Possible Broken Clutch: What else could it be?
 

Hey guys,

My 86 944 Turbo broke down on the side of the road yesterday. From a stop sign, I put it in to first gear and let out the clutch. There was a loud popping noise and then I had no power. Engine runs fine, transmission shifts, but it's essentially stuck in neutral.

The clutch has always been solid, no slipping or anything so it wasn't sudden wear or glazing or anything. There's a very slight grindy type of noise when trying to accelerate like something rattling in there but thats it. I have about 95,000 miles on this car.

This car supposedly had clutch work done in Summer of 2010. I have the receipt from the previous owner. It claims resurfaced fly wheel, new pressure plate, and clutch disc. It's not very detailed otherwise.

I've had this happen before on a Honda Accord which was due for a clutch and it turned out to be a 'throw out bearing'. I don't really know what that is or if there's a similar part on the Porsche. It was due for a clutch job so everything was simply replaced.

My car has many performance upgrades so I might use this as an opportunity to buy an upgraded clutch. But I have some questions I hope you can help with:

1.) Before I buy a new clutch kit, is there anything else that could cause this? Are there tests I can do on my own? I don't see anything dangling from the car anywhere.

2.) This car is somewhere between 250 and 300 HP with a K27-8 on it I guess and I would like to do some track day events in it, but it's mostly a daily driver. Is it worth getting an aftermarket clutch or is the stock one fine?

3.) Any experience with upgrading the clutch? I see Lindsey Racing has some nice looking ones. Lightened flywheel appeals to me also since I'm assuming it might make turbo lag less noticeable? Or is that a lie?

4.) I need to do the rear main seal and the AOS seals, which is easy with the xover pipe removed. Is there any other work I should ask to have done while this is in for repairs?

5.) What would be a fair range for a clutch job on this car? I've read the steps from clarks and they estimate 24 hours and I don't blame them, it looks miserable.

6.) I wasn't driving it hard when whatever broke broke. Just a boring commute on a 30mph road jammed with other commuters. What could make this happen on a car that just had a clutch job last year? Or did the sellers lie?

Thanks for all the help! I'll probably be 944 less for a few months while I save up the money for this.

Check to make sure that your half shaft is attached, the bolts love to come loose and leave people stranded.

- i would check the cv joint first thing- drivers side especially. My 86 had a 27/8 and blew the cv out fast.
- if the TO bearing failed -or the fork- you would be stuck in gear- well- you would not be able to disengage the clutch.
-Could be the ring and pinion- unlikely in a turbo but possible.

- if it is the clutch for some reason, there are quite a few options. I ran a turbo spec clutch from paragon w/ a 930 disc for a few years but once i hit 350rwhp it started slipping more and more. I added a KEP1 pressure plate from KennedyEngineering and it was perfect.

I agree with Tim and Dan. Dollars to doughnuts, it's CV related.

Well CV would certainly be good news, except I don't know how to check for that. On to searching!

Wooo! It's the CV joint!! I've never been so happy in my life!

Snapped bolts. Two are broken off and left in the... whatever that part is. I'm confused as to why only two are broken off in there. I'd expect all 6. What are the chances of me getting those two remaining pieces out?

6 bolts likely all loosened up and 4 fell out and the two sheared off. They should twist out easily. I find that taking the time to tighen all six up evenly and torgueing them down is the key to prevention of this happening.

Welcome to the 'my CV bolts fell out' club

They will come out easily if you can grab them with channel locks. If inside, take a small punch and work them out slowly.

What, the only bolts on the 944 that don't rust solid? If they backed out, wouldn't they be completely missing? I still have all six showing on the axle. I've been kind of worried that it's stripped threads and that I'll have to replace that CV... hub thing on the transaxle. Won't really know until I get some sun and the 8mm triplesquare socket I just ordered.

Doesn't look like the kind of thing I'd want to use a helicoil on :)

They back out.
Trust me.

They back out, but the CV boot prevents them from falling out...

Good place to use safety wire star washers and hex heads, wired together in pairs. At the very least get the holes and hardware very clean and use locktite and good lockwashers.

Does this generally happen on one particular side?

On my car, every time it happened was the driver's side.
Twice the axle took out the speed sender on the transmission....