987 Boxster stuck in third gear - transmission cable?

[kingston12]

I had a bit of a disconcerting experience this afternoon. I web to shift down from third to second and the gearstick had debone disconnected. The stick was still in place, but it now just moves forwards and backwards in a light smooth motion rather than enabling me to select a gear.

Fortunately, I was in third so was able to get the car going after the initial stop. Even more fortunately I was only a mile away from a specialist so I was able to drop it in there. Thy can't look at it for a few days though.

Is this likely to be the transmission cable? The clutch seemed to be working fine, albeit giving off a little bit of a burning smell from having to start in third gear a few times.

[Magnum 475]

Sounds very much like a cable problem. Not uncommon on Caysters unfortunately.

[bridggar]

Sounds like the same thing that happened to my old 997. Cable snapped - £250 for a new one from OPC IIRC but a bit of a faff to install correctly.

[snotrag]

The plastic cable ends of the cables wear and can pop off.

Could have been a very easy DIY fix if you take the centre console off inside, alternatively could have been the transmission end which is quite hidden above the exhaust (or it is on a 986 at least), the ball joints wear and pop off.

At the end of the day, if it ends up needing a new cable then you'll probably find the gearshift much improved when you get it back, as if it was damaged/worn enough to pop off, it was probably also pretty baggy.


Lots of useful photos:

https://www.google.com/search?q=boxster+shift+cabl...

[kingston12]

Magnum 475 said:

Sounds very much like a cable problem. Not uncommon on Caysters unfortunately.

Thanks. I thought it must be something like that given that the clutch and gearbox seemed to be working. I guess I'll just have to wait for the bill!

[kingston12]

bridggar said:

Sounds like the same thing that happened to my old 997. Cable snapped - £250 for a new one from OPC IIRC but a bit of a faff to install correctly.

Thanks. I've left it with a Porsche specialist. I wouldn't be able to get it easily back into my garage to work on it and there is no space outside.

[kingston12]

snotrag said:

The plastic cable ends of the cables wear and can pop off.

Could have been a very easy DIY fix if you take the centre console off inside, alternatively could have been the transmission end which is quite hidden above the exhaust (or it is on a 986 at least), the ball joints wear and pop off.

At the end of the day, if it ends up needing a new cable then you'll probably find the gearshift much improved when you get it back, as if it was damaged/worn enough to pop off, it was probably also pretty baggy.


Lots of useful photos:

https://www.google.com/search?q=boxster+shift+cabl...

Interesting, thanks. I was only thinking the other day how good the gearshift felt for a 15 year old car (albeit one with only 30k miles on it. It would be amazing if it came back feeling better still.

[phazed]

It might be worth asking your mechanic to check the gearshifting mechanism. These wear and definitely add to the play in the system.

I renewed my cables and shifter at the same time and that improved the gearshift play no end. At 30K miles yours probably is okay but always worth considering on higher mileage cars.





Pretty easy job on a Boxster.

[kingston12]

phazed said:

It might be worth asking your mechanic to check the gearshifting mechanism. These wear and definitely add to the play in the system.

I renewed my cables and shifter at the same time and that improved the gearshift play no end. At 30K miles yours probably is okay but always worth considering on higher mileage cars.

Pretty easy job on a Boxster.

Thanks. They confirmed that it was a broken cable, they replaced it and I got it back yesterday. On the short drive home I wouldn't say that it felt that much different - perhaps very slightly tighter, but it was great anyway.

One thing that I did notice was that it seemed to have a tendency to pop out of fourth gear more easily than it did before. Not to the extent it would bounce out of gear on it's own, but it takes a much lighter touch to get out of fourth than the other gears. Is that something that might need to be adjusted?

[phazed]

Could well be adjusted incorrectly. They are quite critical to adjust and come with a special tool that you put in place when you connect and adjust the cables.