996 Slipping Clutch

I have a 2000 996 Cab with 58,625 miles. The other day I was having a bit of fun with some idiot in an SUV trying to race me off a stop light. When I shifted from 3rd to 4th, the clutch started slipping, and needless to say caused some embarrassment as I was unable to pull away from the SUV. I finally did, but I was surprised this happened given that I recently put a new clutch in the car at 53,284 miles so this clutch only has about 5000 miles on it. This car is not abused, it's mainly a weekend country-roads driven vehicle. Can anyone offer up some advise as to why my clutch appears to be slipping, and what can be done?

My friend, who instructs with the Porache Club, drove my car and he thought that the clutch on my 2002 C2 was a bit heavy. The clutch return spring does squeak, but there is no chatter, rumbling or slippage. I have about 60,000 miles on it and bought it about a1,000 miles ago. I assume that the clutch has not been replaced, because I see no record of it. Any comments?

sounds more like you were too eager to beat the SUV and shifted too quickly and aggressively. odds are the RPMs were still a bit high and you were giving it gas before the clutch fully engaged and it began to spin. i would not worry about it unless it does it all the time.

The 996 clutch gets heavier as it wears. This is contrary to what most people expect. My first clutch was replaced around 60K miles, so yours may be getting worn.

The easy answer is "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". When you start to have clutch symptoms (you already listed them) then have it checked and/or replaced. It's part of clutch equipped cars. If you consider a clutch replacement cost as expensive, start saving now.

+1 on the clutch wear. A faulty slave cylinder will also result in a heavy clutch.

My clutch is heavy too. I chalk it up to being a performance car. Clutch on my M3 is pretty heavy too. It used to bother me, but now I prefer a heavy clutch. Cheers, FLi

OK, I just have to chime in here... Mine went the other way. Last week after a short drive to cars & coffee I jot into my 996 TT to leave and the clutch was soooo smooth and easy, I thought something was wrong but it was fully functional. I bought the car at 80,000 km and have had it for 2 years and now have 130,000 km on the odo. I always wondered about the GT2 slave conversion idea because the clutch was already pretty stiff. There was also a little stiffer spot at about 75% down. That stiff spot is gone now too. I have since gone over the whole system visually and everything seems fine. Now I know what people are talking about when they talk about the clutch accumulator going bad - mine has just gone "good".

I think I'm going to run it until there is no question about the clutch going bad. You guys have much more experience with a Porsche's clutch than I do - this is my first. I guess I don't understand the mechanism that would cause a clutch to go heavy with a bad clutch or a bad slave cylinder. My experience with bad slave cylinders is that the clutch won't disengage, or pumping is required. I can hold the pedal in for a minute or so and there is no bleed off.

Keep in mind that if you run your clutch until it's totally gone, you will score your flywheel. If you plan to replace it anyway, no big deal. If you were hoping to avoid that cost, you may want to be a little more proactive.

Thanks. That is good advice. I've found owning performance cars are like going to the horse track. You know the history and you make your bet. In this case, I feel no slipping under high torque or intermediate engagement, so my bet is I've got some time. The thing that may put me over the top is that I am anxious about replacing my IMS bearing. I think that would give me less notice and be more expensive.