I took my 2009 C2S to my Indy shop today and he informed me that my clutch was nearing end of life. When I asked him how he knew that, he indicated that the clutch engages half the distance from the bottom to the top pedal release. He said a good clutch engages about 1" - 2" inches from the bottom. The clutch pedal feel hasn't changed as far as I can tell, and I really hadn't noticed the pedal engage point change in the three years that I have driven the car. I baby my clutch more than most so it amazes me that I need a new clutch between 35K and 40K miles. Of course I'm not sure how the prior owner drove, or if they were hard on the clutch. For a reference point, and I know this has been debated and argued many times on this Forum, my Indy (former Porsche dealer certified technician) said that the 997.2 clutch life is between 35K and 40K miles assuming that you drive in regular city traffic and not highway or weekend only use.

Has anyone been told that the clutch engage point is an indicator that the clutch is nearing end of life? The good news, if there is any, is that he will charge me $1400 for a new clutch kit with labor. That does not include a slave cylinder.

 

I would get a second opinion, there have been some recent threads regarding dishonest indy mechanics as well as dealerships.

 

I suppose you can keep driving it til you notice a problem and get a new clutch then.

 

Other threads on this forum suggest that the clutch pedal pressure gets really stiff as the clutch wears. No mention of the engagement point.

 

No. This is no indication at all. It is misleading and flat-out wrong.

With older mechanical clutches the pedal was a lever that pulled a cable attached to another lever that moved a yoke that pushed the pressure plate away from the flywheel, disengaging the clutch. A cable adjuster allowed you to set the engagement point. As the clutch wears down the engagement point will move further from the floor, which if it gets too far then you adjust it again.

Porsche hasn't used this design since the 1980's. Even then, hardly anyone wants their pedal to engage right off the floor. In other words, even if you had a car with a clutch where this advice might make sense, it would still not make sense unless he knew you had it adjusted to engage right off the floor, and now its engaging halfway. EVEN THEN all it would indicate is wear, NOT that it needs to be replaced. For that, you drive until it slips.

It was a lot easier back in the day to understand how these things work. All levers, literally about as complicated as a teeter-totter. Even today its really pretty much the same, only they replaced one lever pulled by a cable to one pushed with a hydraulic lift.

So you push on the pedal, the lift pushes the pressure plate away from the flywheel, the clutch is disengaged. The more the clutch wears down, the thinner it gets, the less the plate needs to move- and so of course the less the hydraulic lift needs to move. Eventually the lift hardly needs to move at all. But while the lift can't move much, you still have all the same pedal travel. So depending on the particular details of your car (thicknesses of plate, flywheel, clutch) the pedal might feel stiff. You are trying to push something that has nowhere left to go.

It all makes sense when you understand it.

Again, the universal indicator of a worn clutch is it slips too much. If you are careful and smooth, this is probably a good 100,000 miles away.

 

This is a good sign of a clutch going bad. Unfortunately if it is the only Porsche I drive then I tend to get used to the gradual change. It usually takes either me driving another Carrera or a buddy driving my car to bring to my attention.

 

I have replaced clutch on both my 996 and 997.2 around 47,000 miles. On my 2006 997.1 the clutch was failing around same mileage. I was not original owner of any of these cars. Blame previous owners? Who knows

 

Tell him thanks but will drive it until clutch starts slipping, grabbing, etc and is on last legs. Clutch (any mfg) starts exhibiting engagement issues when replacement needed.

 

If it should engage only an inch or two from floor, you’d have a lot of people grinding gears. I’d get second opinion for sure.

 

Four-year old thread?