Gear Shift Difficulties

[DaveE]

I bought an early '97 Boxster 2.5 with 5 speed a few years back with 105,000 miles. It shifted great at the time but over the past few years I started having difficulty with the 5th to 4th downshift and lately the 2nd to 3rd upshift has also become more difficult. I have no problems as long as I'm shifting within the gate, 1-2, 3-4, but shifting in and out of the middle gate seems to be the biggest problem. There's no gear grinding but a great deal of stiffness in the shifter. I had the center console off and the mechanism looks pretty dry. There are signs of it having been greased at one time so I've considered slopping some lube on it but the moving parts are a white plastic mostly. Any ideas of the best lube?

[por911]

I bought an early '97 Boxster 2.5 with 5 speed a few years back with 105,000 miles. It shifted great at the time but over the past few years I started having difficulty with the 5th to 4th downshift and lately the 2nd to 3rd upshift has also become more difficult. I have no problems as long as I'm shifting within the gate, 1-2, 3-4, but shifting in and out of the middle gate seems to be the biggest problem. There's no gear grinding but a great deal of stiffness in the shifter. I had the center console off and the mechanism looks pretty dry. There are signs of it having been greased at one time so I've considered slopping some lube on it but the moving parts are a white plastic mostly. Any ideas of the best lube?

If it has not been done yet, especially with that type of mileage, you might consider upgrading to the 997 shifter housing. I found the bushings in our 01 were fairly worn by 55k. Its also worth checking the driveline mounts as they can really effect the shifting. I've replaced all of ours already and saw big improvements. It might be time to flush the clutch hydralic fluid(pentosin DOT4) and change the gearoil.

regards

[Wayne R. Dempsey]

Shifter bushings will wear over time, and possibly cause the problems that you have. We replaced the ones on my project car last year - the thing shifts like a go cart now. The Short Shift kits that are available replace the bushings, but you can also use these bushings (without the short shift kit handle) to improve your shifting. I've got a brand new article on the subject, located here: http://www.pelicanparts.com/techarticles/Boxster_Tech/42-TRANS-Short_Shift_Kit/42-TRANS-Short_Shift_Kit.htm

I hope this helps,

Wayne

[DaveE]

Thanks for the tips guys. I'll check the front mount this weekend and I'm going to replace the shift bushings also and see what happens.