Boxster S Clutch problem year 2000 - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

Hi, I'm having clutch problem with my Boxster S, 6-speed (year 2000) with only 90 000 km (~56 000 miles) on the clock. All started one day when driving normally on a highway and taking exit. I pressed clutch pedal and it felt spongy and like it was going to stay down. It had pretty much zero feel. Before this no problems what so ever and now all of sudden this started. I called a local guy who have been servicing the car if I had any problems and we discussed it might be either main or clave cylinder so I ordered new ones from Ebay and continued driving. There wasn't any leaks from these two. I had to wait new cylinders to arrive and continue driving. Clutch stayed the same, still zero feel but it didn't go any worse and it also returned every time when pressed down although it always felt it's gonna stay down. Both cylinders arrived and went to change those. Got new parts in place and bled the system. Slave cylinder was pretty hard to install to it's place, should it be? Like when the metal pin was in the hole you had to seriesly push the whole thing with fingers to get slave cylinder bolt to it's place (otherwise it was like 4 cm off from the correct place) Cylinder replacement made clutch feel a bit better but still it didn't returned what it was before all this started. Went for a test drive and only now I realized to try hard acceleration. When changing 1st -> 2nd and pressing throttle to the floor noticed a huge clutch slip. Clutch slippage also occured what ever gear when flooring the throttle. We lifted the car back up and took slave cylinder out. We took the metal center pin from the old clutch cylinder and used that since it was shorter than the one which the new slave cylinder had. We thought the metal pin might be too long and therefore the clutch is not fully released although clutch pedal isn't pressed. So went with the shorter one now. Still slave cylinder was a bit tight to get in the place but lot easier than with the longer metal pin. This also corrected the slippage a lot but still especially 1st -> 2nd gear hard accleration I get clutch slipping. Not so much on the higher gears but varies. Sometimes it slips and sometimes it doesn't on higher gears like in 4th gear. Is there anything I can do do besides taking transmission out and replacing the clutch, and also flywheel? IMS will have to be done at the same time if we have to go there. Could the problem still be in the slave cylinder and is there any tips I could confirm the situation it's the worn clutch causing all the problems? It feels a bit strange cause the problem started all at once. One clutch pedal push down and it went spongy and lost it feel. Shouldn't clutch disc problems develop slower? Thanks in advance!

Sounds like you did everything you could without removing the transmission. Regarding the difficulty of slave cylinder installation, it is nearly impossible to get it in while the tranny is on the car. I had to do this myself recently and I really thought that something was wrong with my setup. It sounds like there might be something wrong with your pressure plate. It would explain the soft pedal feel and clutch slip. Your best bet is to take the tranny off and see what's really going on. Keep us posted. Vlad

If you are getting slippage in the clutch it is likely that the clutch is worn and needs attention. The slave cylinder and master replacement, was a good place to start with this, but it would appear that this is not the issue. Let me know if you are in need of a clutch. I work with several different brands and can offer you some pretty good pricing. Happy to help, and good luck. Erik Johnson [phone removed] phone

Clutch release arm is breaking perhaps...? Either way transmission has to come out. What you describe is more likely release arm then clutch or pressure plate. Clutch likely has wear but don't usually just go out like that... you can always do the 5th gear test, but as I said, either way the transmission has to come out~ Get a clutch kit or if you can afford the down time have yours rebuilt, new release arm, good to go. See this post: http://986forum.com/forums/general-discussions/47568-squishy-clutch-pedal-after-hard-drive.html

Mikluu. 56,000 miles is a short life for a clutch if you drive gently. The difficulty you had with installation is a clue that something is not right I guess you are not in USA? You need to find a Porsche Indie who is familiar with these cars to test and observe.

Thank you all for your answers! Have to take tranny off then, I was hoping so much I wouldn't have to. I'm still considering whether I should just drop tranny off and see what's going on in the clutch and after that order needed parts or do I just order new clutch kit, new flywheel and IMS update straight away. On the other hand I wouldn't want to spend that much money now. If the problem is in the pressure plate or release arm can I buy either of these parts separately and just change those if everything else is ok? Does new clutch kit include release arm or is it a separate part to be bought? On the other forum someone also suggested a cracked diaphragm spring might cause this problem, what do you think about this? And yes I'm from Europe, Finland. I have a pretty good mechanic here who have built a lot of race cars to Finland's Porsche Cup. I'm sure he would handle the job.

