Apologies and the breakdown...

[hoffo]

Good evening -
My sincerest apologies for not having kept up with my posts - I'm at my new temporary location in North Carolina and still in the process of getting everything set up.
My beloved 2001 Boxster suffered some sort of breakdown - I'm pretty sure it's the clutch... in the middle of nowhere on the I-20E between Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia.
My first instinct was to get AAA a tow... turns out the closest to my direction of travel was up to Columbia, SC.
Thankfully it was after 4PM on a Sunday so nobody was open. Perhaps 1-800-PORSCHE could have arranged something for me... regardless, I had gotten the car dropped off at the local dealer where it sits...
Looking like probably a clutch problem - sudden loss of power, RPMs dropping to nothing - clutch pedal uncharacteristically "low" to the floor and unable to shift into any gear without forcing the shifter with the engine running - clutch pedal depressed or not.
Gave no warning of impending failure... thankfully it happened during the day and close enough to my destination I could get there with a rental car.

I'll keep you all posted.

Cheers,
Scott

[Falco_Mark]

I'm in Columbia, SC if I can offer any assistance.

[WhipE350]

Sorry to hear about your breakdown. Where you headed in NC?

[hoffo]

Thanks Mark, just spoke with the service rep today who said the car *should* be ready on Saturday... if you're available, wanna grab something to eat from Five Guys?

Hi Whip, I was on the way to Jacksonville for school - made it there in a crummy rental. Car should be ready Saturday - *fingers crossed!* You in the area? I haven't seen ONE Porsche since I got here!

The word from the dealer is - the center hub was sheared from the clutch disc itself somehow. He said he'd never seen that before - how rough would someone have to be to do that? I have been nothing but gentle with it - how much abuse would a PO have to do to get something like that to happen? Also going to need a new flywheel. They're going to also replace the RMS since they've got the transmission out.

*sigh* Gettin' a little expensive... wished the circumstances were different so I'd have done it all myself and also changed out the IMS bearing while I was at it.
The car made it from San Diego CA all the way to beyond Atlanta GA like that! Fortunately it didn't break in the middle of the night somewhere 800 miles from anything!

They said they'd give me a call on Friday to let me know how it's going.
I'll keep you up-to-date.

Take care,
Scott

[WhipE350]

Jacksonville NC, that should be beautiful for the summer! I'm all the way back in Charlotte, long long way

PM me if you are ever in the area, always here to help...or drive like hell on the country roads around my house

[Wayne 962]

Can you get the mechanic to give you the old parts so that you can keep them and post photos? I would like to see this failure, as I have never seen one like this before either. I would hope that this wasn't ultimately caused by something else that may cause future clutches to fail as well.

-Wayne

[BYprodriver]

Originally Posted by WhipE350

Jacksonville NC, that should be beautiful for the summer! I'm all the way back in Charlotte, long long way

PM me if you are ever in the area, always here to help...or drive like hell on the country roads around my house

Jacksonville NC was my destination for USMC mechanics school, I was 17 driving my first car, 1971 Firebird Formula 455, auto trans started slipping about 100 miles from J-ville. I would pull over & wait/sleep to let the trans fluid cool enough to drive the car again. Took about 5 naps to get there but I made it to the base. Had the trans rebuilt at a local hotrod shop & used to go visit a friend in Raleigh & drive like hell on the country roads around there.

[hoffo]

Hi all -
Got my trusty German / Finnish steed back last night. All's great! These guys really did a great job accommodating me and getting this fixed up. I've got the old parts in my rear trunk now - I'll get some pictures and post them up today.
The dual-mass flywheel "upper" portion turns a LOT when holding the lower section and it doesn't "spring back"... the inner part of the clutch disc broke out of the outer section with the friction material... which was also smoothed down a lot.
All works great now and as I said, pictures are forthcoming. Looks like a nice, sunny Jacksonville day so should make for nice pix.

Hi BY, I've done this trip (not completely cross-country, but from San Diego to Michigan City, IN) twice - first time in a 1980 BMW 320i and the second in a 2001 Saturn SC1. Since my first car purchase in California since being a Marine I've never owned anything but a manual. One automatic was enough. It didn't help that first car of mine also happened to be a 1986 Ford Tempo GL. Never again.
My fan belt broke on the 320i while driving through Utah - I changed it out and was back on the road in an hour or so. It was so nice not having anyone pull over to ask me if I needed anything. Not like my RED car stood out like a sore thumb... maybe it was my legs sticking out from under the car. One old lady had the nerve to pull over and ask me how far the next town was! ...didn't have a cell phone then and doubt I would have gotten any signal if I did... it was about 20 miles from Green River.

Ah, those were the days.

What did / do you mech on? My first school (second, rather, but that's another story for a different day ha ha ha) back in '96 I was learning the fine art of CH-46 mechanics. The school I'm at now is teaching me MV-22B Osprey mechanics. This thing is really strange. Half-airplane half-helicopter. All computerized. Bah! I miss the old "mechanical linkage" days.

[hoffo]

Here are the pictures - sorry about the quality - all I have with me is my iPhone 4.

[hoffo]

...are you guys able to see the pictures, for some reason I can't... am I missing something?

[randy_k]

Nope.

[ein 6er]

hoffo,

i can see your pics on flickr if i control click and open in a new window, (right click on a pc?) looks ugly btw. maybe something in your flickr link is messed up. to my understanding, flickr has recently changed the way you link to pics.

BTW, i'm just up the road in new bern, welcome to n.c.!!

doug

[hoffo]

Testing again... hoping Picasa works.

Hi Doug! Great to hear from ya - we'll definitely have to get together one of these days - New Bern's only a hop, skip, and a jump away!

[hoffo]

GAH! Still doesn't look like it's working - how's everyone else posted photos on here?

[randy_k]

Originally Posted by hoffo

GAH! Still doesn't look like it's working - how's everyone else posted photos on here?

I just save the pic's from my camera to my computer. No other place. Not sure. But I think that the number/pound sign in the pic linc is screwing you up. Not a normal sign to be in a pic link.
Randy
Nope, qouted your pic's and took out the number sign. Still no joy.

[hoffo]

[randy_k]

yeah!!! Man that is a mess.

[hoffo]

...there we go!
I used the "Attach a Photo" section below this window... I was making it more difficult than it was.

Noted.

Anyway, there's the pics. Pretty gruesome, eh?

[harryrcb]

I must say, I have never seen a clutch disk disintegrate like this one. Ughh I have seen a lot of dual mass bite the dust. those flywheels don't last very long under hard driving

[BYprodriver]

Hi Hoffo, I'm guessing that was not a Sach clutch disc. I went to Camp Johnson my MO was 3522 mostly for multi-fuel deuce & a quarter & jeeps. Semper-Fi !