Here is the story in a nutshell...

Bought my car roughly 6 months ago, it came with a binder full of receipts, mostly from the Porsche dealership. One of those receipts was for a clutch job, using the factory basic clutch kit (not including flywheel) which I remember seeing on the receipt was $700 for parts (forget what they charged the PO for labor). Since that clutch job which was documented in the receipt a year and a half ago, and only 10k miles old, I opted to skip replacing the clutch on my IMS job that's currently being completed. I just asked my mechanic (who I have complete trust in, and who has been working on and racing 911's the better part of his life) to take a look at the flywheel, and a few other parts in there to make sure they're still good to go.

Got a call back from him with some discerning news. The flywheel is in pretty rough shape, the pilot bearing is screeching when spun by hand, and when he took more apart he said everything looks original, based on the corrosion, and wear (clutch kit parts). He said there is no possible way the clutch or any associated parts in that kit were touched in over 50k miles, and what he thinks is closer to a decade. Immediately, even though I trust this guy, and wouldn't ever expect him to try to pull one on me to get more out of the job, before I could even say anything my mechanic said he will just charge me for new parts to replace the clutch. I asked him to take as many pictures as he can of parts numbers, and him removing the old parts, also that I could keep the old parts so I can further investigate myself. So here I am, about to drop $2,200 on a new clutch kit, new flywheel, and parts associated including upgrading the clutch fork to 997 spec. Love my mechanic as I didn't even have to mention him to do that last part (he works on my cars like I do, with meticulous attention to detail).

Anyway, This is a tough scenario because I'm currently deployed off Island until May. So the Wife is the one picking up/ dropping off the car etc. I won't be able to do much until I get back, but my plan from here is document all the parts #'s on the clutch kit that just came off the car, and compare to the old receipt. Also, find out if any of the parts were superceeded and If I can find any dates. Just want to get as much evidence as possible.

BTW, I am an avid DIY'er, but have limited (well none really) working experience on flat 6's and 911's in general. I wasn't about to have my first major DIY on the car be the IMS bearing when it deals with making sure the timing doesn't slip etc. This is the only shop I really trust working on my car besides myself, it has one owner, and he is the only mechanic. He works slow, but is very methodical and knowledgable. He also gave me a deal I couldn't pass up on labor having LN engineering Dual row IMS bearing replaced, RMS, AOS, and now the clutch kit, flywheel, and shift fork thrown in at no labor cost.

The good news is, some major reliability "worries" about the car are now settled, and I can now concentrate on more fun DIY projects for the car and getting it ready for auto-x. Just want to figure out this possible issue when I get back. It's not a good feeling replacing something rather expensive on a car when you have "proof" it was already replaced a very short time ago.

Forgot to mention as well, while shopping around for labor rates on the IMS job I did call the dealership for a quote (which of course was outrageously high) they did confirm on the phone when I gave them the car info that they have records too of the clutch being replaced, and Matched up a few other jobs I had receipts for.

What are the odds a 10k mile clutch kit, only 1.5 years old is in as bad of shape as described? I understand these clutches have relatively short life, but it's being described to me as less of a wear issue, more of an age/ mileage issue. I dont expect Porsche to do anything, but if I somehow can prove that not the entire clutch kit was replaced like stated, I think I have a good leg to stand on here...

Some good news to leave off on though: The factory dual row IMS bearing (90k miles) showed no signs of wear or play. Still feels good to have the job done though...

 

i thought porsche has a 2 yr warranty on parts and labor....take it back to them

 

Nice to hear that your existing dual-row IMSB was in great shape. My 00 C2 has almost the same mileage as yours, so your report is recomforting as I don't intend to replace my dual-row IMSB for a yr or 2.

 

That's good news as I have the 99 cabriolet C2 with the double bearing and the car has 64,000 on the clock.

 

I just pulled one that had 20k on it. You could still read the "this side toward clutch" in gold ~6pt type around the disk spline. It was dusty but no rust on any parts of the clutch pack. I did not take pics.

 

Yeah, besides the throw out bearing, the wear isn't to the point of the clutch not working. Car drove fine, no noises etc. like my mechanic said, it's the appearance of corrosion overall. The clutch kit on my car being replaced so recently "should" be noticeably shinier, and newer looking than surrounding parts/ bell housing. Later today the Wife is sending me pictures of the receipt, and part numbers from the parts. I'll ask her to take pictures of the parts as well.

 

Update:

I had a friend drive the car back to my place after picking it up, just to be safe as the wife Has only driven the 911 a few times, and wanted to be careful breaking in the new clutch/ flywheel and IMS.

The friend took a close look at the old parts for me. He said the clutch disk itself looked reasonably new, had lots of material left. But he said it did not match the grooves on the pressure plate, or flywheel. I know the flywheel wasn't replaced, but the pressure plate should have been included on the job done 10k miles ago as indicated by PN # 996-116-911. Now as I believe, the pressure plate grooves should match that of the clutch if it was replaced as stated. Also, surprised the flywheel wasn't resurfaced at the very least for this job. So as it appears on the receipt, Porsche charged previous owner $810 for that clutch kit, plus $950 for labor. Evidence suggests they ONLY replaced the clutch disk itself, and skipped the throw out bearing, and pressure plate by evidence of wear, and differences in "corrosion". Rather angry I have to deal with this, I'd be even more angry if I had found out about this as the previous owner who paid for a job that seems to have not been done correctly.

Definitely a problem being 6,000 miles away from home, unable to deal with this in person for quite awhile. Debating whether to contact Porsche of NA or the local dealership over the phone, email or what.

 

At this point not sure it is worth the hassle, I just do not see P NA or the dealership doing anything about it.
My recommendation is just to move on.

 

The Dual Mass Flywheel technically isn't resurface-able (or officially isn't? I guess technically it can be done) - so Porsche wouldn't have done that for you. On top of that, it's not a cheap part.

Oh yeah - why do you think the throw out bearing wasn't replaced?

 

For future reference, the release/throw out bearimg for the 996 is the same as the one for a '98 Audi A4 1.8T. Instead of $160, the Audi one is $60.