I recently purchased a 2002 996 Carrera. I bought the car with 18,000 on it and have put on 3500 since. During my latest visit to the dealership I was informed that I should replace the clutch because it was 75% worn. This was discovered while they had the engine out looking for an oil leak. I was extremely surprised that a car of this caliber would require a new clutch after only 21,500 miles. Has anyone else experienced this short of clutch life.

 

Yes, it does occur now and again, but you bought the car used and you have no idea how the previous owner drove it.....probably not like he should have. A clutch is a wear item, and usually its life is completely dependant on how a person drives the car, not the car itself.

 

As a general rule, I always replace the clutch when I have the engine out of a car, anyway, regardless: its just a good rule of thumb. The dealer might be exaggerating a bit: very hard to look at a clutch and tell within 15% just how worn it is.

If it is truly 75% worn at 21K miles it means it had a life of about 28K miles, very low. But to be sure, if it was my car I'd inspect other things for any signs of "abuse." Or maybe the former owner just was poor at shifting, or the car was delivered new with a bad clutch linkage. I had an 02 Audi S4 where the clutch started slipping at 16K miles: the linkage was adjusted wrong at the factory andit would sometimes bind short of fully closing.

 

I changed my clutch with 23,000mi, but a bought a performance one at www.evoms.com...not the factory one.

Regards,
Manuel

 

I am at 73k on my 2001 C4, its the original... The Hydraulic Components make the clutch strange, and I am always paranoid about the life left in the clutch... the range changes with temperature quite a bit. And as you can see from my odometer, i drive a lot... during the summer i drive hard, and very fast, lots of quick shifts and the occasional 100 plus mph shift to third to avoid collisions. Ive priced replacements from 4000 at the dealer to 1900 at the local tranny shop... But when I am not pushing her, especially in traffic i tend to shift from 1st to third because if the torque on second... as well, as much as i am warned about clutchless shifting because of the brass synchros, i am pretty good at shifting 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th without a clutch... and without any apparent damage... what do you guys think?

 

Book time is 17.3 hours on a 996 clutch, plus the cost of the clutch kit itself.

 

Hey Doc, beyond they actual shop time.. any take on the other things I mentioned?>

 

Lol, shift with the clutch, that's what it is there for as are all the gears. As far as temperature changes, that really shouldnt effect the engagement point. 73k on the clutch is pretty good, though the C2/4's are a little easier on the clutch usually than the turbos. If a clutch has around 50k on it, and we bump up the horsepower to 5-600 crank on the TT's, they usually slip right away, that could be partly due to the stock clutch not holding the power, or due to the wear life on them, though the lower mileage cars' clutches usually handle that power....for awhile.