joseywhales

I can't tell if my clutch is going or is my tranny wearing down. When start after setting up for day or two a little hard to get into 1st or reverse till warms up, then as I am driving it feels rough when shifting into gears. Hard to explain feeling it dose not feel smooth, and never never slips out of gear or drag, just has a rough feeling. I have change from Mobil 1 to sweepco tran. fluid and it seems a little worse in morning. Change shift lever also. Its my 1st Porsche and not sure if the hitch I feel is normal. Any ideas, I am trying to figure out if my next major $$$ is for a tranny or clutch. Clutch had work done 50k ago I belive pressure plate, I am at 101k on car. Thanks for any help given. Scott

slevy951

101K, sounds like synchros are worn out. My vote is tranny. Stick with the syn gear oil until you can dive into it.

joseywhales

Is that major $$$ to rebuild a tranny. Is it to major of task to do yourself for an avg. joe machanic. Scott

Dave951M

Unless you have the tools, you're better off not even trying. Get a known good used one. You might also have a failing slave cylinder. That can cause the clutch to not fully disengage making you think that the tranny is going bad. My tranny had over 160k on it and the only problem was the second gear syncro was stiff when cold. Until my son trashed it but that's another story.

BruceWard

Sounds like it might be a good idea to invest in a new slave and master cylinder ($100) in hopes that they are the problem.

The slave cylinder is located near the starter on the bell housing. A good starting place might be to get down there and take a look at it. Also there is a view port in the bell housing that you can see the clutch disk through.

Hopefully its not the transaxle.

Legoland951

If its not grinding, it may not be the synchros. Bleed the slave and master for the clutch and maybe it will let the clutch disengage more. Its the cheapest first step.

joseywhales

the roughness feels like its in the shifter area not at back by tran. thats why I replaced shift lever. Is it a job that requires a manuel to correct ( slave - master cyl. ) or will common sense prevail. All I have is a Haynes manuel which dose'nt seem to apply a lot to the turbos. Thanks! Scott

triscadek

This is the third winter that mine has done this, hard to get into second sometimes third when its cold.

I had been running normal gear oil in the transaxle and just rceently changed to Swepco and it got a little worse. I was thinking of a post for similar experiences with the oil change.

But 40,000 miles later, after I've driven a 1/2 mile to a mile it shifts OK after that. Only on cold days when the oil has gotten down to ambient temp.

Hans

Dont think it is the tranny.
To check clutch, park car in gear on a road sloping down slightly (say 5 deg).
Switch off engine, do not use parking brake.
Depress clutch and see if the car moves by itself, then slowly release clutch to see where it starts binding again. If this is about half way the travel, clutch is getting less suspect.
Maybe you just want some thinner oil for the winter.
TakeCare
To check

BruceWard

Bleeding the slave cylnder is easy as long as you have a power bleeder. Buy one for $45 and a can of Super ATE either blue or gold depending on the color of your current fluid. Then replace your existing fluid with the new.

1. Attach the power bleeder to the reservoir and pressurize to 10 PSI to check for any leaks.
2. Get a turkey baster or syringe and remove the fluid from the reservoir, refill with new fluid.
3. Pour the rest of the new fluid in the power bleeder, attach and pump to PSI.
4. Start at the left rear caliper, open the bleed valve with a 11mm line wrench and allow fluid to come out until you see clean bubble free new fluid. If there are two bleed valves per caliper do the one on the inside first.
5. Move on the right rear, left front and right front repeating 4.
6. Jack the car up securely and get to the slave cylinder on the bell housing and open the bleed valve with a 7mm line wrench and allow fluid to come out until you see clean bubble free fluid.

There are other bleed points in the system, these are all that I attacked on my 968. Since the pressure bleeder pumps new fluid into the system (as long as it has some) I think it is unlikely that any air will be in the master cylinders.

You can either depressurize and detach the power bleeder then syringe out any extra fluid, or you can continue to bleed at one of the calipers until the reservior is at the correct level. I have done both.

If any of the calipers do not bleed well then it is time to check the pads for even wear and consider rebuilding the caliper. The brake fluid in my 94 968 had crystalized while under a previous owners care. I ended up rebuilding all four calipers and have a huge improvement in braking now.

Peckster

The cylinders are the same for na and turbo.

944CS

Switch back to the Audi/VW gear oil thats supposed to be in there and i bet the problem goes away

Bryan Welch

My 944S2 has a similar problem. It is hard to get into 2nd and sometimes 3rd until the car is fully warm. Unless I pause maybe a second or two between first and second gears, second will grind. Many times it feels like something below the shifter is blocking it from getting into 2nd.

Does this sounds like tranny problems or would it be logical to try a new slave and master cylinder?

thanks,
Bryan

joseywhales

Thanks went to Zims and bought power bleeder and slave and master cyl. Now I've got something to do this weekend! Thanks Bruce for the how to. Thanks again for the post, will let u-know. Scott

BruceWard

Now for the bad news, if the slave cylinder has failed then I have read many times that the master cylinder often fails within weeks of replacing the slave and vice versa. So it might be better to do both at the same time.

I believe the two bolts that hold the slave cylinder in are 14mm, the two bolts on the starter are 17mm if you need it out of the way.

I installed my slave cylinder with the bleed valve cracked open, otherwise it was going to require too much force.