jbrill

Hey everyone, this is my first major problem with my s2 which ipurchased about a 2 months ago.

I wa sdriving today and i slowly felt vibration in most gears around 3000rpm. then it became harder to shift... its at the point now where i have to rev match and double clutch to shift gears. the car is now parked. im it is also making a little whining/ scratchy noise. especially when u let off the gas while it is in gear.

my car also used to have the somewhat usual neutral noise, where, when in neutral and the car running if u drop the clutch it makes a sound. it no longer does this either so ima ssuming this all is related.

i do all my own work on my car, and will look at it seriously first thing tomorrow, but this car being my first porsche i am wondering what the key things it could be are and how to go about them

Legoland951

The "neutral noise" is most likely the rubber donut center clutch going out. When it gets really bad, the 3 "blades" from the center of the clutch will lodge under the 3 other "blades" that is tack welded to the clutch friction plate prying it up as you accelerate eventually breaking the spot welds rendering your car undrivable. However, check your CV joints and make sure its not seized as that will cause your whole car to vibrate through all gears.

jbrill

my car has only 42,000 origional kms? and its already worn out?!

for future posts its a 1990 944s2 ROW

jbrill

also forgot to mention, when driving at 3000+ rpm witht he clutch fully in trying to change gears its feels "sticky" like it doesnt want to come out of gear and then once it eventually c omes out of gear it is difficult to get into the next one

baldheadracing

I'll second the rubber clutch centre going/gone diagnosis. The clutch facing is probably fine, but that isn't the problem. The rubber deteriorates with age; after about 10 years you're on borrowed time. With 42k original kms, the deterioration is actually worse because the rubber hasn't been exercised regularly.

Sorry ... it isn't a fun do-it-yourself job.

Good luck!

clouddomino

I'll vouch for the previous statements. I had a 85 1/2 944 that the exact same thing happened and the clutch went out just as described. So I had to drive it to my buddies shop in 3rd as I couldn't change gears. Also you may want to look at the slave and master clutch soleniods, I know that mine needed replaced when I replaced the clutch. I put a Spec Stage III in it with a lightweight flywheel and was very pleased with the outcome. Lindsey racing has the parts if you've got the time and money. Oh, and if you are looking into a lightwieght flywheel, I have a brand new in box Fidanza that I'll give ya an awesome deal on if your interested. Good Luck!

stolarzj

It's not so much the mileage, but the age of the rubber. It tends to break down. This was the rubber center clutch I pulled out of my S a few years back, as you can see the rubber is torn up.



Josh
94 968 Cab 6spd
Former: 87 944S

baldheadracing

Yup, definitely replace the clutch slave AND master cylinders (I think he means these, not solenoids) on a 42k km car (and flush the lines thoroughly). I'm not the biggest fan of SPEC clutches - they seem over-priced to me compared to Canadian-sourced custom clutch assemblies from Markus Blaszak, but that's really just a personal opinion. On a stock car, Porsche parts work fine.

Scootin159

I though the S2 had the 'turbo' style clutch with the little springs though...

baldheadracing

Nope. Rubber centre. Originally it was different part number than the 2.5 NA, though.

Luis de Prat

For more detailed info on clutch options for the 944S2, be sure to check out Tom Pultz's great website www.944s2.com

Mike C.

Yep time for a clutch. Those are classic symptoms of RDCS - rubber donut clutch syndrome.

Bill Lucas

42,000km is extremely low mileage. You need to thoroughly inspect (and probably replace) most of the rubber parts in your car. With that little useage on the car it's almost a cinch that you have dry rot occuring on rubber parts. Do yourself a favor and replace all the hoses and belts and probably quite a few other items that other Rennlisters will chime in on.

With such low mileage it would be a damned shame if you got big repairs bill because of a lack of preventative maintenance.

Best of luck.

Bill Lucas

Forgot to add. You have an S2 which means you can't use the clutch kits all the other 944 models use. Unfortunately, your clutch kit is a good bit more expensive that the others.

clouddomino

baldheadracing is right... I meant master and slave cylinders. And in defence of Spec clutches (although they are a bit pricey) I took it to a couple DE's after installing the new set up and it was extremely responsive. But I've never tried a clutch assembly from Markus Blaszak, so maybe there is something to be had there.