Totally believable. With that kind of mileage, the car is probably driven alot on the highway. Highway driving is super-easy on a clutch.

This is why shying away from cars just because they're high mileage can be a mistake.

Idle RPM and Temp, RIGHT ON THE MONEY !!!

Look how nice it is too. Sorry, wasn't trying to hijack.

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...6/9d8ef101.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...6/914d3fa7.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...6/6f942d54.jpg
http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y17...6/3d05ac47.jpg

My car had only 45k and needed a new clutch... I am pretty sure whoever drove it / owned it before me didn't have experience driving stick...or something...bizzare ... On the other hand now I have a new clutch, rms and LN bearing ....

1- perhaps it wasn't yet available, the LN IMS is a fairly recent development.

2- perhaps he had the clutch done, like most people, at the dealer. The guys who work for the company that swears there's no issue with the IMS.


i'd love to know how many grenaded m96 engines were on their second clutch.

2002 Base with 85,000 on clock. Original clutch as far as I know. I am the second owner and bought it 4 years ago with 63,000 on it.

'04S, 52,000 mls, all original.

117k on my 2001 S, clutch works great!

Someone out there can do better! :)

I had 141,000 miles on my original clutch and it was still working fine when I had my engine rebuilt and put in the Spec Boxster approved clutch/flywheel at the same time.

The mechanic gave me back the original clutch (attached) and it still has quite a bit of material on it.

http://i45.tinypic.com/1o6fsl.jpg

Clutch longevity has nothing to do with total mileage - if the driver holds the car on an incline with the clutch half in, slips the clutch to 3000 rpm from a first gear takeoff or sits with the clutch pedal depressed while sitting at the lights, then the clutch's lifespan is reduced to a tenth of its potential lifespan.....

trygve, what about that rivet at the Nine o'clock position? Just my two cents but pushing the clutch too far on these units only increases the replacement cost substantially if the flywheel is compromised, that's a hellofa price for gear change bragging rights. Of course this is only an issue for me in a car I can't drive anymore, the Fiat, which has the OEM unit at 52K.

Second gear syncro went before the clutch did...I rebuilt my trans at 142,000 miles. Clutch was still good, but I swapped it out for a SPEC stage 3+ and LWFW.

I'd have to take a look but I think all the rivets still have about 1/16" of margin below the surface, which given my apparent rate of wear is good for quite a few miles more. Since I'm not super familiar with the mechanical details, do you mean that once those rivets are exposed they will touch and damage the flywheel? Hopefully something would feel wrong at that point. :eek: In my case it was a no brainer to replace it when the engine was out. I'm not sure what would be a reasonable trigger to replace it if it is working perfectly OK.

On the other hand, I imagine its also possible to get so used to the clutch behavior changing over time, that if someone else had hopped in my car they'd have said "OMG your clutch is an on/off switch, it's about to blow!" And in fact, I recall that the new one felt different for a couple of starts and now it's all second nature.

2003 Boxster 2.7
Did buy that car at 51,500 miles in 2008

Last fall, had 61,000 miles
Clutch was very hard to depress

Change clutch & flywheel.
Works like new!

How does the clutch wear while in a static position?
Isn't it only on the in and out that friction wears it?

Keeping it depressed keeps the TO bearing at work, that's my guess as to what he means.

we need a do's and don't for maximum clutch life for this thread.

Don'ts:
1.) Don't ride the clutch.
2.) Don't ride the clutch.
3.) Don't ride the clutch.
4.) Don't ride the clutch.

2001 base, almost to 60k miles (will be there by the end of summer). Everything in the car is original. Had the RMS replaced by the dealer when I bought the car at 42k miles and they inspected/adjusted the clutch and said it was good to go (nearly 2 years ago).

I treat the car right and it seems the previous owners did as well, so I expect it to go at least 100k before it needs replaced based on what I know.

Don't slip the clutch by launching from a stop at high RPMs, by holding the car on a hill with the clutch and by failing to rev-match on downshifts.