Ok. so a couple of months ago, my
cayman
(2006 S, 50K miles) developed the seemingly common sudden clutch issue, where suddenly the clutch engagement became very rough, pedal pressure was reduced, and engagement point moved up.
Last week, I was finally able to tackle this problem with the help of a professional. What we found is the the clutch throwout bearing is very poorly designed, it's a time bomb!
The part of the throwout bearing that pushes onto the pressure plate teeth is made of plastic (see the new vs old comparison in photo). This eventually disintegrated, resulting in the pressure plate only being pressed on one side, the teeth don't even line up any more.
So the key take away is that if the car sees good amount of city or heavy traffic, 50K is about the life expectancy of the throwout bearing/clutch. Also stop driving the car immediately if you want to re-use the pressure plate.
Sharing this with the community here so y'all know what to expect.
The silver lining here is that I took the opportunity to install the following:
* Aasco LWFW
*
Sachs
upgraded clutch and pressure plate
* Wavetrac
LSD
*
Magnaflow
headers
w/cats
* Burns Stainless NHB
Exhaust
(very well made)
All of the above really transformed the car/driving experience!
My 987.1S gets a good amount of city driving. Currently I've got just under 34K miles and not experiencing any clutch issues. Thanks for the heads-up!
Cost of clutch parts?
Time involved to repair the clutch?
There's no warning, it just went.
The pressure plate and disk were sourced from partsgeek, just over $700. Aasco LWFW was found on Ebay, $700. ~$200 for some other misc parts. $1200 for Wavetrac
LSD
.
I had a pro who helped me with the clutch and
LSD
install. If you were doing it yourself I'd say budget a weekend so you can do it at your leisure pace. Would be very helpful to have 1 extra person for tranny removal and reinstall.
Timely thread. I just posted on another thread (
http://www.planet-9.com/987-cayman-...987-cayman-and-boxster-chat/184761-bleeding-clutch-987-2-factory-procedure.html
) that my 987.2 clutch is gone. Similar symptoms. I'm thinking it's the throw out bearing being jacked, causing the pressure plate not to engage and disengage fully or evenly. Getting quotes as we speak for a full clutch job.
edit: oh, and I have about 33K miles on it, and I'm VERY gentle on my clutches (no clutch drops, no riding, get off the line at about 1000-1200 rpms, etc.)
:cheers:
Same issue in my
987.2
. I was also surprised at pressure plate failure at 45k miles.
http://www.planet-9.com/#/topics/110382
For me the goat rope was counterfeit Sachs clutch kits being out in the market place.
Count me in as another surprised customer. Out of the blue, tonight my 2006
caymanS
(43,000 mile) suddenly had a higher than normal bite point, could feel vibration through the pedal that tracked engine RPM, zero clutch slip. Was fine yesterday...
freddiemac, how much does you pro friend estimate for various levels of repair? How extensive was the
LSD
install? Really like the LWFW? I think the factory is probably the ligthest I've ever driven, but I was a Muscle Car guy before (except for the Lotus but even that didn't have this kind of response.)
chas
@freddiemac
where did you source your new throwout bearing?
Seems to be a recurring problem. My first
Porsche
a 1989 944S2 needed a new clutch suddenly at 113k miles but it wasn't the throwout bearing.
