Clutch / throwout bearing repair/replace opinion

'99 Carrera: My local indy mechanic says I need a throwout bearing asap as the car makes alot of noise while in gear and not accelerating. The clutch was last replaced at 73m miles & the car now has 110m miles (so 37m on clutch). Of course he says we should change the clutch as well. I only drive about 6m miles per year, city, casual driving, no track. Seems if i skip clutch replace i would save that material cost and may last another 5 yrs or more. I realize there is no extra labor involved, but materials are significant. Quoted $1310 L&M (695 for kit). I also may very well sell the car within a few years. So... * Is it reasonable to skip clutch replace? * If i replace clutch and supply my own parts, best pricing is ebay at $449 for Sachs, appears from reputable seller. * Any other thoughts i s/b having? Thank you in advance for your opinions! Aron

If you are the one who repalced the clutch and you know the history then I would NOT repalce it. Now if you bought the car at 100k and have no idea how it was driven for 20k miles then I would repalce it. You might check out the AOS while the tranny is out. If you don't replace the clutch then I would 100% go ahead and repalce the AOS.

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To replace or not the clutch disc, pressure plate, etc, can determined by the condition of the various components. That the tech wants to replace all of these items, the tech may just be engaging in a bit of preventative maintenance, understandably so, concerned that if he just replaced the bearing and not the rest of the clutch hardware and that if something then went wrong he'd back in there possibly at his own expense (at least for labor) to replace the clutch hardware. Here's the risk. If you limit the work to just the throwout bearing/release bearing and assuming the tech upon disassembly of the clutch finds nothing scary (or removes himself from the picture IOWs leave the decision solely up to you whether to replace the hardware or not -- more on this below) and then the clutch acts up and not because the new bearing proved to be bad or because the tech botched the job, then you're on the hook to pay to have the work done again and this time pay to have all of the clutch hardware replaced. Now, if the tech tells you -- after he's got the hardware exposed -- that in his opinion the clutch hardware needs to be replaced and you choose to ignore his recommendation, you are using a tech that you can't trust (unlikely) or which while you do trust him you have chosen to ignore his recommendation. In the latter case, then, you are wasting even more money. You should seek out a cheaper though less trustworthy tech to do this work and save a bit more money. Sincerely, Macster.

1. Indeed i have owned the car since it had 70m miles, so i'm familiar with the driving style on the clutch. I drive somewhat aggressive relative to a Honda Accord owner, but i'm certain fairly tame relative to a typical Porsche enthusiast. And despite occasional aggression, i believe i'm gentle on the clutch (if that's possible). Good advice... 2. Macster, thank you for taking the time & also good advice. Indeed i've been in touch with another local mechanic today who was much more interested in taking it apart to see what is needed vs just quoting the price of a full job. He seemed very interested in making a decision together based on what he finds once disassembled. Now... i just have to replace the water pump & find my hydraulic leak in cab top. Macster, is there a typical location for hydro leaks? If no leak, maybe the pump leaks? Pump sounds fine, but top only goes up partially then stops. I added fluid about 10 days ago and it's inoperable again, so likely a leak. It may be obvious once i look...?

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I assume you are talking about the top leaking and not the top hardware leaking? If top hardware is suspected of leaking hydraulic fluid (oil?) then I have no idea what's going on. But if you are talking about the top, the rubber sheet under the canvas cover, pretty much the same thing applies. Fortunately I'm not experienced with Boxster top leaks. To contradict myself, some, I will tell you my 02 Boxster's top leaks just a bit. Well, not the top really but the window glass seal/rubber at the top of the driver's window. The rubber is intact and in good condition, it just has a crease/fold (small one) that allows a bit of water to make its way between the rubber and the glass. The leak is not serious. I see just a couple of water drops running down the inside of the glass when I wash the car. There is not enough water to even make the carpet damp where the water drips down on to the carpet though I avoid overly flooding this area with high pressure water spray. Furthermore, I've never seen signs of any water coming in even if the car sits out in the rain or if I drive the car in the rain. Back to your car: Are you sure the top is leaking? The reason I ask is it is more common that a water drain is plugged up and this causes water to back up in the drain and the water will overflow and make its way into the cabin. This can happen if the car sits outside in the rain or even during a car wash. These drains I guess I should point out are located under the front trunk lid (under the plastic panels on either side of the battery) and under the clamshell cover on either side of the top. The usual areas to check for dampness are the cabin floor (the carpets), under the seats, and along side the inside bottoms of the door, the carpeted areas. Now in the case of the door bottoms the water is probably not coming in via a blocked body drain but from a door leak. One trick to identify if the door is leaking is to shake the suspected door and listen for water sloshing in the door. Another place, rare, but still possible, is the windshield leaks. Often times this arises from a crack that develops and this crack extends down or over to the windshield frame. (Again with my car: My Boxster has developed a stress crack down in the lower right hand corner of the windshield but this does not appear to be a water leak. I'm keeping an eye on it, though.) If the top is leaking it is the rubber sheet under the canvas and AFAIK this rubber sheet is not sold separately. (A top shop might have the abilty to fit a new sheet of rubber though. I've never looked into this.) One sign (besides the leak) is if the canvas has areas of apparent roughness like something (the rubber sheet) is blistering a bit under the canvas. If you look at the canvas carefully you'll see it is smooth but there might be areas where the canvas is not smooth like something under it is blistering slightly. That's the rubber sheet, I'm told, deteriorating and if it is doing this it can or will be leaking. (I note my canvas has a few areas like this (small) on either side of the top between the edge of the top and the rear window, but they've been there for a long time and the top is not leaking, so I do not know how reliable this canvas roughness symptom is. I was told this by a top notch top shop owner though.) I know nothing more that pertains, or could possibly pertain, to the Carrera's top. Sincerely, Macster.

so the sach's clutch kit is same as OEM?

Thanks Macster. Stating the obvious here, but it's an incredible resource to have knowledgeable people like you available to give advice. Competent and detailed advice to boot. Thank you. I will recommit myself to provide help on the homeowner DIY forums, an area that I'm more competent. I learned from your answer anyway as i have had soft top leaks, though all drain channel related. But the current leak is in the hydraulic cab top system. I believe it's actually leaking fluid somewhere as I added fluid about 10 days ago to make it operable and now it doesn't work again. The hydraulic pump sounds fine, and since the fluid level was down, i can only assume a leak exists. I will repost this problem on its own thread. Mike, I've never fully understood the "OEM" designation. Perhaps there are threads that address this issue. I do know that local Porsche indy mechanics do use Sachs, perhaps among other vendors as well. To the best of my knowledge, this means Sachs is a producer or original Porsche parts, but not necessarily the producer of this specific part, certainly not the sole producer of this part.