New Clutch

[rick3000]

Thanks for the advice. I am not really sure what to think, I might have to get a second opinion from another mechanic. But operating under the assumption that I do need a new clutch, I was told it costs about $1200-1300 and a day of work. Is that accurate?
Thanks!

[Boxtaboy]

Originally Posted by rick3000

Thanks for the advice. I am not really sure what to think, I might have to get a second opinion from another mechanic. But operating under the assumption that I do need a new clutch, I was told it costs about $1200-1300 and a day of work. Is that accurate?
Thanks!

That is a fair price if that includes the labor. Again, if your car is driving normally, no need to replace clutch.

[rick3000]

Thanks, I am going to take it by my dads mechanic and see what he thinks. I don't think my driving style is wearing it out too quickly, I don't sit at red lights with the clutch pushed in and 99% of my shifting is smooth, however I can't account for the 17k miles the previous owner put on the clutch.
Right now it drives fine, but the clutch pedal is very stiff. And I have a feeling if it is slightly slipping I may not notice because I am used to it. I am planning an 800+ mile road trip at the end of August, so I would rather be save than sorry.

[insite]

check to see if it slips. put it in 4th at around 3k RPM's and floor it. if the clutch is slipping, the revs will start to climb, but the car's speed will not increase.

absent any slip, i wouldn't worry about changing the clutch. once it starts to slip, take it in.

FYI, my OEM clutch lasted about 125k miles, and i race the car.

[ekam]

insite:

Hate to go offtopic but are you still looking for an engine for your car?

[insite]

Originally Posted by ekam

insite:

Hate to go offtopic but are you still looking for an engine for your car?

actually, i just picked up a 3.4L. haven't had a chance to install it yet.....

[Overdrive]

Originally Posted by insite

check to see if it slips. put it in 4th at around 3k RPM's and floor it. if the clutch is slipping, the revs will start to climb, but the car's speed will not increase.

absent any slip, i wouldn't worry about changing the clutch. once it starts to slip, take it in.

FYI, my OEM clutch lasted about 125k miles, and i race the car.

That right there is awesome. Kudos.

I agree with getting a second opinion and going by the way the car feels. You should be able to tell in any car when the clutch is really going, and that slip test insite mentioned should definitely be the tell.

Sounds to me like the OP's pretty nice to the car and not trying to cover the rear end in rubber, so I'd say don't even worry yourself about it for at least another 20k, since only 35 of that 52 is your own, and I really doubt the PO would've put that much of a hurting on the clutch in 17k.

[blinkwatt]

Depends on a lot of variables.

My 99' had the clutch replaced at 20k due to a funky smell...the clutch somehow developed a blue fungus...

My 01' S had the clutch replaced at 50k,it was super heavy and started slipping.

My old 90' Jetta had the original clutch from the factory when it got scrapped...240k on it,I'm not kidding.

[Jake Raby]

vehicle weight, gearing and the hydraulic clutch.

and the wear surface of the clutch disc is somewhat shallow making wear to the point of rivet contact more of an issue.

[01BOXYS]

I will be buying my first Porsche very soon, a 2001 Boxster S with only 21k miles in well cared for excellent condition , and am very excited.

Would anyone know if there is a right up or video of how to replace the clutch and flywheel? I hopefully won't have to deal with fixing this issue anytime soon, but it would be nice/helpful information to have and assume others would benefit from it as well.

[Blue-S]

Originally Posted by rick3000

Thanks, I am going to take it by my dads mechanic and see what he thinks. I don't think my driving style is wearing it out too quickly, I don't sit at red lights with the clutch pushed in and 99% of my shifting is smooth, however I can't account for the 17k miles the previous owner put on the clutch.
Right now it drives fine, but the clutch pedal is very stiff. And I have a feeling if it is slightly slipping I may not notice because I am used to it. I am planning an 800+ mile road trip at the end of August, so I would rather be save than sorry.

I bought my 2000 Boxster S in January of 2009 with 65k miles on the odometer. The car had been to the dealer just before the sale, and the repair order had noted that the clutch pedal was heavy. I didn't get around to replacing the clutch until about 6 weeks ago, at over 67,000 miles. It's just a weekend/fun car, so I put few miles on it.

The clutch pedal started out stiff when I purchased the car and became stiffer with more use. The engagement point became somewhat erratic, and the amount of travel it took to engage the clutch (but NOT the clutch pedal travel) became shorter, which made the car progressively harder and harder to drive smoothly. Eventually, the engagement became so quick that I would occasionally stall the car when pulling away from stops. I never did detect any slip.

The new clutch is a night-and-day difference. The engagement is very smooth and progressive, due mostly to the fact that there is now a pretty long pedal travel distance between initial clutch bite and full engagement. The clutch can now be slipped and modulated when engaging like any other normal manual transmission clutch. I'm much happier driving the car now! Prior to the clutch replacement, It was getting to the point that I didn't like driving my Boxster because of the hair-trigger clutch engagement. I'm glad that I didn't wait for the clutch to begin obviously slipping before replacement.

BTW -- I bought my Sachs clutch kit from Gripforce Clutches via Ebay. It appeared to be a legit Sachs kit as opposed to a counterfeit. I did the work myself, so my total cash outlay (including some clutch fork parts) was around $400.

[BYprodriver]

Rick3000 I agree with everything Blue-S said & nothing BoxtaBoy said although his info is correct for most vehicles just not boxsters. My S clutch wore out @ 50,K miles with no warning other than car became very hard to start from stop smoothly. Had to replace flywheel too. The object of the game is to replace clutch before you have to replace flywheel since it can't be resurfaced.