changing IMS, RMS, what about clutch at 21k miles?

I was told that since I am changing the IMS bearing and RMS seal that I should do the clutch at the same time. Also, should I change the clutch disc to a higher friction performance clutch?

why? Did you upgrade the engine to a higher performance engine? A clutch treated right will go 100K. What do you plan to gain?

^ What he said.

I just saw that there were options, so I was curious. I also agree that changing the clutch is a waste of money. I will be there at the shop when they open it up and want to inspect the clutch with them before agreeing to change it.

I understand the concern about the IMS, but from what I've read, a car with only 21K miles that has had its oil changed regularly shouldn't be at risk yet. What year is your 996? Are you the only owner? It seems a big waste of money to me to change out the clutch at 21K miles, even though you are "in there." larry

Curious why the IMS and RMS are getting changed on such a low mile car? Is your car currently leaking oil badly around the motor/trans area? Yea there are monsters in the closet here on the internet, but generally they don't show themselves 'till the car gets 80k, 100k or better miles. Clutch unless abused should be terrific at 60k and last much longer.

here we go - FWIW I think a low mile car has a higher risk of IMS and dont change the clutch if it doesnt need it, you wont know till you are in there... if driven right it will be very good, if not you should replace. OEM is a good clutch... also have the flywheel checked (there is a proceedure) otherwise just do the things that need done, and get on with your worry free car <flame suit zipped up tight>

RMS can leak at ANY miles... same for IMS it seems. My car had an RMS done at 40K miles, and I just did RMS, LNE IMS Bearing and Clutch at 60K.

I agree with Marc, from what we can read online it seems like the IMS problem can develop at any time, and I'd even say that it feels more likely to happen under 40k miles. Most IMS cases reported on the forum seems to be between 15k to 35k miles. I don't even think I've read any IMS problem on >60k miles car. Either it happens early, because of factory defect or it seems to never happen at all.

If you are doing all this work ... what is the quote to get the Clutch replaced? If you have the extra $$$ and plan to drive more miles and keep car I will say do it to save on labor costs. But if clutch is fine why replace? no need to spend extra $$$. Up to you

Thanks for the info. I will check the clutch thickness, but as you all said, it probably doesn't need changing. In regards to IMS, the car was hardly driven by the previuos owner. Computer diagnostics showed a max of 4700 rpm over the first 20,000 miles. It was owned by an older woman. The tech's from Panorama magazine all recommended changing the IMS, even if it is just the RMS. As Phil said, the cars with very low mileage have shown more issues than those that have been driven hard with high mileage. I will let everyone know how it goes!

My car has just under 40K miles but my RMS (I hope) is leaking, so I have an appointment next week to replace the RMS and upgrade the IMS. The service advisor said I'm probably going to tell you that the bearing looks fine and you probably didn't need to replace it. But since I have a leak it is really only the cost of the part. And everyone seems to agree you should not let leaks go unattended. Cluth replacement if necessary (I'm budgeting for it). But I have been told 100K is not unsual for a cluth. Problem is I did not put the first 36K miles on the car.

Just had mine done, and the clutch disk showed 38% of its life left, based on remaining thickness. This is on a car with 75,000 miles. It made sense to replace it while they were in there, as there was no additional labor involved, but had it been over 50% remaining, I probably wouldn't have done it. Also, a guy in the Houston club just lost his engine to what was likely a IMS (never heard a follow-up), but it was a very low mileage car like yours and he was the original owner.

It always makes sense.. We just changed a clutch during an IMSR procedure that had 15K miles on it. My policy is, if it comes apart, it gets a clutch. They are worked into every one of our standardized prices.

Quotes source post: 8510629

Jake: I have a hard time arguing with the logic of an experienced, well respected shop like yours, but I have to say that I would be hard pressed to justify changing a clutch in my car with only 15K on the clock. Maybe the question is better put this way, "in replacing the clutch, how much of the cost is in the labor and how much is in the clutch itself?" On a car like this, to spend $500 (if that is what a clutch costs) to save spending $1,250 in 6 or 7 years of 10,000 miles per year driving doesn't seem very cost effective to me. Time use of money, etc etc. larry

Everyone has a different outlook on economics.. We want to do our work, seal the drive train up and allow the engine to wear out before anything else is necessary. Thats the logic behind replacing these components as standard practice. In the last 18 months or so I can think of TWO instances where a clutch looked impressively "fresh" and would have been worth retaining. We gave those customers both a choice and thay said "replace it". Thats just what we do, all the way or not at all.

I got my car at roughly 21K miles just over 2 yrs ago. From day one the clutch pedal seemed rather hard to push, but I chalked it up to it being heavy-duty and was told by the dealer that it was "normal". At 30K when the CPO expired I found a respected independent mechanic to take over servicing from the dealer, and happened to mention about the stiff clutch, and he got in it and said they get like that when they're worn. So I decided to have the clutch done, and get the LN bearing at the same time. When I went to pick the car up I could hardly believe my foot. The pedal was at least half as hard to push. The mechanic said the clutch was well over half shot, that the first owner must have "rode it, slipped it or dumped it---or a combination of all three". Moral: you may get more enjoyment out of a new clutch, rather than wait until it's completely gone.

your lookin at an addl 4-6 bills. And you dont know how granny drove it. I would say change it but not upgrade.. so to speak. If you change it then you know what you have for sure. You also may want to think about that AOS bellow as well.

I just had my IMS done at 27k miles (no issues prior), clutch looked great, flywheel had a couple normal hot spots that were cleaned up, throwout bearing checked and AOS tested. All looked great, so no clutch replacement. I would be shocked if you would need to do it at 15k, given the stats you recited.

My 2cents, it's silly not to put a new clutch disc in while you're in there. After all, what are you paying the shop to pull the transmission? Even if you did the work yourself, your time has to be worth something. A new clutch disc costs less than what the dealer charges for labor. Not changing seems penny smart, pound foolish in my opinion.