Carmichael

So I was on my way to my preferred place of spiritual worship yesterday and parked the car.

Upon my return, I was surprised to see a small puddle on my WeatherTech floorliner on the driver side footwell. It hadn't rained, and the car is always garaged.

Then I noticed that something was dripping from my clutch pedal. Could it be?!


Once my hysteria subsided, I quickly collected my thoughts. I have noticed that since it'd gotten colder, I've been having the first-gear jam issue more often, and that 4th and 5th gear have felt "crunchy" in the morning during my commute. I also had the clutch slip momentarily while passing last weekend, downshifting from 5th to 4th. The friction point on the pedal also appears to be inconsistent - sometimes the clutch will engage low, sometimes high. Classic symptoms of a problem with clutch hydraulics.

I've found a new replacement online, of course, but the prices vary wildly: from $50 and some change to well over $150. Is FTE the OEM manufacturer? Centric has a replacement for $64, and I've always had good luck with Centric brake components (they also own the Cryo-Stop and PowerSlot brands, if I'm not mistaken). Can anyone recommend a brand or place to pick one up?

Actually, has anyone else had this problem? I did a search on the 997 forums, but no dice.

motopix

I used the Genuine one from Pelican $160-ish if I remember correctly.
I had 119k or so miles before I noticed it leaking.

Carmichael

I'm at 89,xxx right now.

I will try a mid-price FTE master cylinder and report my findings.

While I'm at it, I might as well replace my slave cylinder as well.

motopix

Another point worth noting is that I wouldn't have noticed a problem is I was using a floor mat. I saw drops on the rubber insert in the car's carpeting under the pedals. And you might not have noticed if you weren't running weather techs.

Those with higher mileage cars might want to crawl under the dash and look for fluid on the clutch MC shaft.

Carmichael

Yeah, the master cylinder shaft was soaked with brake fluid. It's actually pooled up around the dust seal, too.

Pelican's DIY seems pretty straightforward. I ordered a Sachs Master Cylinder for $99. I hope it lasts.

Hopefully my slave cylinder is still good ... I'll reserve ordering a new one until I can diagnose. With any luck, my 1st gear jamming issues can be attributed to a clutch engagement issue traceable to a faulty clutch master cylinder.

motopix

Mine still has issues going into first now and then. I either re-clutch or drop to 2nd then back to first.

Lvt19672

Have you tried changing your gear oil to Mobilube PTX, others are reporting good results with the first gear issue after they changed it.

motopix

It was changed at 114k but not sure what they put in.

It doesn't bother me enough to have it changed again at this point.

Carmichael

Sitrep: I did the swap. It has completely transformed the clutch engagement and has reduced some of the first-gear jam issues I'd been having. There was also a lot of air in the line from the master to the slave cylinder, naturally, since the seals in the master cylinder were kaput.

It is a pain in the *** to work under the dash. Make sure you make a chiropractor appointment afterwards.

It was otherwise pretty easy.

One more thing, don't spend $150+ on a master cylinder with the Porsche P/N on it. I spent $99 on mine, and it had the same Porsche brand marking on it. Came in a Sachs box, but was embossed with an FTE logo. The FTE part numbers were the same as well.

The only difference from new and old, was that the Porsche part number on the new one had been scratched out.

floatingkiwi

See this thread for revisions of the clutch master and slave (at that time...)
https://rennlist.com/forums/997-foru...l#post11631836