Cayman R Stuck In Neutral

[dirtbiker]

My Cayman R has been parked up for a couple of weeks and when I went to take it out of the garage last night I’m not able to select any gears. The gear lever will move left and right in the gate (car is in neutral) but has no fore and aft movement. I’ve tried engaging gears with the engine switched off but still no luck.

Thinking it might be the clutch not disengaging I’ve pumped the pedal multiple times but, given that gears won’t select with the engine off, I don’t think the clutch is at fault.

When pushing the lever forward or pulling it back (not too hard as I don’t want to break anything) I can hear a slight squeaking noise from under the centre console which I’m taking to mean that the linkage cable bushings are deflecting.

Everything I’ve read online so far has revolved around the cables breaking leaving the car stuck in gear – I’ve not found anyone with a similar issue to mine. I can only think that perhaps the gear linkages are seized at the gearbox end of the car – has anyone experienced anything like this?

Any ideas appreciated, not quite sure how I’m going to get it anywhere to have someone look at it if it’s not a simple DIY fix!

Thanks in advance.

[V800MJH]

The gear cables on my mates car broke and left him in a similar situation.

Hopefully it's that, as it was a simple and cheap fix.

[gerlewis]

My gear cables snapped last week.

£200 for cables, £150 Labour, Plus VAT and sundries: £425.

Plus £45 to get it flat bedded to the local specialist.

[ianrb]

gerlewis said:

My gear cables snapped last week.

£200 for cables, £150 Labour, Plus VAT and sundries: £425.

Plus £45 to get it flat bedded to the local specialist.

Is this something which happens when the car has been stood unused for a while, or is it just a one off?

[dirtbiker]

Had a bit of a hunch that it might just be a combination of the cold weather and being sat for a while so gave the shifter a slightly harder shove and it's freed up now.

I'm guessing the issue was at one of the ball joints either at the shifter end or transmission end. Hopefully more frequent use will prevent reoccurrence.

Guess it might cause an issue at some point so will need looked at next time the car is on a ramp for whatever reason but OK for now!

[Pterri]

Re: broken cables, I noticed that my Cayman S had its cables replaced 3 months before I got it. Handy, one less issue to worry about.

[sebulban]

I bought a Cayman S and the shifter cable snapped after a few months (unfortunate I guess as 2009 but was low miles and 5 years old). It jammed in 3rd gear and somehow I hobbled it home to be recovered, avoiding the awkward holding up of people on a busy A road into town looking like a plank!!!

The Cayman shifter cables have been known to do it - but I guess they don't do a recall. They assume they will be covered under warranty, which mine was.

That being said the Cayman range is fantastic!!!!

[DodoRacing]

I had the same problem once in my ex M3 CSL. It turned out to be a faulty bonnet sensor which caused the car to think that the bonnet was open and it did not engage gears when the bonnet was open. Don't know if the Cayman has the same feature or not?

[dirtbiker]

I don't think it would be possible for the manual Caymans to have the same set up as that - there's a purely mechanical linkage between the gear lever and the transmission.

Cheers for the thoughts though, always good to consider these things!

Took my car for a proper drive on Saturday and everything has loosened off back to how it should be - still think I'll need to grease the cables and linkages at some point but for now I'm pretty relieved to have avoided an expensive garage bill or time spent on the cold ground under the car!

[GT4RS]

We had a 59 plate boxer it had two sets of gear cable in three years and 20k miles. We bought in new, first lot failed around 10k second lot just over 20k. Very common issue from my understanding.

[johnconners]

Happened to my 09 Cayman at 36K miles a year or so ago and Porsche have an upgrade kit that reroutes the cable that snaps so it's more straight (has a 981 part number). Haven't had any problem since and the gearshift is noticeably smoother and direct than it was before.