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Clutch/ Shifting/ Gearbox Problems

27K views 220 replies 64 participants last post by  DavidR 
#1 ·
I know this subject has been discussed before, but I am naming the thread appropriately so it is easier to find for those that will do a search later. I have a feeling there may be a few that do. It seems as though to date at least 3 cayman s owners have had similar problems with clutch failure. I think in two it has been the slave cylinder. I called Porsche Roadside this morning because my little baby would no longer slide into first or second gear. Roadside was excellent and a tow truck was there within an hour ( i was parked at work, so time was not really that big an issue to me). 20 minutes later the dealership called to find out what was going on and promised me they would find out today and do their best to get it fixed quickly....very impressed with their promptness and concern. Several hours later they had gotten in the car and confirmed there was definitely a problem with the clutch, not sure exactly what it is, but said they will call back before this afternoon with some more information. Again....very impressed with the dealership....they also said they would take another look at my tires, since that has been kind of an ongoing saga for me. As I find out more I will post and hopefully this will be a thread that will help others in the future if they experience similar problems. Hope you all dont mind that there is some redundency in the last few threads on this subject.
 
#3 ·
RR, curious events. Now the rest of us will fill like we are living with a ticking time bomb.




Hope they have the problem solved before mine arrives. Mine is a May build with delivery in June or July. My problem is I live in northern alberta, 5 hours from the closest Porsche dealer. Cant see them getting a truck up here in an hour if they have to pick mine up.
 
#4 ·
Booster,

Not sure how they handle it in Canada (my guess would be the same) but in the states, Porsche roadside assistance uses contractors, so the towing rig doesn't come from the Porsche dealership to you, it will probably be based near you, and then haul your Cayman to the dealership, should the need arise.

brad
 
#5 ·
ok......dealer just called. they identified the slave cylinder as the culprit and i asked them if they would also look at the bolts on the flywheel. they said they would and would also check the gearbox to see if anything had been damaged there as well. so.....by tommorow i should have my cherry back, and hopefully in pristine working condition. i have been very pleased with how the dealership (Hendrick Porsche) has treated me and this problem. ........more to come.......
 
#6 · (Edited by Moderator)
UPDATE
....called porsche early this afternoon to see how my baby was doing. well.....it wasnt the slave cylinder as they originally thought....lose bolts on the flywheel
. hmmmm....heard that before in another thread...think it was Stratmosphere. anyways...they are working on her now and said she should be finished sometime later today. I have to get my wife to drag me over there so i can pick her up....i cant wait...i missed her and its only been one day!
 
#10 · (Edited by Moderator)
UPDATE
....called porsche early this afternoon to see how my baby was doing. well.....it wasnt the slave cylinder as they originally thought....lose bolts on the flywheel

hmmmm....heard that before in another thread...think it was Stratmosphere. anyways...they are working on her now and said she should be finished sometime later today. I have to get my wife to drag me over there so i can pick her up....i cant wait...i missed her and its only been one day!

That's what happened to me...
 
#12 ·
Yikes. Porsche needs to issue some type of bulletin and get the affected cars in proactively. I'm sure they are pondering that. I say this since cars in the UK and now USA are seeing this issue. -Pete
So far, on this site, I have seen 3 clutch issues. Two are apparently loose bolts and one was the throwout bearing. The bearing failure can be casued from a defective bearing or resting a foot on the pedal or other subtle issues. But it is a one-off.

The bolts could be becasue they are too long, improperly torqued, the flywheel overheated, the engine overheated, etc. Maybe there is a flywheel shim that isn't in place for crank run-out reasons, and that made the bolts too long??

The dealer will report the findings to Porsche and 'if' they are related, it will be known. Otherwise, its just something that happens.

Does the dealer have any theories as to why the bolts were loose?
 
#14 ·
RR,

Now you have surely got some of us thinking, 'is this the way the clutch is supposed to feel?'. Since I read your post I am begining to think my clutch feels a little mushy! I am almost read to take it in and just have it checked for loose bolts on the flywheel!


