Clutch cable broke? - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

eomak · 05-12-2008, 08:18 PM

Hi, driving home from the airport today and about 5mins. away from where i live. I was at the stop light waiting for green. I put into first gear and slowly let clucth out . As i got half way the car started to move but was getting jerky,so i put the in cluch pedal in and and tried to get the car rolling but this time there was no movement of the car as i press and depressed the clucth pedal.I owned a older 911 and had a cable break on me.Do boxsters have clucth cables?The clucth pedal isnt grabbing anything at all.I dont drive the car hard ,and ownly put 8k km's seen i bought it.Car drove beatifuly up ontell now.No warnig lights on the dash.Hope it's nothing to seroius.2003 boxster 58,000km's 2.7L.Any help on what it could be before i take it to a shop would be much thankful.

Lil bastard · 05-13-2008, 06:30 AM

The clutch on the boxter is hydraulic. It has a master cylinder and a slave cylinder at the transmission.

From what you say, it is possible it is one of these. The system shares the brake fluid reservoir on the brake master cylinder, so check to see that the brake fluid level is correct.

If it turns out to be one of these components, then it's best to replace them both. You don't mention the mileage, but when changing only one of these components, it common to have the other fail in short order. It would also be a good time to flush.cjange the brake fluid (every 2 yrs.), because you'll need to bleed the slave cylinder when installing a new one anyway.

But, these are not the only things which could be causing your issues, so have it diagnosed properly before going and buying parts. But the Clutch Master or Slave is the most likely culprit.

Kevfra · 05-13-2008, 07:11 AM

Doesn't sound right, from what he writes the car won't move. When the clutch hydraulic fails what happens is you cannot disengage the clutch, or in other words if you are in gear it is going to move and you can't stop it. For it to fail such that you cannot move that would require constant pressure from the master - and that is a highly unlikely mode of failure.

There are some possible failures within the clutch system to cause a non-engage failure, but they are also highly unlikely. More likely is the tranny-to-the-wheels end of things. You're going to need this thing looked at on a lift I'm afraid.

eomak · 05-13-2008, 09:26 PM

Hi, thanks for replies.The feeling was like i was in 3rd gear starting from a dead start,so i pressed in clucth pedal in again and made sure it was in first.Which it was but this time the clucth pedal didnt seem to be grabing anything.I tried all gears at that very monent but nothing was happening. I was on a hill so manged to roll it onto a side street.I stopped the car and noticed the clucht pedal was half way down like something holding it and pulled it up with my hand and heard it released something but still no enganament of gears.Pedal was tolly freeless to move.I chaecked the brake fuild and its full so i guess its that other part? i hope. Does it cost much to repair? like do they have to drop the engine to get at it?

Lil bastard · 05-13-2008, 10:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by eomak

Hi, thanks for replies.The feeling was like i was in 3rd gear starting from a dead start,so i pressed in clucth pedal in again and made sure it was in first.Which it was but this time the clucth pedal didnt seem to be grabing anything.I tried all gears at that very monent but nothing was happening. I was on a hill so manged to roll it onto a side street.I stopped the car and noticed the clucht pedal was half way down like something holding it and pulled it up with my hand and heard it released something but still no enganament of gears.Pedal was tolly freeless to move.I chaecked the brake fuild and its full so i guess its that other part? i hope. Does it cost much to repair? like do they have to drop the engine to get at it?

A Bad Master or Slave cylinder will not necessarily change the fluid level. The problem is that the fluid leaks past the seals, but doesn't leak from the system... still cannot rule that out.

rebeltown · 05-18-2008, 12:10 AM

I had a similar symptom in my Austin Healey 3000... It turned out that the piston in the slave cylinder got jammed 1/2 way through its stroke. Replaced the slave cylinder and was off and running again.