RayBest

Dear fellow members, today after a drive in my 997.1 Turbo manual, I smelt a burning clutch when back at home and parked in the garage. It wasn't overpowering, but gave me enough of a concern to post this thread and just ask if this is abnormal, or indicative of the clutch wearing out. The mileage is 20,000 now (31,000 km). I know the first question is 'how were you driving?'. Well a burst every now and then, it's irresistible, but no fooling around. When I pulled out of the filling station (was checking tyre pressures) a truck came bearing down on me and I was pulling off in second gear, so I did use the clutch a bit to get out of its way. That was about 5 minutes and 6 kilometers from home when I smelt the clutch smell. Perhaps it was that, but just thought I'd ask. Thanks for any response. PS I love the manual, but do think that with all of this power, perhaps a PDK is more suitable for a 911 Turbo (indirectly - this is another question). Thanks again in advance for any responses.

chsu74

It's not a clutch smell. It's the smell of rubber coming/wearing off your rear tires and sticking to exhaust bits. That is when you know you pushed your car a little bit..

Perfectly normal. Welcome to Porsche ownership.

Dennis C

Porsche perfume...

Bass Man

It's a badge of honour OP! Enjoy!

RayBest

Thanks for the responses, makes me feel a whole lot better! Do you think I should upgrade to the 997.2 Turbo PDK, or keep the 997.1 manual? Its about R400k upgrade cost (ie. about USD 35,000 input). Which is almost a third of the cost of the 997.1 manual. I don't understand the leap in value between the 997.1 and 997.2 Turbo cars. Perhaps its justified?

Macster

An overheated clutch has a rather unpleasant odor. It doesn't smell like hot tires, hot oil, or a hot engine.

If in starting out in 2nd gear you slipped the clutch then the smell was most likely from an overheated clutch.

If you started out in 2nd gear by accident you need more practice driving a manual, or perhaps you have answered your question regarding upgrading to a PDK equipped car.

If you started out in 2nd on purpose, don't do that again.

If driven with some care these clutches can last a long time. Had a chance to check the wear of my 03 Turbo's clutch back at 110K miles (clutch exposed while having the RMS replaced) and there was no measurable wear.

But I never start out in 2nd gear by accident or on purpose.

RayBest

Thanks Macster. That is why I knew it was the clutch, deep down. Point and question: I often pull off in 2nd, not from a standstill, but over a speed bump and similar. I have been thinking that I was doing a good thing by using 2nd more than 1st. I have been driving manuals for the past 30 years, but with the Turbo, 1st gear is incredibly short. Do I change my ways and should I use 1st, regardless? I know you have already answered that, however, I am an experienced manual driver. And I have 'high mileage' - do about 40,000km average through Africa per year in a Toyota 4x4, past 20 years. I think perhaps, and probably - you have pointed out a bad driving habit that I will concede coming from you, and would have brushed off if from anywhere else!

Kevin

You are hammering your dual mass flywheel with 2nd gear starts.. Period.. Like you mentioned, a PDK might suit your driving habits. A Tiptronic might would work also.. Cheers.

RayBest

1st gear from now on.

Macster

Use the gears as they were intended. While some cars have enough torque to move a car away from a stop using 2nd -- most of the one's I've owned will do that -- they do so at a terrible cost to the clutch.

I've never driven a 997 Turbo but 1st gear is not that short in my 996 Turbo. But it is what it is and I always start out in 1st and upshift at between 3K RPMs (cold engine) to 4K RPMs (warm engine) unless I'm hauling the mail (and the engine fully warmed up) then I wring the engine out more.

crgf1k

This is interesting...I've been smelling clutch/brakes when I pull into the garage lately. I tried flooring it uphill in 4th gear a few times, and there's no sign of slip at all...It pulls hard and the revs build steadily. None of the brake rotors are hot.

Like Macster said, the clutch/brake smell is normally very distinct. Does the old baked-on rubber really start to smell like clutch/brake?

Macster

There can an another odor source. These engines are located in a very dirty place, at the very back end (obviously) of the car where the air blast of the car/tires has every piece of trash, every particle of dirt, airborne.

All it takes is a piece of plastic wrap to contact the hot exhaust and the wrap sticks and chars. One will smell this after parking the hot car. The engine compartment fan of my Turbo runs all the time the engine is on and even after the engine has been shut off and the car locked the fan can still come. Any odor generated by this piece of plastic on the hot exhaust is going to get circulated.

I have smelled this a few times over the years even from my Boxster. In one case I had the engine cover over and spotted a charred fragment of a cigarette package wrapper on top of the engine.

After driving either car in the rain and then pulling in has the car emitting an ozone like smell which is the result of rain water splash on the hot exhaust.

With no slippage under hard acceleration at say 2500 to 3K RPMs from the clutch I do not think in the case of the OP's car the clutch is slipping.

I do not know if this has been covered by it might not be a bad idea to have the car inspected. I'm thinking -- a bit of a long shot but not impossible -- there is a fluid leak that might account for the smell. While I doubt it it doesn't hurt to have the possibility of a leak eliminated. At the same time the exhaust can be checked for any signs of something have been burnt on it.

sidwin

in my car, i thought something was going on. it ended being the rear brakes. i noticed the rear brakes on the 997 actuate more. Point being at 25k, Chris told me the rear pad lights came on instead of the front pads. Perhaps you are smelling the rear wheels rubber and brake pads. It ended up buying ceramic pads due to how much dust the rears were getting.

Tuxiemama

I smoke my clutch a bit, no biggie, but for the sake of your tranny change gears in order up and down especially when you go down... I have seen many 6MT drivers go from 6th to 5th to neutral, glide then brake and go to 2nd gear..... wears all those teeth on the gearings pretty badly.

Start always in 1st in a Porker

hs43

Eau de Porsche springs to mind when ever I smell that fragrance after a lively drive! ;-)