Freddie Two Bs

Car has 40k miles, bought it with 28k. Stock X50. When in 4th gear, if I mash the throttle the RPMs go up fast but the car doesn't accelerate much at all, which I take as textbook clutch slippage sign.

Isn't 40k a bit too soon for the clutch to start puking though?

911mhawk

Any chance car had a tune prior to you owning that could have softened up the PP?
Sock pressure plate won't last with a tune as it doesn't have enough clamping force.
My x50's went a couple of months after a tune with similar mileage. When I took it apart the clutch was fine, had plenty of meat on it.

dprantl

Assuming the car has been stock most of its life, longevity of the clutch is solely determined by how it was treated throughout its lifetime (regardless of duration) and the amount of abuse it was subjected to. Any clutch could be burned up in 1,000 miles easily with enough high RPM clutch-dump drag launches. A clutch could be toasted in 0 miles by a really dumb driver. For a very gentle driver, the clutch can last 100k miles or more.

Dan

Road King

Totally agree. I bought my bone stock '02 non X50 with 43K miles on the clock. Previous owner of 7 years had the clutch replaced at 39K miles, which is pretty early on. But after the test drive and watching him heavy foot the clutch, it sorta made sense.

I'm gentle with my relatively now (now 11K miles) clutch and never launch the car, but I'm also running a 1 bar tune with 100 octane and the clutch probably doesn't have much headroom given the power output. So far so good, but when it's time for a replacement those coolant lines are getting welded when the engine comes out.

HBdirtbag

my stock clutch lasted 60K with me being the third owner. I replaced with a better clutch with the stock clutch being in good shape.

Clutch life length is 90% on driver.....my old GTO i went 100K miles, while i saw many owners blowing them in 20K

Macster

Just to chime in to keep in practice: The clutch can go at any time. Most often if it goes "prematurely" it is how it was used.

There is abuse and misuse and we all know what type of usage those words bring to mind.

But there can be abuse or misuse that at the time may not appear to be that. Came upon a 911 (I think a 997) in for a new clutch. As is my usual I asked the tech for some details: Miles on car? How it was driven?

I don't recall the miles number but it was low. As to how the car was driven what happened was the driver got caught in a traffic back up on the Bay Bridge and he burned up the clutch inching the car along in the several mles of back up. This friction disc material had deliminated and come loose.

(My first road trip in my "new" 2003 Turbo back on July 3rd of 2009 had my inching my way up highway 50 in holiday traffic in 90F heat on my way to Lake Tahoe and beyond. I was well aware of how the clutch could suffer so I took pains to keep slippage at a bare minimum and trying to avoid moving the car every time an inch of free space appeared between the nose of my car and the vehicle ahead. I must have done something right for skip ahead ~110K miles and the transmission was out for an RMS and I was able to check the clutch and the disc had no measureable wear.)

You will of course have to have the clutch replaced. Be sure the tech inspects the flywheel. These are robust but can be damaged from excessive slippage. The dual mass feature can go bad too. There's a test to confirm if this is working right.

My 2nd hand info -- I've never yet had to do a clutch in either of my Porsches -- in talking to Porsche techs about clutch jobs is the flywheel can be resurfaced. Some places might balk at any flywheel resurfacing because they believe it can't be resurfaced -- I don't think a Porsche dealer tech would think this -- or just don't want to bother with installing a used flywheel.

Any other hardware in the bellhousing needs to be checked over and replaced if the hardware shows any signs of wear.

The clutch control shaft needle bearings should be replaced. The metal o-rings that seal each turbo to its exhaust manifold should be replaced too.

Freddie Two Bs

Thanks, good point on the bay bridge. The car spent its life on Long Island before I bought it and it's quite possible that it may have seen some lovely New York metro traffic.

Road King

That is a very likely possibility !

Kevin

Be careful and baby your dual mass flywheel. Try do not to burn it up. You will have a "window" of time to get the car into a shop to replace the clutch. When it starts to slip in 3rd, you should take it in.

Rarely do we see clutch disk wear until 70K plus. However, drivers will vary and use impacts wear. The pressure plate is the weak link. The heat that is generated sucks the life "slowly" over time. Unless one drag launches the clutch equals a short life.

As these cars age, the rubber hub in the dual mass flywheel wears crack/tears. This induces a chatter when in reverse or a clunk when on and off the throttle. The frequency of this issue has increased this year/driving season. I get the feed back from clutch sales!

Hosewater2

When the time comes, what is the best clutch replacement if I want a bit more pedal effort and a lower engagement point?

Kevin

Here is a great clutch kit.

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-turb...-595-00-a.html

Uprated Sachs Race Engineering 764 pressure late..

A the clutch wears the pedal engagement rises higher.

Hosewater2

This a good choice for someone keeping things +/- "stock," or geared more toward the modding-for-the-track owner?

Kevin

The previous link that I posted is great for the STOCK car with or without a tune.

For those that want to "track" your car and plan to upgrade turbochargers and power output the following kit is recommended.

https://rennlist.com/forums/996-turb...-445-00-a.html

Freddie Two Bs

That's true of all clutches, though, right?

dprantl

I thought all hydraulic clutches are self-adjusting and the engagement point stays the same regardless of wear? Isn't it the same as the brakes? When the clutch plates wear and the slave cylinder needs to travel further, this extra room is taken up by hydraulic fluid and the clutch travel remains unchanged, right?

Dan