Russ
 
#15 ·
I had a 911SC with a short shift kit. It was smooth and firm. My Cayman has always been smoooth as silk.

RedRocket, it is possible that a firm shifter may not have alerted the mechanic becasue he worked on alot of the earlier models and wasn't clued in to what shifting 'could' be like in a perfect world.

I'm glad to hear that your croc is back in service!!!!
 
#16 ·
I had incorrectly torqued bolts on my flywheel which made the gear change fail back in December '05. Car was 2 weeks off the road over Xmas and had another CaymanS in it's place. My car was always prone to stalling for the 1st two weeks I had it and my theory was that the clutch wasn't fully disenguaging from the gear/cog ever so slightly and was there from day 1 - in retrospect it was kinda obvious so if you feel everyhting is ok then there's probably nothing to be concerned over as it's my 1st Porsche I was putting it down to a heavy clutch. Not had any problems since it's replacement at all and in fact the gearbox is as sweet as a nut.


If this problem occurs don't feel stranded pull over and turn the ignition off then select 1st gear as it has zero resitance whilst the engine isn't running- try and match the revs whilst changing into the other gears once moving and get it to your Porsche dealership if close by, luckily mines only 10 minutes from my home.


Incidently, every time I parked it in my garage every evening after work I could smell burnt clutch quite strongly so I guess I fried that in the process of bringing this problem to light and I drive all my cars really hard so maybe I speeded up the process.





Dean
Edited by - V6 TT on 04/12/2006 1:25:22 PM

Edited by - V6 TT on 04/12/2006 1:28:08 PM
 
#17 ·
. . . insane, it's as if Redrockets long post above could of been my exact sentiments at the time and now, unbelievable (only read your 1st post then typed above).


Dean
 
#18 ·
I got mine back on Tuesday, evidently it was 'loose bolts' on the clutch housing or something. Porsche Wilmslow reckoned they had seen 2 Caymans with the same problem. Surely it must be time for Porsche to issue a recall to ensure that all bolts are tightened up on all cars? With a service interval of 2 years or 20,000 miles they won't get chance to see the cars for quite a while. All in all, I'm not very happy with such and early and avoidable failure and after waiting for so long for the car it's really taken the shine off the whole Porsche experience. I hadn't expected to see a tow truck after 5 weeks.............
 
#19 ·
.......i dont really know how to say this without using profanity.....i guess...WOW!!!!!
i went to the dealership to pick up my baby....there she was, all shiny and polished just like i left her. the service manager said they removed the bolts, applied some lock tite, and torqued them to porsche specs.

i thanked him, got my papers and headed out the door. so......i got in and cranked her up....mmmmmmm...that sound i missed it. then in with the clutch and .....huh? all the sudden i feel resistance...almost like stepping on a spring. not the mushy feeling i was used to....and might i add, from the very first time i drove her. then...a little push and....whoooaaa, the shifter just glided into first gear....huh?.....now rev her up and .......the clutch is pushing back at me!!.....1 inch, 2 inches, 3 inches....holy cow...when is the clutch going to ......engageeeee.....aahhhhhh.

ok....most of you guys would have hit the floor holding your guts with laughter if you could have seen the look of sheer surprise, excitement, and terror as i left the dealership parking lot.

being this was my first porsche...i guess i just expected it was going to be different when i first got her. i just thought porsche's were harder to shift. uhhhhh....do i feel like a numbskull. i have never driven anything more responsive in my entire life...the gearbox is almost creamy smooth now. shifting is a pure delight. I am going to literally have to learn how to drive the car all over again! i thought this
car was great when i first bought it....now.....i cant imagine ever driving anything less. i cant wait to go to work tommorow.

the only thing i wonder about is this....how come someone else either at the dealership or during the testing of the vehicle didnt notice. I am serious about the car driving differently from the very first time i got her. its only been in the last few days that shifting becaume nearly impossible, before that it was just 'tough'.

well, anyway...im just glad the problem is fixed and i would encourage anyone who cant shift their cayman with their pinky finger to go and have it checked out.....

cheers folks!! /fckeditor/editor/images/smiley/MWPX/beer2.gif Edited by - RedRocket on 04/11/2006 5:53:46 PM

Same exact story again, it was like driving it for the first time.
 
