edsuarez

I was told that since I am changing the IMS bearing and RMS seal that I should do the clutch at the same time. Also, should I change the clutch disc to a higher friction performance clutch?

Shark Attack

why? Did you upgrade the engine to a higher performance engine? A clutch treated right will go 100K.

What do you plan to gain?

Ubermensch

^ What he said.

edsuarez

I just saw that there were options, so I was curious. I also agree that changing the clutch is a waste of money. I will be there at the shop when they open it up and want to inspect the clutch with them before agreeing to change it.

larry47us

I understand the concern about the IMS, but from what I've read, a car with only 21K miles that has had its oil changed regularly shouldn't be at risk yet. What year is your 996? Are you the only owner? It seems a big waste of money to me to change out the clutch at 21K miles, even though you are "in there."

larry

nick49

Curious why the IMS and RMS are getting changed on such a low mile car? Is your car currently leaking oil badly around the motor/trans area?

Yea there are monsters in the closet here on the internet, but generally they don't show themselves 'till the car gets 80k, 100k or better miles.

Clutch unless abused should be terrific at 60k and last much longer.

ivangene

here we go -

FWIW I think a low mile car has a higher risk of IMS

and dont change the clutch if it doesnt need it, you wont know till you are in there... if driven right it will be very good, if not you should replace. OEM is a good clutch... also have the flywheel checked (there is a proceedure)

otherwise just do the things that need done, and get on with your worry free car

<flame suit zipped up tight>

Marc Gelefsky

RMS can leak at ANY miles... same for IMS it seems.

My car had an RMS done at 40K miles, and I just did RMS, LNE IMS Bearing and Clutch at 60K.

philooo

I agree with Marc, from what we can read online it seems like the IMS problem can develop at any time, and I'd even say that it feels more likely to happen under 40k miles. Most IMS cases reported on the forum seems to be between 15k to 35k miles.
I don't even think I've read any IMS problem on >60k miles car. Either it happens early, because of factory defect or it seems to never happen at all.

francars

If you are doing all this work ... what is the quote to get the Clutch replaced? If you have the extra $$$ and plan to drive more miles and keep car I will say do it to save on labor costs. But if clutch is fine why replace? no need to spend extra $$$. Up to you

edsuarez

Thanks for the info. I will check the clutch thickness, but as you all said, it probably doesn't need changing. In regards to IMS, the car was hardly driven by the previuos owner. Computer diagnostics showed a max of 4700 rpm over the first 20,000 miles. It was owned by an older woman. The tech's from Panorama magazine all recommended changing the IMS, even if it is just the RMS. As Phil said, the cars with very low mileage have shown more issues than those that have been driven hard with high mileage. I will let everyone know how it goes!

DaveSpeed

My car has just under 40K miles but my RMS (I hope) is leaking, so I have an appointment next week to replace the RMS and upgrade the IMS. The service advisor said I'm probably going to tell you that the bearing looks fine and you probably didn't need to replace it. But since I have a leak it is really only the cost of the part. And everyone seems to agree you should not let leaks go unattended. Cluth replacement if necessary (I'm budgeting for it). But I have been told 100K is not unsual for a cluth. Problem is I did not put the first 36K miles on the car.

countrysquire

Just had mine done, and the clutch disk showed 38% of its life left, based on remaining thickness. This is on a car with 75,000 miles. It made sense to replace it while they were in there, as there was no additional labor involved, but had it been over 50% remaining, I probably wouldn't have done it.

Also, a guy in the Houston club just lost his engine to what was likely a IMS (never heard a follow-up), but it was a very low mileage car like yours and he was the original owner.

Flat6 Innovations

It always makes sense.. We just changed a clutch during an IMSR procedure that had 15K miles on it. My policy is, if it comes apart, it gets a clutch. They are worked into every one of our standardized prices.

larry47us

Jake:

I have a hard time arguing with the logic of an experienced, well respected shop like yours, but I have to say that I would be hard pressed to justify changing a clutch in my car with only 15K on the clock. Maybe the question is better put this way, "in replacing the clutch, how much of the cost is in the labor and how much is in the clutch itself?"

On a car like this, to spend $500 (if that is what a clutch costs) to save spending $1,250 in 6 or 7 years of 10,000 miles per year driving doesn't seem very cost effective to me. Time use of money, etc etc.

larry