hand, then squeeze the bake lever, far more notchy. Maybe they had all sorts of crap in the sheath? I suppose it could have happened. Seems unlikely though. Forgot if you have said, but do you have paperworks showing what transaxle fluid they put in when they did the rebuild?

Picked the car up and most the notchy feeling is 90% gone with the greased cables. It's still not perfect, but I can at least shift into second without it feeling terrible. Ed.Neumann said: Maybe they had all sorts of crap in the sheath? I suppose it could have happened. Seems unlikely though. That's their best guess as it happened so suddenly when the transmission was changed. They checked the box itself, the master/slave cylinder, clutch, cables, and the alignment. Only the cables seem to have any issues (I think they tried shifting with the cables detached from the transmission and the cables weren't being pulled through the sheath as easily as they should have been iirc). Ed.Neumann said: Forgot if you have said, but do you have paperworks showing what transaxle fluid they put in when they did the rebuild? Just read through the invoice, no mention of the oil they used Edited by EvasiveDam on Wednesday 11th December 16:35

Sounds like you are getting there. Be interesting to hear your thoughts when you get the PTX in.