How many Boxster Gearbox problems?

[Andy T]

Hi, my 2003 Box S has been off the road for over a month now because of a "not selecting second gear properly and then popping out" problem, which it has had from the day i picked it up (although intermittantly) and has now been made worse by dealer (non opc) sending it to a gearbox "specialist" to be "fixed".

My question is how many people on this forum have had the 2nd gear selection problem on the 6 speed box from the 986 or 996?

Also, how was it resolved? New 'box replacement or stripdown/rebuild?

Much appreciated,

Andy.

[fieldl]

Sounds like you need to talk to Mike at Sports and Classic. AFAIK they are the only company that can sort it without a new/replacement box. www.sportsandclassic.com , Mike posts on here so will probably reply in time.

[Andy T]

Cool, thanks, I'd be VERY interested to hear about what parts you need to replace and which parts are/are not available from Porsche for repairing the gearbox.

[sportsandclassic]

I have repaired these gearboxes 100% success rate.

All parts are in stock.

if this gearbox specialist was something to do with milbrook i have been contacted by them but they sent it somewhere else....suprise suprise it doesent work.

Get in touch with me and i will look after you.

mike

sportsandclassic

www.sportsandclassic.com

[fieldl]

Were your ears burning ?
That was quick

[sportsandclassic]

nice pics of your car lee....

[Andy T]

that DOES interest me. I took my car to them to have the gearbox looked at and they agreed that there was a problem with it, unfortunately my warranty wouldn't cover the cost of them strippng it down to properly diagnose the problem fully. I then got in touch with the Garage i bought the car from (the one who couldnt agree with me that there was a problem from the start). They said that they wouldn't pay for millbrook to strip the box but they would send it to their "specialist gearbox guy who's really good but alas has never worked on a Boxster box before but how hard can it be?!" hence my problems... because I was looking at at least £1000 for millbrooke to look at it or get the dealer to fix it for no cost to me, I was faced with very little choice.

So the car was taken away from millbrooke and into the dealers hands (non OPC as you've guessed). Over a month later, an entire 2nd gear assembly, gear selector fork and I'm now told as of today (the SECOND time the box has been out) a seletor gate (?) I STILL haven't got the car back and am even less confident that the car will be fixed when it eventually comes back.


BTW out of interest what was the guy's name that got in contact with you about the 'box? You can email that to me if you like.

cheers

Andy

Total sympathy,second gear failed on my old Boxster S, the garage I bought it off messed me about like crazy trying to get it repaired, 6 weeks later messing around sending the gearbox to different places who were apparently experts a good pal of mine who's in the trade gave me a no to call which I passed on to the garage. They were in Sheffield and sold used Porsche parts but I don't know the name of the garage,I know they had dealer trained mechanics anyway the garage I bought the car from dropped it off there,1 day later car back new flywheel and used gearbox fitted (£1400 + VAT) which obviously I didn't pay a penny of,the car drove better than ever and the annoying little squeak had vanished when I depressed the clutch but I lost confidence and sold it, Rest assured fellas for a 996 turbo.

[anglebox10]

Andy T said:

Hi, my 2003 Box S has been off the road for over a month now because of a "not selecting second gear properly and then popping out" problem, which it has had from the day i picked it up (although intermittantly) and has now been made worse by dealer (non opc) sending it to a gearbox "specialist" to be "fixed".

My question is how many people on this forum have had the 2nd gear selection problem on the 6 speed box from the 986 or 996?

Also, how was it resolved? New 'box replacement or stripdown/rebuild?

Much appreciated,

Andy.

Not sure if this is the same thing, but I had a selection/jumping out of gear problem with a brand new C4S (996).
I thought it felt like a linkage problem, mentioned that to the dealer who said not to worry, they'd get to the bottom of it.
To cut a long story short, they fitted a new gearbox and the problem was worse !!
They then looked again and conceded it was the linkage after all, had to get a special alignment tool from PGB I believe, and the problem was finally resolved.
Perfectly good gearbox changed in error as it turned out !!

[sportsandclassic]

HI Andy

The problem is no spares are available for this gearbox through porsche...so taking it to an opc is useless unless you want a new gearbox.

Think the guys name was andy at milbrook seems like a nice guy.

In my opinion forget the warranty and take it somewhere that can actually fix the box.

these are specialist gearboxes not fiesta boxes.

mike

sportsandclassic.

