Kitesurfer

Hi all,

lately I hear some noise in the clutch/transmission area of my 1984 3.2 Carrera.
This sound became noticeable in a day or two.

The noise is irregular, like a dirty/broken bearing or a gear hitting randomly a losen bolt.

At speed I cannot hear it , but I don't know if it disappears or it is covered by engine sound.
My (worst) suspect is the gearbox primary shaft bearing, since it is well audible at idle but disappears completely if I press the clutch pedal.
Maybe it could be something related to the clutch, I don't know...

Being not a Porsche expert, any hint/suggestion/confirmation will be very appreciate.

Thanks in advance.

Peter Zimmermann

Mileage on car? Miles since last clutch/trans repair? Is the car's drivetrain original to the car? Has the car had any shifting difficulty? How long have you owned the car?

Pete

Kitesurfer

Hi Peter,

1)80,000.
2)I don't know, the clutch should be the original.
3)Yes.
4)Sometimes reverse.
5)3 weeks...

Thank you.

Peter Zimmermann

kite: 915 transmission bearings normally last well past 200K miles. With an original clutch (possible) you might have a throwout bearing problem or a pilot shaft bearing problem, or both. When you depress the clutch pedal two things happen: (1) You load the TO bearing, and (2) you "disconnect" the transmission from the engine. Normally a failed TO bearing gets louder when it goes bad, but I've also seen them scrape against the fingers of a very worn clutch when they're unloaded. The pilot shaft bearing is almost certain to need replacement, but it's rare to see one bad enough to be audible. Given the car's history I would lean toward the clutch as the culprit, but I encourage you to contract an expert to listen to the noise.

With only three weeks of ownership is it possible that the noise has been there the whole time, and you're only now becoming aware of it? Was a PPI done on the car?

Reverse: When you get a grind in reverse (which has no synchro) it's usually the driver at fault (sorry!). If the clutch and linkage are in good order, try this technique: Before selecting reverse always select a forward speed, whichever one is very smooth/easy to engage following start up, and then move the lever to R. I would bet that you'll never crunch R again!
Pete

Kitesurfer

Thanks a lot, Peter.

Next tuesday I'll check the car with a specialist.
About reverse, I don't get a grind, it is only hard to engage sometimes.
As you said, to resolve it is enough to select a forward speed and then the reverse engage smoothly.

Regards.