My 2003 996's linkage failed early on, at least in miles...

Right after I went through the toll gate at Valley Forge to get on the PA turnpike I found that all of a sudden I could not change gears. We were on our way to a wedding in NYC (bronx botanical gardens). I had to get on the turnpike back to the next exit (29) to go back home to switch cars to my wife's Mercedes in order to make the wedding. I think it was struck in second or third gear, about 4000-5000 RPM at 60 MPH and it was hard to get rolling without a lower gear.

This morning Porsche road side assistance told me to call back Tuesday morning to get it scheduled and towed then because all the dealers were closed. Good thing I wasn't in NYC when it happened.

What a thing to happen on any car let alone a Porsche. I have had a few little problems on this car (my fourth Boxster) but this, a more fatal problem, will make me think harder about what make I will buy next time, Porsche quality becoming a bigger concern.

Has anyone had this kind of malfunction or am I just unlucky?

Jeff Benson:

2016 Boxster, See it here: www.greatvalleyhouse.com/Boxster

---

First car: 1952 Hudson Hornet

First roadster: 1962 Austin Healy 3000 III

Still have: Computer free 1974 MGB

Previous Porsches since 1982: 924, 944, 944S, and four Boxsters; 97, 03, 08 & 2012

I bought it in June 2009 with 10K miles on it and the linkage snapped a few months afterwards. I managed to get to a residential street and park the car. Called road side assistance and had the car towed to the dealer.

Linkage failure is not uncommon but still quite rare. Your car is still a new car -- even my 2003 even in 2009 with still a new car based on its low miles -- and the snapped linkage is a new car problem.

I'd advise you to not obsess over it too much and in no time it will just be a faint memory.

Not sure I understand road side assistance not towing the car. To heck with the dealer not begin open. I would have insisted the car be towed and left there. You can fill in the info on the drop off slip/envelop then put the key in the envelop and put the envelop in the slot in the door dealers have for just this situation.

Our very reliable 1974 MGB. I broke it out of the shed this morning and moved it down to the garage. I didn't put the Boxster in the garage since it can't be put in reverse to back it out. So now I have a ride until the Boxster is repaired or they give me a loaner.





Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/31/2014 01:56PM by Jeff (Philly). (view changes)

I've put some big miles on a number of cars. In the case of the 996 the ball socket failed, came apart and let the ball come loose. No biggie. LIke I mentioned before, I've come across posts by others enough to know while it happens it is a pretty rare failure.

I used the 996 linkage failure as an opportunity to have a 997 shifter installed. Much nicer than the stock 996 shifter.

Did they change over to the rubber bumpers on the MGB mid-model in 1974? I had a 74 MGB and it had chrome bumpers (and a couple of huge rubber battering rams at each end.)

There is a ball-end joint that connects the cable to a lever arm that works the transmission. It pops off fairly easily.
It also pops back on easily.

while I'm not excusing the issue, it might be a fast fix.

Grant

Grant

gee-lenahan-at-gee-mail-dot-com

When your car comes out of warranty, Bill Boys has a shop out there at Joe Aquilante's speed shop. You probably know Bill, he was the shop foremant at Don Rosen Porsche for a ton of years. Top shelf and honest guy.

Peace
Bruce in Philly

between a 986, a 987 and now a 981, I have not had a similar problem.

I had a cable break while the car was still under warranty. There was basically no shift pattern. I reported it on the board, and nobody had heard of it happening before. I wouldn't worry about it happening again.

Good to know it's nothing big.

Odd that it would go so soon.

Mine has about 70k miles on it, so far. Lots of shifting.

Quote
Roger987
Good to know it's nothing big.

Odd that it would go so soon.

Mine has about 70k miles on it, so far. Lots of shifting.

are intended to address.

Just wanted to give the data for anyone keeping track.

Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/06/2014 03:48PM by Roger987. (view changes)

What does warranty coverage have to do with the failure-rate?

Porsche replaced my entire engine under the new car warranty, but I dare say catastrophic engine failures within the first 4 years are uncommon.

In the 7 or 8 years I've been here, I've heard of very few shifter cable failures within the first few years of ownership, and Jeff doesn't strike me as the type who abuses the shifter mechanism.

Quote
Roger987
What does warranty coverage have to do with the failure-rate?

Porsche replaced my entire engine under the new car warranty, but I dare say catastrophic engine failures within the first 4 years are uncommon.

In the 7 or 8 years I've been here, I've heard of very few shifter cable failures within the first few years of ownership, and Jeff doesn't strike me as the type who abuses the shifter mechanism.

the cable failure was just one of the many -- all in fact -- things in the car that can fail at any time. Most of those that fail fail early. Then the failure rate drops way down and only after a long time and many miles does the failure rate begin to climb again. The curve generally has the shape of a bathtub. A very high initial failure rate that drops off rapidly to near zero, remains there for a long stretch, then heads up again. The early failures are covered by the warranty.

Engine failure or at least engine replacement follows the same general curve, described as a bathtub curve, as shifter failure or any other failure. I would hazard the opinion that the engine failure rate doesn't drop as low as many would want it to be.

I agree that shifter cable failures are rather rare but they are not unknown. They appear to be an early failure item that after a time if they haven't failed by then appear to last nearly forever.

we called it "infant mortality". A certain number of failures would occur early, then a long period of stability until the end of life failures started occurring. Not seen when the sample size is small but get the sample size up and you see the pattern.