[Andy T]

Thanks Mike,

I don't know if you're aware but you can now get original Porsche parts direct from the OPC for the 6 speed 'box. I know that it never used to be the case (Millbrooke were sure that you couldn't until they called to check). Apparently Porsche have so many broken 'boxes that they are now selling the parts to fix them.

It's all very well saying forget the warranty and send it to a specialist, thats fine if you like being stuffed for £1000s when there was clearly a problem with the car when you picked it up. Also the warranty won't cover it anyway. Bottom line is I shouldn't have to pay for the problem ESPECIALLY since what was a relatively minor intermittant problem has now been made into a major one by the same garage I bought the car from BECAUSE THEY DIDN"T USE A SPECIALIST TO FIX THE 'BOX LIKE I DEMANDED!!

It's out of my hands and theres not much I can do other than issue legal preceedings against them if they don't fix it properly.

Quite frankly I think from my experiences and with a lot of peoples on this and other boards and from speaking to people who have had Porsches, they are overrated cars and the old assumption that German engineering was the best is absoloutley wrong. It's CRAP!

I wish I'd never sold my Elise, it was much faster, cheaper and more reliable!

[silv]

I have just bought a Boxster S !! Is this 2nd gear gearbox thing a common fault? Thanks

[pat cash]

[quote=Andy T]

Apparently Porsche have so many broken 'boxes that they are now selling the parts to fix them.

quote]

I think its actually because the box is no longer used in production - thus the cost to replace a box is now so high that repair becomes cost effective.....

[Andy T]

I'm afraid from my research it seems to be fairly common. Not as common as the RMS failiure. Mine has had 2 in 3 years and 26k miles. Unacceptable.

[Andy T]

pat cash said:

[quote=Andy T]

Apparently Porsche have so many broken 'boxes that they are now selling the parts to fix them.

quote]

I think its actually because the box is no longer used in production - thus the cost to replace a box is now so high that repair becomes cost effective.....

Ahh I see. I wonder why they're not using that particular gearbox now...

[pat cash]

Andy T said:

pat cash said:

[quote=Andy T]

Apparently Porsche have so many broken 'boxes that they are now selling the parts to fix them.

quote]

I think its actually because the box is no longer used in production - thus the cost to replace a box is now so high that repair becomes cost effective.....

Ahh I see. I wonder why they're not using that particular gearbox now...

'Cos now they use one made by Asin Warner instead of Getrag.... New boxes for 997...

Edited by pat cash on Tuesday 7th November 10:33

[Andy T]

I hope they are better than the Getrag ones!

[Andy T]

Mike,

I'd be really interested to hear which parts you generally have to replace when fixing the problem with second gear that many people have talked about. I'd like to compare what you think with what has been changed on mine. Apparently, the gearbox bloke who's been "fixing" my car has been saying that he couldn't find anything wrong with the second gear assembly but changed them anyway. When that made it worse he had another look and said that the only other possibility was a very slight wear in the changeover gate which he is going to change? I feel that it may just be that the gearbox has been stripped by someone who has no experience and has just managed to set-up the box incorrectly.

What generally goes wrong on these 'boxes?

Thanks

Andy

[fieldl]

Andy T said:

Mike,

I'd be really interested to hear which parts you generally have to replace when fixing the problem with second gear that many people have talked about. I'd like to compare what you think with what has been changed on mine. Apparently, the gearbox bloke who's been "fixing" my car has been saying that he couldn't find anything wrong with the second gear assembly but changed them anyway. When that made it worse he had another look and said that the only other possibility was a very slight wear in the changeover gate which he is going to change? I feel that it may just be that the gearbox has been stripped by someone who has no experience and has just managed to set-up the box incorrectly.

What generally goes wrong on these 'boxes?

Thanks

Andy

I am shocked that the company who have looked at your gearbox could not see a problem. I am about as mechanically minded as a doormouse yet I looked at a duff set of gears when I was at Sports and Classic one day. The teeth wear down on the gear so when you select that worn gear it just gets thrown back out again. It was very obvious..... That said I saw the gears on a bench not inside the box however I am sure if they knew what they where looking at they would have spotted it.

[sportsandclassic]

Hey lee do you want a job..? Damm a customer that actually listens to what is explained to them....very starange.. you are spot on. !!

andy i have e-mailed you.

thanks

mike