Is this a worn clutch or just too much torque?
 

Hi all!
I mentioned this in the 'Savivng clutch..." thread but it got buried and I would like to address it separately. Here is what happened.

Currently I am about to hit 70k on the OD and have been thinking about clutch replacement, but I have had no slippage and the initial 'touch' of the clutch is only about 1/4 of the way off the floor. Really is seems like it did all along.

On Monday I was out touring around and there was a moment when I put the car into 2nd, revved up (about 5k) and dropped the clutch. I was going slower than I thought so I should have been in 1st. What happened is that the revs stayed up instead of bogging down. (Yes it was road-aggravation induced.)
Of course this was accompanied by the smell, but then it went on as normal.
It still feels normal with no slipping, but now I wonder if it is on the edge of good/going as I would have expected a different result on this 'mistake'.

Do you think this was a slip from a worn clutch or just too much for 2nd no matter how good the clutch is?
Chris

Maybe not an optimal gear to be dropping 5K on, but it sounds like a worn clutch to me. I'd just keep driving it until it becomes more of a problem. The risk is going too far and needing a flywheel - but then, you may need one anyway.

With 70k mi. on the clutch, it's definitely on the backside of the hill. But, that doesn't necessarily mean it's at the end of it's service life.

There's really is no absolute mileage benchmark for wear. It depends mostly on how the clutch was used (or abused).

Back in the '80's, I had a turbo-diesel Jetta as a DD and I got 185k mi. out of the original clutch before needing to replace it. On other cars that I've driven more agressively, I've swapped clutches in under 40k mi.

As mentioned, if it's not slipping under 'regular' use, there's likely no need to address it. To some extent, most clutches will exhibit slippage in the scenario you described.

waaay too many revs for the gear.. Porsches were not meant for the "clutch dump" ever..


to test your clutch, roll along at 40mph or so in top gear, floor the throttle.. the clutch should hold the engine revs constant with the slight acceleration..

I always used to get something thrown at me, or smacked, along with alot of obscenities in german when I tried to dump clutches or speed shift a Porsche...

I did the test and all seems well. It holds the clutch no matter what. I do a lot of highway driving so the miles don't necessarily represent the use, and I usually try to be good to it. I never power shift and I blip the throttle to match revs (it has become mostly habit now).

I bought the car last year with 48k on it and I have no idea if it was ever done. Carfax didn't show anything bad repair wise and it has been good overall.

Chris