63 B shifter only goes into 3rd and 4th gear

[Roger Edgren]

hello all. New 356 owner as of 2 days ago, and little knowledge. Drove car home from seller 170 miles with no trouble. Today, after couple mile drive and car sitting for an hour, I could only get shifter to go into 3rd or 4th gear. Car has shift lock in it, but I do not have a key for it. lock "plunger" appears to be at top of travel. (is not depressed). Previous owner had shifter replaced not long ago. I have a call into that shop but have not spoken to them. Any immediate ideas? Thanks so much and look forward to contributing here!

[Geoff Fleming]

Roger,
Welcome to the Registry. If you find it difficult...or impossible to locate the gears, the most likely problem is quite simple. There are two plastic bushings located just forward of the transmission nose, concealed inside a rubber boot, held in a universal type joint. After many decades, these bushings disintegrate and makes finding the gears a difficult process. The replacements are inexpensive and easily replaced. The new bushings should last another fifty or so years.
You may also want to examine the plastic bushing that sits at the bottom end of the shift lever. If this is missing or badly worn, shifting becomes erratic. Again, an easy replacement.
Proper replacement of the rear bushings is not hard but does require the joint to be removed. The bushings are then pushed into place from the inside of the joint. After replacement, the universal is returned and it is very important that the locking bolt be tightened down and the wire that prevents it from turning is replac
You can push the bushings in from the outside, ( say, if you were miles from home and needed a quick fix.), but it is best to do the job properly.
For the new owner, I recommend purchasing a copy of the 'Elfrinks' manual. It is an old standby, from the time these were current cars, inexpensive and quite comprehensive. ( Actually designed to fit the 356 glovebox!) It was written for the average owner to use, not a factory trained mechanic. Try Block's Books for your copy. The address can be found on this line.

[Roger Edgren]

Thanks Geoff. Appreciate the welcome and the reply. I haven't begun to pull anything apart yet, and I am (not yet) much of a mechanic, but do have the ability to start looking at things. Do you think this is for sure unrelated to the shift lock? It seemed like when I was playing with the lock the shifter was wanting to find gears a bit easier, but did not happen. (engine off) With a mechanic recently (apparently Porsche specialists) replacing the shifter, would the fixes you mention likely be looked at while he was at that, or not necessarily? Thanks much.

[Geoff Fleming]

Normally, the shift lock doesn't cause any interference with the shifting, since it is spring loaded and when not actually in use, ( locked with key), sits well above the rod it engages. You can try a quick test...remove the shift mechanism from the tunnel, then remove the trans. lock. This is done by undoing a small grub screw located on the side. With the lock and spring removed, replace the shifter and see if that makes a difference. Be sure to positively 'seat' the shift rod into the cup by giving the shift knob a good hard whack after everything is in place.
Properly set up, the 356 has one of the smoothest and nicest shifting of any car. Sometimes, previous owners have neglected maintenance or tried to improve upon Porsche engineering and end up making things worse.
As far as the mechanics...a thorough shop will do a full check but most people don't go that far, so faulty bushings and the like go unnoticed. Murphy's law, I imagine.
Where are you located?

[John Brooks]

Welcome.
Look at the back of the tunnel for a half moon shaped carpeted cover with two screws. Remove it and inspect the coupler for a broken rubber isolator bearing. Sounds like it is not rotating the input shaft enough to go to 1/2 or R.

It will take 5 minutes. Move the shifter from side to side and watch the rotation. My 912 started to grind a little going into 2nd. I originally thought it was a synchro going bad, turned out to be the drivers side bushing was 30% gone. I also highly recommend Elfrinks manual, goodie store or eBay

[Doug McDonnell]

Discussion of shift bushing replacement here that has pictures of things .https://porsche356registry.org/article/37 Since it was recently worked on I think you may find that something wasn't tightened correctly.most likely in the tunnel under the 1/2 moon cover. Shift lock should not be a factor.

[Doug McDonnell]

Another thread with similar problem: viewtopic.php?f=1&t=9768&start=15 PS let us know where you are and someone local may be able to help.

[DanWalkowski]

I had a similar issue when I purchased my 63B. The previous posts all point you to the area in question. It's possible the coupler needs to be adjusted. If the bushings are not worn, this is likely the case. Look inside the tunnel cover as mentioned earlier. As you move the shifter to the left, you'll notice the shaft actually rotates the opposite direction. You loosen the clamp and rotate the coupler so it rotates more completely. This is a fine adjustment because you want to improve rotation to engage all gears. We made this adjustment, and it worked like a charm! In my case, no parts were needed.
Good luck...

[Roger Edgren]

Thanks to all of you for your posts. Great help and great to see the knowledge and enthusiasm. I'm in Punta Gorda, FL right now as is the car. Between Fort Myers and Sarasota if you know any locals or even local mechanics if needed. The car will be ending up in Traverse City, MI a few weeks from now which is where we live most of the year. A lot of tips to look into here which I appreciate! Sounds like I'lll be getting my hands a little dirty here and digging into this.

[Doug McDonnell]

http://www.356fog.com/home.html Here is the website for Florida owners Group. I will also email you contact info on a few names I found in the TAN. I will be in Florida March 1st-15th on the Atlantic but will be going to Punta Gorda during my stay to visit family there.

[Mike Wilson]

Sounds like an adjustment but not to say the bushings are shot. When my coupler went out, I could only get first and third.

[Dick Weiss]

Be sure to mark the coupling's shaft relationship to the horizontal rod's split line so to ease the re-adjustment for proper gear selection; There should be equal lever clearance after all gear engagements--no tight spots!

Dick

[Jeffrey Leeds]

When you and your car get back to MI Roger, consider a visit to long time Member and contributor Sebastian Gaeta's shop:

ArborMotion
669 State Circle
Ann Arbor, MI
spg356@sbcglobal.net
# 734-761-1088

Certainly not next door to you, but worth the extra effort of getting a base-line diagnosis of what's important to get taken care of, and the priority order of getting things done will save you a lot of frustration down the road.

Jeff

[Roger Edgren]

Thanks again to all of you and for great direction. The good news is I have all gears back, but I am not sure what the problem is yet. I took out the three bolts holding down the shifter plate, and started to remove it or lift it, but was concerned about lifting it far and not knowing what I might do. I replaced the plate, moved it maybe a 1/16 to 1/8 inch forward, and I had all gears back moving smoothly! So haven't really "looked" below the shifter plate. How far can I lift the plate and "see" what it looks like under there, so as to inspect the linkage, bushings etc. as many have advised? Thanks for the contacts here in SWFL and back in MI. Very helpful and good contacts. I will be reaching out the them.

[Doug McDonnell]

Good to hear. Shifter should be very concise with minimal slop. I have redone the bushings on every 356 I have ever owned. They shift beautifully when everything is set up correctly.