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The clutch kit will only come with a bearing, pressure plate, and a clutch. You can get the clutch fork separately for under $50. If the clutch is showing some wear, I would just replace everything now, and save yourself the headache of taking out the teanny again.

The clutch kit also doesn't include a dual mass flywheel. If you decide to buy a new clutch kit, check SACHS or Valeo kits. I would pull the transmission and check everything first. But if it's the first clutch i would say it's a good time to replace the clutch, because to replace the clutch is time consuming. Regards from germany Markus

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Thanks. Is LUK flywheel a good choice if it needs replacing? Does clutch and flywheel kits usually include all the needed new bolts or do you have to buy them seperately? Can you give me any Ebay links to the new clutch forks, what name is used for those? I only found some suspension forks when did a qucik search. Lastly, is clutch fork same part as release arm, a loved child has many names?

Hi, LUK is a good and well known brand. I've attached a screenshot of the 986 clutch components. Best is to search for Porsche part numbers. Sorry, don't have an english PET. But you can search for and download it on the Porsche website. Because there are differences in 99 and 00 models you should check the date of manufacture of your car. The clutch kits are diffent. In general good clutch kits contain everything you need. Ask the seller. EDIT: Porsche PET in english for USA / Canada: http://www.porsche.com/all/media/pdf/originalparts/usa/986_USA_KATALOG.pdf Porsche PET in german for european / ROW cars: http://www.porsche.com/all/media/pdf/originalparts/de/D_986_KATALOG.pdf Regards from Germany Markus

Thanks Markus for this, helped a lot! Car information: Sales Type: 986320 Model Year: 2000 Engine Type: M96/21 engine number: 67Y09788 Gearbox Type: G8620 transmission serial number: 1009725 General information, Invoice Date 1: 2000-05-24 What do you think is there double or single row IMS bearing or does it have to be opened to make sure? Pelicanparts chart: Up to engine # M 671 11237 Boxster S 3.2L M96.21 Double Row Bearing From engine # M 651 11238 Boxster S 3.2L M96.21 Single Row Bearing My engine: Engine Type: M96/21, engine number: 67Y09788 67Y, what does this Y means? Pelicanparts showing 651 and 671. Do you recommend to change some other parts while tranny and clutch is out? I'm considering at least to do the IMS.

If you are knowledgeable you can know which bearing you have by examining and measuring the amount of 'dish' in the cover - the one with the 3 bolts IIRC. But why? If you are that deep into the engine/trans job , just upgrade the IMSB. There is another Forum member from Finland here - he may lend you the IMS tool kit?

Hi, engine number: 6 7 Y 09788 Engine type = 6 --> 6 pistons Engine version = 7 Model year = Y Engine number = 09788 To check the exact DOM you'll have to check the FIN of your car. First 2 numbers say the model year. Example: W P 0 Z Z Z 99 is model year 1999 W P 0 Z Z Z 00 is model year 2000 Double row or single row? Think you quoted this: Pelican Technical Article: Boxster Intermediate Shaft Bearing Replacement and Upgrade (IMS) - 986 Boxster (1997-04) - 987 Boxster (2005-06) 09788 might be a double row engine. But i would check that on the car as Gelbster said. The numbers are not 100% valid. Hope that helps. Regards Markus

My VIN first 12 digits: WP0ZZZ98ZYS6 Actually 98 means model number, not year and the 12 digit too so 986 is the model like we know. Digit 10 is the year which is in my case Y. And that is 2000. 10 Model year: A - 2010 B - 1981, 2011 C - 1982, 2012 D - 1983, 2013 E - 1984, 2014 F - 1985, 2015 G - 1986, 2016 H - 1987, 2017 I - skipped J - 1988, 2018 K - 1989, 2019 L - 1990, 2020 M - 1991, 2021 N - 1992, 2022 O - skipped P - 1993, 2023 R - 1994, 2024 S - 1995, 2025 T - 1996, 2026 U - skipped V - 1997, 2027 W - 1998, 2028 X - 1999, 2029 Y - 2000 1 - 2001 2 - 2002 3 - 2003 4 - 2004 5 - 2005 6 - 2006 7 - 2007 8 - 2008 9 - 2009 Will do the measurement before ordering IMS. I will keep you posted when the clutch is checked.

Hi, you're absolutely right. My fault. Yes, Y is 2000. So you'll need to order a clutch set that fits to the MY 2000. Regards Markus