mavfan

Driving the 924S in the rain, I was going up a hill spiritedly and the clutch gives out to where their is a kind of slight grinding noise from the clutch and the car doesn’t propel forwards with the rpms moving freely. I stop and roll back into a parking space. Put the car back in first and slowly let out the clutch, the car moves forward a little, but then it seems like there is too much pressure for the clutch and it gives again with the same slight grinding noise. I shut off the car and try again, same thing, and then come back 3 hours later to try it again and nothing happens. It had been raining very hard so I thought that might have been related, but with 3 hours to dry it should have been ok even though the two should be completely unrelated. It seems to me that the pressure plate isn't keeping sufficient pressure, could this be related to the clutch hydraulics? I replaced the slave cylinder a year ago, and thought that maybe it had a flaw, which caused this to happen. Also the noise is definitely coming from the clutch area, and I replaced the tranny a few months ago so that shouldn't be the cause. Hopefully someone can point me in the right direction.

tyro

Silly question, but did you check your axles? Perhaps you've broken one.

apierce918

should not be hydraulics, with the clutch fully engaged, there is no pressure being put on the slave cylinder to lift the pressure plate.

if the disc is worn enough, it sounds like that could very well be the problem

Mike C.

It could be the rubber donut has gone on the clutch disk and you were still riding on the 'limp home' tangs. Some people manage to drive them for years like this but gently. So my guess is you need a clutch.

mavfan

Tyro - i did not check the axels, but the car would move slightly forward untill it seemed like there was too much preasure at which point i could hear from the clutch area a quiet grinding sound and the car wouldn't move any farther. could that happen if one axel broke?

wizkid918 - the car was on an incline and i was never able to fully engage the clutch when moving forward before the clutch seemed to loose all grip. i just cant immagine that its that the clutch is worn, i'm able to select any gear i want and to me it just seems more like that there is not enough pressue between the clutch/pressureplate/flywheel. but thats just my $0.02 lately the car has been having some weird happenings in when sometimes coming to a stop the shifter has a hard time going to neutral and it seems as tho even though the clutch pedal is down, it acts like it is not all the way down as the rpms go low to say 700rpms untill i am able to semi forcefully pull the shifter into neutral. could this have been my warning sign?

mavfan

i sincerely hope this is not the case, the PO said that the clutch had been replaced, but couldn't remember at what mileage, that was three years ago with 107k on the clock, now there is 132k on it. is it possible that he replaced the clutch with another rubber centered clutch?!

Mike C.

It may depend on how long ago it was replaced. IIRC, the rubber centered clutch is no longer available but I don't know how long this has been the case. A sure way to determine if it is the clutch center is to get the back of the car up on ramps or jackstands, remove the trapezoid shaped rubber plug from the forward part of the transaxle. Shine a light up in there and you'll see the driveshaft coupling to the trans. If you reach in a grab the coupling and try to rotate it, it should not rotate (tranny in gear). If you can rotate it, it means the clutch center is gone.

mavfan

isn't that hole really small (or at least it is surely too small for a hand or fingers? how should i reach up there?

chrly924s

If you are having problems with the gear shift being hard to select gears, it sounds like the rubber/springs (which ever) have come out of the disc and are catching the flywheel. This keeps enough load on the trans that the syncros are being overridden and the gears have to be forced off each other. This has happened in several of my cars; Jeep, Civic, 912 Porsche. Just got thru doing the clutch on my 951 and had several of those little springs doing the same thing.

mavfan

is this something that can happen intermittently, because it only happens when i've come to a full stop, not any other time when driving, upshifting/downshifting. and then it happens maybe 1/10 of the time. whats your thoughts?

ERAU-944

i drove for months (sometimes spiritedly) on my 'limp along' tabs on the clutch in my '84 944. i knew something was amiss, but didn't know the clutch was gone, since the car drove somewhat normally, just a bit of vibration, and drivetrain lash (which i attributed to worn R&P, but found later when i went to remove the transmission to change the seals that it was the clutch.

-Mike

chrly924s

Yes, you will notice it more at rest. The trans is supposed to be completely disconected from the engine and this "debris" gets wedged in. It can move around because gravity will make it fall down when the clutch is released and you come to a stop. On my Civic it was wedging against the flywheel bolts and the disc's spring plate. The flywheel bolts heads were slowly being rounded off. On my 951 this wasn't a problem because the little springs were on the other side of the disc where there is more room between the disc and PP.
That's been my experience.

mavfan

so i guess its time for a new clutch... what are the price ranges for having someone else install a new clutch? (no need for a fancy clutch btw) i've already had the car towed to a german repair shop and dont have the time to do it myself, she's my DD and i need her operational sooner rather than later.

Legoland951

Drive down the street at 10mph constant throttle and speed. Let off gas abruptly and step on the pedal to the same place before you lef off. If it makes metal clanging noise back and forth, the rubber donut is fried. My guess is the rubber donut from the info given.

Typical clutch job will cost from $1200 to $1500 with OEM Sachs set.

Mike C.

"isn't that hole really small (or at least it is surely too small for a hand or fingers? how should i reach up there?"

The trapezoid shaped hole is large enough to get your hand in there (Although if you have big hands it might be a problem).
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