#21 ·
Chrismillion and Red Rockets vins are 781620 and 781893 (from the registry). What are the vins of the others with this problem?
Also guys, please document what the diagnosis/repair was on the work order. It matters. Just because it was a similar effect, doesn't indicate the same cause. Loose flywheel bolts, pressure plate bolts, housing bolts. They are not the same, but may be indicative of some greater concern, like engine vibration. One of those spiffy hydraulic engine mounts might not be absorbing everything that it is supposed to ...
 
#22 ·
To recap:
  1. the clutch pedal doesn't come off the floor
  2. The Cayman goes to the dealer and the bolts on the flywheel or clutch housing are properly torqued
  3. The owner gets the Cayman back and for the first time the car shifts properly or easily?


Does this mean that the cars with manual transmissions have no Quality Control at the factory? They slap'em together and put em on the boat, drop'em off at the dealer and call the owner. No where along the line anyone building or preparing Caymans for delivery notices that this one car's clutch and transmission is way off? or


Has Porsche re-engineered the clutch and the few cars that have been in to the dealers have had different parts installed which are responsible for a completely different - and better -clutch/manual transmission experience? Is it possible thatthese newer and better parts were being retrofitted on Caymans at the port recently?


Chris, do we need to get together and compare clutch pedal feel and easy of shifting?


I have not felt that my clutch or transmission had a problem and my clutch pedal has always returned to the normal position, but maybe there is a better setup or set of parts than whatI currently have??? Have the high number of Cayman owners who have stalled their Caymans indicate a clutch problem rather than drivers getting accustomed to a car's clutch? Are some Caymans in an alternate universe?
 
#23 ·
ok...just a couple of things. in my case the clutch still was coming back up...however, when depressed it felt 'mushy', and when fully depressed and in gear...the ca rwould move forward if the brake wasnt down, even on an incline. My cayman was fairly difficult to shift right from the get go. But within a day or two of going into the dealership it became extrodinarliy harder to get into first, second, and reverse. other gears were not difficult to find or shift into. the diagnosis and 'treatment' per the dealership was as follows:


.......R&R Transmission, Found loose pressure plate bolts. RE installed bolts tourqued to 17ft. pounds per porsche tech. line. Applied lock tight blue to bolts. Test drove, clutch is now o.k.[/quote]<br style="font-family: Tahoma;" /> <br style="font-family: Tahoma;" /> FP NUMBER 986-116-237-00 Clutch Slave Cyl Warranty $0.00[/quote]



as you can see, it appears that a new slave cylinder was ordered, however, i am not sure if it was installed. I will have to contact the dealership to find out if they used the part or not. anyways....hopes this helps. oh...as an aside, i probably stalled out my cayman about 10 times over the first 2000 miles at stop lights...just thought i would mention that...
[/quote]

Edited by - RedRocket on 04/12/2006 5:59:13 PM
 
#24 ·
. . . yeh I got the clutch pedalnot returning instantly back up with my foot at around 50% of travel too within the 1st week of ownership. Wish I'd metioned this sooner just thought it would be pretty isolated - I was probably one of the 1st -DOH!


Dean

Edited by - V6 TT on 04/13/2006 04:22:01 AM
 
#25 ·
mpollard,

I think that is a great idea! '[/quote]Chris, do we need to get together and compare clutch pedal feel and easy of shifting?'

That would be a great idea! For all we know maybe we have a problem in the making? I think mine feels OK, but is it perfect? I have nothing to compare it to.

Russ
 
#26 ·
I noticed last week that my clutch pedal had not come back up 100 % - seemed stuck at about halfway down, though the clutch itself has not malfunctioned. A little kick with the top of my left foot under the pedal brought it springing back up. This has happened 2 or 3 times, with no other symptoms, so I am wondering if it is related or whether my spring is just not operating properly.
 
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