UKKid35

A fellow 928 owner has suggested that my clutch pedal symptoms could indicate the Release Bearing has collapsed. Another 928 buddy has warned that if I drive the car there is the possibilty of Thrust Bearing damage.

I am proposing to drive the car about 400 highway miles, back from Germany to the UK, keaving later today.

The clutch master will now not compress at all. Previously the clutch pedal went straight to the floor, and then swung freely. I think this is because the clutch master remained compressed, and the helper spring on the clutch pedal failed (probably before I bought the car). Since then the clutch master may have been moved back out and refilled with fluid, while the slave remained fully extended.

My main concern is whether I could cause Thrust Bearing Failure if I drive the car home. Is this a real possibility?

Jim bailey - 928 International

If the snap ring has popped off ,the release bearing is no longer attached to the pressure plate and the clutch arm may be all the way back hitting the housing the rod from the slave cylinder fully extended. I do not see how this could put any pressure on the thrust bearings. That will be a very long and somewhat painful drive with no clutch.

UKKid35

Thanks Jim, I was thinking that the only time there would be pressure on the thrust bearing would be when the clutch was either partially or fully disengaged. Since it is no longer possible to disengage the the clutch, and it certainly isn't slipping, I was hoping that damage was not a possibility.

The only really painful part of the journey will be boarding and disembarking the ferry, and dealing with the border controls. The rest of the drive shouldn't be too bad as I'll be driving from midnight to about 8am, so not too much traffic to worry about.

FlyingDog

Looking at my clutch, I think you could damage the pressure plate fingers, guide tube, and maybe the intermediate shaft if the throwout bearing let go. Other damage is probably possible. That said, I don't think it's very likely. My throwout bearing is useless as a bearing, has been driven on for several hundred miles while bad and shows no signs of being close to coming apart.

You should pop the lower bellhousing off and see if you can reconnect the clutch. You're going to have a really hard time getting to highway speeds if you can't clutch.

UKKid35

Huge thanks to Jim for the reassurance yesterday, and also to Alex who is still at the Ring, who enabled me to get back to the Ring to collect the car.

I am now back in London, the car is even in it's parking space thanks to Stratis, my neighbour, who also stopped the traffic to enable me to complete the last 50 yards of the 400 mile journey - without a clutch.

For what it's worth I did the 310 miles from the Ring to Dunkirke in a pretty reasonable 4 hours exactly, leaving the Ring at 4am, which included a fuel stop, and a detour in to Luxembourg when I took a wrong turn.

The Norfolk Line ferry staff were very helpful, and put me on the main deck, last on, last off, so there weren't any manoeuvring problems (and only charged £29 one way - brilliant!)

I'll try taking the clutch out later over the weekend, once I've had a rest. The clutch did get slightly noisy on the last leg of the journey, so something was certainly continuing to disintegrate.