987.2 Manual Transmission Failure

2009 Cayman S , 6-speed. 143k miles on the car. Last 2k are mine. Purchased 2 months ago in Nov 2024. Am I rebuilding the clutch, or is something (hopefully) simpler happening here? I was out running errands. The car had been running great and I've never notice any weakness in the clutch. I'm slowing down quickly on an empty exit, downshifting from third to second, it comes out of third just fine, but won't go into second. I pull off the road, and it won't go into any gear, and the clutch feels less engaged now. I found that if I turn off the car, I can shift into gear, start it back up, and then drive. As soon as the car is started, it begins creeping forward even with the clutch fully depressed, but the clutch does partially work. Also if I am aggressive with the gas pedal it slips. I also find I can shift.. kinda.. but only if I get the revs and speed exactly matched. With the engine off, I can shift into any gear. In fact, I can hear the linkages doing their job as I just rowed through the gears. Given there was no slippage before, it started suddenly, there has been no fluid on the floor, and a check showed that I still have a fully topped off reservoir of fluid, I suspect it isn't the master or slave cylinders. Clutch release/throw out bearing? Can the slave pull out of the tranny? My goal is to get up early tomorrow and spend the day tearing apart the back of my car to get a closer look at the problem.

Oooof. Sorry to hear it, @wwexell --The first thing I personally would do is to get a helper and check both ends of the cables as one of them could be broken. I seriously doubt this is would be the case, but it's easy enough to check and rule out before diving into any transmission stuff. Have someone shift in the car while you can get under it and make sure everything is properly rowing/moving first might save you a lot of headache later. Might not be a bad idea to inspect them if they're the original cables at 143K anyhow. I'm certainly no clutch expert, but this sounds like the "synchromesh" thing not allowing you to shift. Most of all, if there's any slipping at all at high revs, that certainly does sound like it's time for a clutch job. Hang in there and let us know how you get on.

Agreed, check the linkages anyway, to be sure. Also check the clutch release mechanism... if the pedal press isn't pressing the throwout arm far enough, then that could cause this behavior as well. For example, air in the clutch line would prevent it from moving far enough to disengage properly... so a simple bleed might solve that. If both of those look good, then yes it could be a bad clutch. Generally they fail with a loss of grip/power-transmission... but if the springs break or weaken for some reason, then they may be bending instead of releasing the friction plate. If you go that far in, I'd recommend replacing the throwout bearing and maybe even the arm, just in case... and get a new flywheel (OEM) while there. Might as well get it all done at once and not have to go in twice.

The symptoms are a partially releasing clutch. Stary with the fluid. Chang it to full viscosity DOT4. Bleed it well and check the pivot points at both ends (peddle and fork) as far as you can see without disassembly. Of its still bad, you are going to have to look at the clutch internals. I would expect bad seals to result in the clutch cylinders leaking down, not being short on the initial stroke. If the car creaps withe the peddle all the way down, hold that a few seconds ans see if it goes from creating on a slipping clutch to fully engaged. That would be the clutch leaking down.

If you think there is even a possibility the clutch is worn out, don’t delay a long time in its replacement once confirmed or the next item that will be compromised will be the synchronizer. I used to love to downshift my manual gearbox as well. But after the 944 I realized something important: brake replacement cost almost nothing compared to clutch and transmission work, it’s far better just to use your brakes. Let them take the wear.

I went to the garage this morning and the issue was readily apparent. Puddle of DOT4 on the floor under the slave tells me its definitely a hydraulic issue. Starting the dismantle now to determine if I need more than just a new slave before I place an order with Pelican . That won't include cracking the transmission though, since that doesn't appear to be where the problem is. Just slave an the incoming lines.

New slave cylinder finally came in yesterday. I installed it, bled it, and bled the brakes. Installation was tricky trying to compress the spring and get the bolt in blind, but I made it happen. Went for a test drive tonight after work and the clutch is slipping. My previous problem of it not going into gear is gone, but now it slips. I'll probably bleed it again on Saturday, but I'm wondering if the system is stuck under pressure now? Or should I remove the slave and make sure its inserted correctly?

How did you bleed it?

Motive pressure bleeder Porsche Motive Products European Car Power Bleeder Kit PEL 0100 PEL0100 PEL.0100 | Pelican Parts Motive Products European Car Power Bleeder Kit InStock Ships Today!. Call (310)626-8765. May Qualify For FREE SHIPPING. Parts# PEL 0100 PEL.0100 PEL0100. 113.043, 116.033, 123.133, 129.061, 163.174, 164.186, 166.004, 171.456, 208.370, 209.356, 212.067, 222.179, 243.602, 257.359, F04, F33 <a href= www.pelicanparts.com 8psi Followed a video talking about starting the bleed, then slowly lowering the clutch in and out several times by hand. I'm wondering if I did that part wrong and plan to look at the links on this site and do some studying before repeating on Saturday.

Sounds hydraulic to me. My slave went and I had similar issues. Should have read the whole thread first.

The clutch hydraulics release the clutch, they don't engage it. So if you've got air in the hydraulics and aren't getting full slave actuation that can't cause the clutch to slip. Possibly there's an issue with how you installed the slave or actuating rod? Or a kinked/blocked hose preventing fluid to return from the slave? But I'm not familiar enough with the 987 slave to help you there.

@gubi I was thinking the same thing so I removed and reinstalled the slave and flushed it again (I've been through so much fluid). Anyway, I still have the same issue. Today I dropped the transmission. Tomorrow I start taking apart the clutch itself looking to see what more may be going on. The throw-out bearing is starting to show its age but still seems functional. I'll definitely replace it while I'm here though.

As a follow up, after some missteps and lots of time waiting for parts to arrive, my car is great again. I ended up with new rear main seal flywheel clutch pressure plate throwout bearing slave cylinder I actually think my entire problem was initially the dead slave, and after that it was just me being stupid about putting the new slave in, but the clutch was definitely within 10k miles of needing replaced anyway, so now its done and I know what the condition of everything beyond the engine is at.

BTW, all the instructions and online walkthroughs seem to be about every other 987/ 986 configuration but the 987.2CS because there are only 6 bolts between the tranny and the engine and they are all exactly the same size. And here is a pic just to make the end of the thread interesting.

Just here to add that the 6 bolts are E18 (9A7-008-464-00 I believe, not confirmed), at least in my (987.2CS) case. This was also different from every other 987/ 986 configuration I found online, had to pause mid-job to make a trip to the store lol