Van

I just used my last virgin...

But you can find them in the classifieds -- errr, wait, maybe that was the CraigsList classifieds..

Kevin Baker

If you can shift it at ALL, my guess would be air in the clutch hydraulics. The master/slave, and little pain in the a$$ line between them should be replaced together. Remember, these parts are all 20 years old now. And FWIW with help, you can fix these cars yourself. I've done everything short of pull the engine on one without a lift. Air tools plenty of 13mm wrenchs/sockets are good. So is learning to use foul language in German, these cars understand that.

ubercooper

One of the things they just fixed and cost me 1000$ was the clutch master/slave cyl and hydraulics. My mechanic has replaced almost everything, except the tranny, on this car. Except the fuel lines which I did.

Chris_924s

Seb. I've been driving the 924S as a Daily Driver for over 10 years. It CAN be done. Familiarize yourself with clarks-garage.com and the PET. and yes I carry most tools I need for impromptu road fixes.. I was a mediocre wrench before buying my car and still am mediocre- but now I know when I'm over my ski's and resort to those better than I. My first WP- belt change scared the **** outta me- but it saved me a grand.

You will have to do some work yourself if you plan to keep any money in your pocket and the car on the road - these cars eat cash like UDPride eats free donuts on "free donut day" at Krispy Kreme's.

Be patient. I know youre frustrated but work WITH your shop and make sure they test drive it with you in the car- you driving -- then them driving. Misc clunks, rattles and noises may be the last clue they need.

As always- UDPride. dude . youre funnier than a rubber crutch (or clutch in this case..lol)

Mike C.

Certainly look for hydraulic leaks and/or air in the system (it never hurts to bleed it more) but usually a hydraulics problem will not work first and then degrade. If anything it goes the other way, they don't work at first and then pumping the pedal gets some functionality back. So I don't hold out much hope for more bleeding....

ubercooper

ok... just got back from the shop and a drive with the head mech. He believes it is the clutch or something with the release/engage mechanism.
The odd thing is that my car is driving fine in 1st, 3rd, 4th, and 5th. Whenever we tried to up/down shift into 2nd it would grind or just not engage. We started the car in 2nd and shifted out to 3rd and it still was grinding.
Does this sound plausible?
Thanks again
-Seb

Mike C.

It would seem that something is not right with the 2nd gear synchro beyond wear. If you can successfully engage 1st gear from a dead stop and smoothly release the clutch then I can't see how he puts the blame on the clutch. 1st and 2nd gear share a sliding sleeve with the synchronizer for each gear mated to the fore/aft faces. It may be that the one or more of the synchronizer lock tabs have become dislodged and are preventing the sleeve from sliding towards the 2nd gear synchro. Bottom line is (IMHO) an exploratory surgery on the transaxle pinion shaft or get a good used transaxle.

Kevin Baker

+1 on the used transaxle.

V2Rocket

When you drive, don't bother with the clutch. Instead, turn your stereo up very high and when it comes time to shift just yank the lever back into 2nd. Don't even move your left foot. Pay no attention to the horrendous grinding noise; that's just the car understanding that you're the boss and you mean business. Repeat for the next 3 shifts, and your clutch will never see wear again.

I've found it helps sometimes to shout "GOD DAMMIT HANS" or other expletive/German-engineer name combination.