A friend of mine has a beautful new 996, he's had it for less than a year. I think it's an '03. He is experiencing the following problem with the clutch pedal. Normally it behaves fine. But when he drives up to the mountains, things change as the altitude increases. At about 5000 ft. altitude, the clutch pedal's initial travel seems free and has no effect, with the clutch engaging only as the pedal is pressed further than usual. And by the time he approaches his destination at 8000 ft., the clutch pedal also springs back very slowly after he takes his foot off pedal. He has made this trip (to a vacation home, I think) several times so he is sure it is not temperature-related (ambient or otherwise), and is pretty confident that it is the altitude. I asked whether there was any change in behavior to the brakes or brake pedal, and he said the brakes were completely normal at altitude. The clutch resumes normal behavior when he returns to lower altitudes on the way home. I know that the brakes and clutch share some of the same hydraulic system, so it doesn't seem like air (affected by barometric pressure) in that system would affect one and not the other, but maybe it could be that. Also, the fact that the pedal does not spring back out quickly at altitude makes me wonder what mechanism is used to make the pedal spring back out (spring? hydraulics?) and whether there is a separate thing local to the pedal that has a problem. Unfortunately the dealer has been unable to help because the problem cannot be reproduced at the dealer's sea-level altitude! Any thoughts would be helpful, I can pass on the information.
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YOUR RESEARCHaltitude-related clutch problem
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If you all think it is fluid related, bleed the brakes and the clutch. I know you can get a spongy brake pedal when there is air in the line, perhaps it works the same for the clutch as they do share the same hydraulic system? Just a guess...
Sorry, can't really help, but last week I took my Turbo to the mountains: 14-15 passes between 1'800 and 2'800 m (5'900 to 9'200 ft), and no problem at all. And my car has now over 122'000 km (75'800 ml)... Greetings, --Pierre
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