I know this has been discussed for years but I just had 2nd gear pop out twice in one drive and it is stressing me out a bit. The car is 2001 with 31,000 miles on it. Both times that it happened I was at low rpms and on a very slight decline. I can't get it to happen at higher or rpms or on a steep hill. I would love to hear peoples opinions on getting this fixed. Is it too late to try the 2nd gear pop outfix from GBOX? Etc. If it is too late what can iexpect price wise? Thanks in advance.

 

I am also wandering if it hurts anything to still drive the car prior to Fixing it. Is there anyone who has just decided to live with it?

 

given this has happened to many of us here and elsewhere, might i suggest you do a search here as there are countless threads on the topic, including today's latest victim. i'm just saying that it's common enough for you to join a thread after reading the existing info without concern of hijacking a thread.

https://www.6speedonline.com/forums/...-now-what.html

having said all that, you can drive it as long as you like. my experience was, it doesn't get "worse" per se, it's just kind of always there. "hand on stick while decelerating in second going downhill". there, ya see?.. no more 2nd gear popout. but that's the cheap "fix"

 

I have done plenty of searching and read pretty much all I can find. I am going to try the GBox fix, but I want to drive the car too. I am not sure when I will have time to fix get under the car, however, so I want to make sure that I am not making matters worse by letting it be for the immediate future. I would hate to make it a bigger problem.

 

i understand. you won't make it "worse" by driving it. you won't make it "better" with the gbox detent mod. you have "it". it needs to be repaired as outlined in the many threads you've read. i'd say good luck, but.. it's not luck. it's a minor trans rebuild. it sucks. been there.

 

Thank you for the quick reply. I have read a lot of success stories from people who had the pop out and then used the GBOX detent. Am I missing something? I know it is far from a guaranteed fix but do you not think it is worth a try?

I may just live with it for now, as it only happened twice so far and only under the conditions I have discribed above. I am, however, super OCD so we will see how long I can "live with it" as it bothers me knowing that there is something wrong with the car.

 

really!? where have you read that? yes, i think it isn't worth a try.

 

Feeling your pain OP, this is a really crappy issue to have.

2nd gear popout mostly happens at low speed, low rpm, low load and especially downhill.

If you had it once or twice, chances are you can delay the process by NOT letting it happen again and using the detent.

For everytime it happens, you will round off the dogs more. The more rounded off the dogs, the more often it will happen.

If you can avoid the dogs to get rounded by NOT having it happen (= not driving or ALWAYS hoding the shifter while slowing in second gear) you could get lucky for a while to get away with a detent fix.

However, over time it will get worse and the popout will occur more often.

What you will find with the gear taken out of the tranny, is that probably half the dog width is completely not worn at all, and the outer edge that grabs is worn with rounded edges. The gear mechanism is supposed to engage into the entire width of the dogs, but unfortunately shimming issues starting from the 4th gear stack up to 2nd in certain cases cause some boxes to engage only partially on the dogs - thus "slipping out" easier and rounding the dogs.

Driver abuse can chip the edges of the dogs and make it start to happen, or simply just not shifting completely into position and being unlucky that it will rip some edges of some dogs, however if the box is good it's much harder to have it actually fall out of gear even with slightly worn/abused dogs, since the whole width of the dog will be engaged in a good box, vs a bad box where only half the width of the dogs are engaged.

 

i've been trying to properly articulate that for years. nicely done. there is help here. rep for clarity.

 

Thanks for the response. I will give the detent fix a try and see if that can solve my woes. I can only think of 2 occasions of it happening so I will just make sure I don't let it happen again till I have time to get under the car. It is a frustrating and disappointing issue. I have had less problems on my e30, which is my daily driver, than this car which gets driven twice a month .

Out of curiosity, Mr White, where in SoCal are you? Know of good shops to have the rebuild done?

 

I'm up in La La Land but for the work I don't do myself I drop my car off at GSR Autosport in Lake Forest. They typically send the tranny somewhere else and I think they use 2-3 different places depending on the type of work and workload. Hit up Michael at GSR.

 

If it comes to that I will hit them up. They are fairly close to me so that could be the spot. Or I may be brave and do it myself. Any idea on cost for a rebuild. Is it worth doing anything else to the tranny while it is apart?

Thanks for all the help.

 

the guy ( eric i believe? ) from gbox that sells/makes the detent was very helpful with his time by phone to me once. i'm sure he can also answer any questions you might have about a potential rebuild. it's more than "getting under the car", for sure. he could also probably recommend someone to rebuild it but most people ship to him the trans, as i remember.

check it out. http://gboxweb.com i think they used to be a sponsor here. if i'm posting against rules, mea culpa

 

I would stay far away from rebuilding it myself and I am not a tool with the tools... even professional builders have trouble getting the shimming right sometimes, trust me I had a previous TT gearbox done 2 times wrong (popout) with brand new parts, before he got it right. That was/is one of the best Porsche racing tranny builders in the country.

 

I would try the GBox detent - It makes a big difference in the feel of the engagement - it's very solid feeling vs. the OEM feeling of NOT being engaged too well. I think it may work...worth a try, for sure. It's a good part to have in place regardless of the outcome.

The cost of the fix can vary, I have seen it done for around 2K parts and labor. And over 5K, so it pays to shop around for a skilled mechanic / shop that is not looking to make a lot on you...

If you plan to remove your motor in the next year or so for any other reason, the cost is much less to do it at that time.