HOW MANY MILES did you replace CLUTCH???

[donv]

My theory is clutch life is inversely proportional to the number of traffic jams encountered. And left leg strength is directly proportional to same...

Never replaced a clutch yet, all my cars have gone over 100K even with spirited driving. In my high school set, it was a point of religion to keep your foot off the clutch and hand off the knob when not shifting... people would call you on it. I think that discipline helps with long clutch and tranny life.

[underDAWG]

Like many other said, it really depends on the drivers. To me, I think if you don't ride on your clutch at the traffic lights or on the slope, your clutch will last forever. I recently rebuilding my 1986 E30, it has 275K. I bought it brand new. I pulled the clutch plate out and compared to a brand clutch plate. They almost have the same thichness. HTH.

[edevlin]

I am about to replace the clutch in my Boxster because it is starting to slip a little at 52K. But my son is driving a 1982 Honda Civic "Wagovan" that has 110,000 miles and the original clutch. It is not the snappiest clutch I have ever used, but it works.

Ed

[Keith Newby]

My daily beater is a 1990 Nissan truck with 206,000 miles on the original power train. I put 165k miles on my Datsun 240Z before I sold it never replacing the clutch but rebuilt the 4-speed twice due to weak main shaft bearings. Clutches will last if you treat them right.

[CJ_Boxster]

Originally Posted by faterikcartman

For those who don't believe a clutch can go a long long time you may not be aware that you can learn to change gears upshifting on a manual without using the clutch at all. Maybe that is an old timer trick that just isn't picked up by the younger crowd these days.

You need to learn the right engine speed to make the switch. Once you get that down you can be incredibly smooth with your shifts even when you do use the clutch which will result in very little wear.

Here are my personal experiences and the mileage on the original clutch before I got rid of the cars:

1984 MBZ 190E 232,000 miles
1985 VW GTI 203,000

As with most things in life, your mileage may vary.

I use to do that in my Eclipse GST, It had bad crankwalk so the pressure plate sometimes touched the clutch disc, making it hard to shift sometimes, so i learned how to shift without the clutch, it was pretty easy, just get the vehicle speed to match the correct RPM's for the rite gear and it just slips in there quite nicely without grinding.

[jeffsquire]

94 Honda Accord. 5speed. 205,000. Clutch still works. Never replaced. Hmmmmm

[joshuaalbert]

Are there any signs other than slippage that would suggest a new clutch is needed or at least will be soon?

[YellowJacket]

67k and no signs of slipping for me.

And for my "long clutch life" story -- my dad bought a '94 Saturn new to use for his daily commute (rush hour traffic through Atlanta), drove it for a few years, taught me to drive in it, taught my little sister to drive in it, and she inherited it on her 16th birthday. She's now 21, and recently donated it to charity due to upcoming service costs, because at 220k miles, it needed a new rack and pinion, several engine seals replaced, etc., etc., all combined around $2600 of work on a car worth <$1k, BUT... the orgininal clutch was still working like it was brand new!

[KevinH1990]

Originally Posted by edevlin

I am about to replace the clutch in my Boxster because it is starting to slip a little at 52K. But my son is driving a 1982 Honda Civic "Wagovan" that has 110,000 miles and the original clutch. It is not the snappiest clutch I have ever used, but it works.

Ed

I don't think I need a clutch yet, but I'd be interested in knowing about your experience for future reference.

Is clutch slip just when you can pop it out of gear without putting the clutch in (while driving or accelerating)? Or is it if you drop it down a couple gears with the engine reved and drop the clutch and the car doesnt do anything but continue to rev?

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by Ghostrider 310

Randall,

I don't want any bad blood with anyone, if you say the clutch lasted 250K I'm ok with that. My dad had a car dealership for 40 years, most of what we sold was standard shift. The longest I ever saw anyone get from one clutch of combined highway and city driving was 87,000.

peace,

GR310

My dad bought an MR2 Turbo in March of 1990 and drive it for 360,000 miles in about 10 years without replacing the clutch.

