SJB993

I have recently changed from a 993 Tiptronic to a 993 6 speed - and I'm glad I did, it's so much more fun to drive.

My new car's clutch must be nearing the end of its life (based on its 70k mileage), but it is not showing any evidence of slipping. However, the clutch pedal does feel heavy compared with other cars. My daily driver is a Golf GTI, and when I get back in that, I wonder whether the clutch pedal is connected to anything because it's so light by comparison.

I know the 993 has a lot of power, and that pretty strong springs are needed in the clutch to keep the crankshaft connected to the transmission, but I would have thought the leverage of the clutch pedal and adequate hydraulics would have been designed to make the clutch pedal "comfortable" to use.

So, to my question ....

Whilst I understand that a worn clutch will slip, and the amount of pedal travel to the engage point will increase, what I don't understand is the reason for all the comments I have read here and elsewhere that as a clutch comes to the end of its life, the pedal gets "heavier" (i.e. more pressure is needed).

I'd be grateful if someone could explain why this is.

TIA.

Monique

Hello mate,

I have a competition clutch with a LWF and the action is light enough that my 110 lb wife has no trouble at all.

A couple of questions:

1. Kinematic lever ever been replaced? A DIY from p-car.com.
2. What year? If pre '96, a new LWF/RS clutch requires a new chip too.
3. What mileage?

If the clutch does not slip at WOT, 4000 rpm or above in 4 th gear.. then it is still OK.

Have you done a "search"???

SJB993

Hello Jean-Pierre,

One of my main concerns is that my 110lb wife won't be able to manage - which is a distinct disadvantage as she is my chauffeuse when I've had a few beers! ;o)

To answer your questions, I don't think the kinematic lever has been replaced, it's a '96 model and has done 70K miles. And yes, I've done a lot of searching, and as I said, there are lots of mentions of the clutch getting heavier with age, but no explanations are given as to why it gets heavier - that's what I'm interested in (i.e. which mechanical bits are deteriorating?).

BTW, I did look a the P-Car DIY about the kinematic lever a few weeks ago, but that said it was a fix for the pedal not returning all the way up.

ASH.PALIN

Hi Steve

I have much the same problem myself, I had a 964 with an RS clutch and LWF which was awfully heavy under foot! when I went up to my 97 993 I found the clutch pedal a delight, however it suddenly went heavy and is a real pain in traffic, I do feel this can't be right, the clutch on mine is about 12000 miles old so it's not an age thing, it's going into JZ machtech for a service next week and they're going to look into it for me............apart from that trouble free, great car with loads of charisma!!
let me know if you get to the bottom of it

Ash

Monique

Hello Palin,

I have LWF/RS clutch in mine and it is not much heavier than either my turbo diesel VW or my Audi TTRQ. You have a prob IMO. Good luck.

Michael Cain

Hi Steve,

No idea why your clutch pedal is heavy but someone on this site will help.

My car has gone in for a new clutch today at INTAPORSH (www.intaporsh.co.uk). I noticed that the clutch was slipping after changing gear from 2nd at around 6,500 rpm into third, lots of revs 4000 rpm but no power to the rear wheels, after i pulled up on the gas pedal the revs died to about 3000 and then I pulled away again, this time power to rear wheels and off we go. I did this test a few times and realised that something was wrong.

I spoke to INTAPORSH this morning and they told me the clutch was worn right down to the rivets but luckily the fly wheel was not scored and damaged.

Looking through my bills and speaking to the previous service companies I have found that i am still on the original clutch at about 72,000 miles. A number of Porsche experts HARTECH in particular told me that a clutch will last between 30 and 55K miles depending on driving. clutch replacement at over 65K miles shows that the car has not been thrashed.

Regards

Michael

chris walrod

Over time, pedal effort increases at a rate slow enough that one typically doesnt notice it much, until the pressure plate is replaced, linkage serviced etc. Then its a night and day difference! Hydraulic clutch systems should never have a lot of pedal pressure. Very unlike my 1970 Chevelle SS454

SJB993

Thanks Chris.

Michael, thanks for your comments. WRT to miles/clutch, the Porsche specialist I use told me they had recently had a 996 in for its first clutch replacement at 120K miles!!! I'll be very interested to know if you notice any difference in the feel of the clutch pedal when you get yours back with the new clutch.

Are you going for the LWF/RS clutch upgrade that everyone in this forum advocates so strongly?

Michael Cain

Steve,

I had a long hard think about the LWT fly wheel and RS CLUTCH and decided against it, the main reason was that I was worried about the car stalling at low speed, I have Polar Silver 272 BHP Carrera 2 1995 car pre-variocam OBD-I chipset model.

There are a lot of posts about the 272bhp car stalling when fitted with the RS CLUTCH and LWT fly wheel. I know there are tweaks to sort this out but for me I have decided to buy Steve Weiner (Rennsport Systems) chip and get some extra power from the car. This weekend I plan to get the Bosch number off of the ECU and supply them to Mr Weiner for next week.

After the car has been chipped and the clutch has been replaced I will post my findings. I am going to do a number of 30-70 through the gears timed runs with a stopwatch before and after the chip replacement to see what the benefits are.

I have a goodwood track day on the 14th May and on the 21st May I am off to Germany to the 13 mile Nurburgring.

All the best.
Michael

Terry Adams

I replaced the clutch on my previous '87 at 80K miles, on this 993 the first time at 75K miles. In each case the pedal pressure required went up, and I had slippage. Now at 120K due to the engine out and DMF failure, I am upgrading to the LWF/RS Clutch. Because "we are in there", not due to pedal pressure or slippage, so not worn out.

SJB993

Thanks for all the inputs guys.

Sounds as though nobody really knows why the pedal pressure increases as the clutch and/or its mechanism gets older.

I just hope it decreases when I get the clutch replaced!!!!

Terry Adams

I think chris walrod just explained it:

SJB993

I would have thought that as the pressure plate ages, then the strength of the spring(s) would decrease, thereby requiring less pressure on the pedal.

I can see that as the linkages, bearings, etc. that transmit the pressure on the pedal to the clutch become worn, then they could introduce resistance making the pedal harder to press.

So is it the conclusion that, contrary to what has been said many times before, that clutches don't actually become heavier with age? It is actually what sits between the clutch pedal and the pressure plate that causes the problem???

Blaine S

I just had my clutch done two weeks ago primarily because the pedal was very very heavy.

The difference is night and day after the clutch kit and I didn't have to replace the flywheel (only 30k mi)

Just to be sure, after the clutch was replaced, I also did the p-car pedal lube and my boot was split just like the pics on the site but I could barely tell the difference.

The only thing I didn't do is replace the slave cylinder, but it was bled within the last month.

When I was at the dealer, I took a look at the clutch parts that came out. The clutch disc was very worn but not down to the rivets. The pressure plate has some spots on it but wasn't heavily grooved.

The interesting thing I found was that when I felt the teeth in the pressure plate and clutch disc, the grease was like paste. It was sticky and tar-like. I can only imagine that the output shaft (I think I am referring to the correct part)required significant effort to engage and disengage the clutch.

The new clutch literally takes about half of the effort.

DJF1

Michael, the nobrainer solution to our pre varioram cars is the Andial Midweight flywheel with the RS clutch plate. ZERO stalling, no tweaking and I have not noticed a meaningfull difference between the LW that I have in the race car and the Midweight that I have in the cabrio.