Bad gear Shift - not just the driver?

[gristy]

Hey All,

I am a newbie Boxster owner. I love the car to bits, 2000 2.7 Boxster, 40k and full Porsche service history. Recently when i change gear it really seems to jerk, almost like i am dumping the clutch. The strange part is it only seems to do it when i short shift, leaving my change a little later the change isn't so noticeable. I am hoping that its just a figment of my imagination or that i am being over critical but any advice or things to check would be most appreciated.

I am not sure if its related but i have also noticed that the car wants to stall when started first thing in the morning. I used to ride bike's so i am retentive and warm the car up before driving but it still does it.

Any ideas guys??

Thanks

Martin

[Glyn]

Hey All,

I am a newbie Boxster owner. I love the car to bits, 2000 2.7 Boxster, 40k and full Porsche service history. Recently when i change gear it really seems to jerk, almost like i am dumping the clutch. The strange part is it only seems to do it when i short shift, leaving my change a little later the change isn't so noticeable. I am hoping that its just a figment of my imagination or that i am being over critical but any advice or things to check would be most appreciated.

I am not sure if its related but i have also noticed that the car wants to stall when started first thing in the morning. I used to ride bike's so i am retentive and warm the car up before driving but it still does it.

Any ideas guys??

Thanks

Martin

The cold start thing, sounds just like a sticking idle speed control valve or a very slight air leak on the intake pipes. (more critical on cold start though may not be noticable once warm )

The gear change is smoother if you take the revs higher the change sort of blends better, slower speeds just want a slower change.

Enjoy the car

[Loren]

A MY2000 does not have an idle control valve it is an egas car.

I would likely start by looking for air leaks and also to see if the throttle butterfly is "carboned-up" and needs cleaning.

[gristy]

Thanks for the quick response! You don't think i should worry about the gear change thing then? I saw somewhere that it could be an engine mount (front/rear?) if it was really noticeable, any thoughts?

Thanks for the stuff on the cold start, might be an excuse for some new intake's!!

[gristy]

A MY2000 does not have an idle control valve it is an egas car.

I would likely start by looking for air leaks and also to see if the throttle butterfly is "carboned-up" and needs cleaning.

Sorry but i did say i was a newbie, how/what is an egas car???

[Loren]

You can always look things up in the Glossary...

http://www.renntech.org/forums/index.php?a...;id=1&st=45

[jmj996]

Thanks for the quick response! You don't think i should worry about the gear change thing then? I saw somewhere that it could be an engine mount (front/rear?) if it was really noticeable, any thoughts?

Thanks for the stuff on the cold start, might be an excuse for some new intake's!!

A motor mount problem seems like a likely possibility to me. We had a 1999 986 from 2002 (starting at 35k miles) through 2006 (at 75k miles), and one of the problems we experienced was a broken motor mount. The dealer said I should be experiencing exactly what you described, though it wasn't too bad for us yet. We had it replaced under an extended warranty, but I didn't notice that the shifting smoothed out very much. I've seen other cars with a broken motor mount and the engine would literally jump up out of place.

Also, going from 2nd to 3rd was always bad when trying to quick-shift, I had to be a little more forceful with the shifter and hold the clutch down longer. I missed 3rd gear several times in the Boxster. Aside from that shifting characteristic, we never had any transmission problems, and when we drove it easy, it was never a problem. I have read in these forums that changing to gear oil (to a non-OEM oil) in the 996 transmission has helped some people.

As far as the engine wanting to die when it's cold, that seems normal. I don't know if it's normal for all Boxsters, but it was with ours. It would never die on its own, but the rpm's would go way down and the engine would shudder. We had to be careful with applying throttle when going into first gear. However, if we shut off the compressor, we never had that problem, the engine behaved very differently and drove much better. I would recommend manually shutting off the compressor (just turn the fan all the way to off or hit the button that makes the compressor image disappear) and seeing if you notice a big difference.

[fasterjames]

I second that. I make sure the A/C is off before I shut down my MY02. If I forget and start it with the a/c on, it will shudder and idle poorly until the computer can catch up and smooth it out. Also you don't want to let it sit and idle for more than a few seconds. It has a lot more emisions equipment on it and revs lower than most bikes do so you don't get the same benefits of the warm up period. (plus if your engine stalls you don't fall over... :) )

Edited June 6, 2007 by fasterjames

[gristy]

That night i turned off the A/C and this morning waited until the normal "emissions hiss" had gone - about a minute? Seemed much better at pull off - not sure if that will help anyone.

I am obviously way out of warranty so would you say it was worth changing the engine mount?

Thanks to everyone for all the input, i love my Boxster!! :thumbup: Will be sure to post and help when i can. Loren, thanks for the Glossary tip, will also check out the throttle butterfly that you mentioned - off to find a service manual....