If all you do is drive it on the highway, a clutch can last a VERY long time.

[blue2000s]

Originally Posted by Brucelee

I think the variation on clutch life is HUGE!

I once had a 911 that service told me had a new clutch at 13K. When I asked about it, the service tech simply shrugged his shoulders and said, "Hey, some go 100K, some go right in the toilet!"

Depends on the driver I think.

On 911s it also depends on the year of the clutch design.

[Paul]

At a Porsche Parade tech Session I asked Porsche's North American VP of Service how long a Boxster clutch should last. He stated that it was designed to have the same service life as a 944 clutch.

[teacher]

I'm not an expert at this, but I think the real reason behind clutch failure is due to burning the clutch out...meaning being at a standstill and flooring it...

[chrisg]

[QUOTE=PorscheDoc) We just replaced a 98 996 clutch with 40k miles on it, with a guy that drives the car very very hard. Clutch disc was fine, but he bent the pressure plate, so it was not releasing properly.[/QUOTE]

Hey Doc,
I've got 37k on mine (35K by po) and it has a slight shudder from rest in first, most times, not always, and I've always thought(from past experience) !*&#!*, pressure plate or flywheel, but dealer tech said don't worry about it. Any opinions ? Kinda bugs me.

[C5150]

Boggtown - slippage is exactly as it sounds - slippage. Your RPMs rise, but your acceleration doesn't, cause your clutch is no longer catching. Gets worse as it goes on, until you can have the clutch completely engaged, and you go nowhere. Hope this helps - Anyone care to give a better description?

- C5150

[TriGem2k]

[QUOTE=chrisg]

Originally Posted by PorscheDoc) We just replaced a 98 996 clutch with 40k miles on it, with a guy that drives the car very very hard. Clutch disc was fine, but he bent the pressure plate, so it was not releasing properly.[/QUOTE

Hey Doc,
I've got 37k on mine (35K by po) and it has a slight shudder from rest in first, most times, not always, and I've always thought(from past experience) !*&#!*, pressure plate or flywheel, but dealer tech said don't worry about it. Any opinions ? Kinda bugs me.

Mine does the same thing, always periodic but frequent. It is actually the Dual Mass Flywheel. Stupid dealer didn't inform me of this until AFTER I had already replaced the clutch so I just left it. It chatters on take off and I get a vibration at 3-4k RPMs. According to the dealer it’s nothing that’s serious just annoying. I'll have it fixed next time I have the clutch changed.

My original clutch was actually never really worn out but I had them replace it while performing the RMS repair. Car had 27K miles, now at 49K.

[wvicary]

Many factors are involved with clutch life. We replaced a customers clutch on his VW Eurovan at just shy of 900,000 km's.... all highway miles and we have serviced the vehicle since new. On the other hand we replaced a customers clutch after only one week of use, it turns out he was starting out in 3rd gear all the time in his VW Golf.

There is no said rule of thumb when it comes to clutch life.... when it starts togo south just replace it.

[mn box s]

Shuttering (sp?) is commonly your throw-out bearing see if its only when engaged or disengaged. That or a glazed fly.I bought my boxster @ 50,000 I still have to replace my brakes, @52k I did the 60k maintanence. @ 54k my clutch started slipping (in the strangest way I have ever incountered in a vehicle) it would slip at 5000 rpms catch at 5600 drop back to about 5100 and not slip again pulling through the rest of the revs. I didnt think it was the clutch but it was. replaced the dual stage fly and clutch at a porsche shop. (not dealer) I think all said and done it was 2400 bucs. Works great at 60k and the clutch still engages near the floor. Hope this helps!

[boxsterboy9]

I have been driving for over 50 years.I have owned approximately 50 cars and have never replaced a clutch. Like many of my peers, I have always shifted into neutral and released the clutch at stop lights. I believe that and not "speed shifting" is the reason for longer clutch life.