New Clutch

Hi, I have my cayman s in for 20000 km service at the moment, and they have told me i need a new clutch..i think its a bit early for a new clutch. Has anyone else replaced it so soon?? I also drive a holden with 60000 km and the clutch has never been replaced, so im pretty sure its not the way i drive.. any input would be appreciated, i think im being taken for a ride!

Isn't it under warranty? I have not heard of any clutches being replaced this early. Why are they saying it is bad?

Porsche bought me a new one (along with flywheel, PP, throw out bearing and slave cylinder) all at 24,000kms....... But my pressure plate had colapsed..... Cheers

Re: New ClutchP Warranty finished a month ago. I just told them that it felt a bit stiff.

Was it under warranty

My 06 has warranty through november 2010 so the dealer did it under warranty..... Cheers

I had some problems with my flywheel and the dealership charged me because they said warranty didn't cover it.

My dealer sent pics to porsche for the warranty approval. Once Porsche gave the green light every associated part was replaced..... What was the flywheel issue you had? Cheers

All they said was that the clutch needed replacing within a week and possibly the fly wheel too, but they won't know till they get in. Total of $4.5k

The parts are not that much money relative to other earlier porsches. I find it amizing they can tell how long it will last (1 week????)...... I would take it to a good independant to get a quote. Can't be more than 8 hours labour MAX to pull the engine/trans and replace the bits, plus the parts. Many online sites have catalogues you can check prices at. At 4500 I think you are getting bent over (without lube).... cheers

Thanks. I'm going to an independant on Monday. Funny thing is I haven't noticed any deteriation since the last service. In starting to think it nay the pressure plate. It just doesn't add up especially when they say you have 1 week to fix!

Re: New ClutchP I smell dealer rip-off here. You mention your clutch is a bit stiff, and they jump on the chance to charge you $$$$ to replace it, making up whatever reasons they need to. After all, you did mention it was stiff. Just because it is stiff does not mean it needs replacing. I had a similar issue with my 993. There is a known issue with the clutch pedal assembly in 993's causing the pedal to not return all the way. The fix involves replacing a lever in the pedal assembly. I took it to the dealer, stating "clutch pedal does not return all the way" knowing I needed this new lever. The service writer wrote "clutch engages too high." I argued with him, and he just trumped my argument with "We service writers know what to write for the mechanics." I almost got back in my car and drove away, but I needed some other work. In hindsight, I should have driven away. Guess what? The diagnosis came back as "needs new clutch." My clutch was fine, no problems. I doubt the mechanic even looked at it. They were just looking for excuses to charge me $$$$ for a new clutch. I declined, and never went back to that dealer again. Always remember that service writers are commissioned salespeople. They make a commission on whatever service they can write you up for. Their recommendations are hardly unbiased.

The clutch iteself is about $500 from Suncoast..............so its safe to say that somebodys having a laugh at your expense. Suncoast Porsche, Audi, & VW: Cayman Clutch Kit - 6 Speed

Mine is at shop getting a new clutch. I think it's just the throwout bearing but we are replacing everything. Parts for clutch, pressure plate, TO bearing and my mechanic is going to change the RMS = ~850 retail, I paid ~550. They estimate 7 hours labor so I should be able to get this done under $1,500.

Yeah, my clutch is stiff too, but I only know that because the mechanic told me. I bought my CS used so I don't really have anything to compare it to. Still feels better than any clutch on any car I've ever driven. Honestly, it could be 10s of thousands of miles before it actually needs to be replaced. All depends on how and where you drive. You really only need to worry about replacing a clutch when it starts reving up after the shift. Even then, you should have a enough time to arrange a trip to the shop. Like DMN stated, I was figuring about $1500 USD for parts and labor when it's time for a new one. $4500 AUD is more than double that if my currency calculator is correct.

My dealer told me that clutches are not covered under the warranty. He said it's normal wear and tear. So, I just ended up buying clutch replacement kit from Suncoast, and my mechanic charged me $500 to replace it. So it ended up costing me a little over a $1,000. Which I was happy pretty happy with. I guess replacing the clutch on a Cayman or a Boxster isn't that difficult.

Clutch disks themselves are not warranty items, they, like brake pads are a wear item. In my case Porsche replaced the disk and flywheel because the failure of the PP caused some damage to them. Now if for some reason your clutch disk came apart as opposed to wore out, there would be grounds for a warranty claim... Cheers

[Image-only or quote-only post; no author-written text.]

Thanks for all your comments, i had it checked out with an independent mechanic and he said it was fine, and that you would definitely start to feel it slipping and over revving if it needed repair, funny thing is porsche said they would need me to bring it in on Monday when they got the part for the urgent repair, its now wednesday afternoon and they havent called....

Glad everything is okay. Thank goodness for honest independent Porsche mechanics. Honestly, I haven't found a single honest Porsche dealer where I live (OC, CA). One of the most outrageous estimates I got was on my 2003 Boxster S at Newport Beach Porsche. They quoted me $1,100 to replace the shifter cable. I got it replaced at a local mechanic for $180.

Jooyoung99, There are several independent shops that specialize on Porsche that are IMHO very honest and reasonable prices in Orange County. I had great experiences with Hergesheimer in Lake Forest [phone removed]) and also with Haydon Bros. in Anaheim [phone removed])

Al man, I have similar problems with a stiff clutch and in the the next couple of weeks will have it checked over at the dealer by some guys from Porsche to establish the problem. The first idea is to replace the brake/clutch fluid and at the same time check it over so I'll let you know what the outcome is.