G-50 Clutch Problems / Questions - what to do?

[Booney1golf]

I have an 87 911 and yesterday I noticed a clear liquid on the floor of my Garage but I thought it was water from the A/C then I drove about 20 miles everything seemed normal.

Then when I got back in my driveway (thank God I made it Home) I pushed the clutch in and there was noise (pop or crunch - it freaked me out so I am unsure of the exact sound) then the pedal went to the floor then came back up. Then when I pressed the clutch in it stayed down. I could pick it back up with my toe. Then I pushed it down again and I left it down and later I checked it and it had came back up.

I came home today and for some strange reason I got in my car thinking (hoping) it was all dream but when I tried to push the clutch in it would not go down. It moved a few inches but it would not go down like it did yesterday. It seemed to be bound.

Obviously I am hoping that this might be something I can fix (probably pay someone to fix) without dropping the Motor / Transmission.

My car has 103,000 miles and the motor was rebuilt about 30,000 miles ago but I am unsure about the clutch.

I have been reading all forums that say anything about a clutch yet I still don't see anything that would give me hope. I guess it could be the Clutch Master Cylinder, or Slave cylinder or pedal cluster bushings.

Otherwise a clutch job. I am not a mechanic but hope something in my decription helped some of you to at least give me an educated guess.

If it is a clutch job where can I find a list of everything you all would change while you are doing a clutch job so I can give the list to a mechanic rather than assuming he will not just fix the broken items but in a few months I will have another problem that could have been fixed while the engine was dropped.

Sorry for such a long post!!

Thanks to all of you for your time and advice.

Booney1golf
87 911 Turbo look Cab - And I thought Golf was addicting

[88-diamondblue]

If you can find out if a new clutch was put in that would help narrow what it might be.
At first I thought your issue might be the slave cylinder but the pedal only going down two inches sound like what I first experienced when the clutch went.

Sounds like the rubber centered clutch let loose. I had what I would consider a bang, not very loud, and a slight smell of burnt rubber, the rubber center exploded.

There are two clutches you can use on your car, the rubber centered which it came with or the turbo spring centered clutch. Also replace the pressure plate, throw out bearing, clutch fork, guide tube and the no drill kit cross shaft kit by Weltmeister. The parts are going to run $1200 plus for parts.

Mine when I took it apart





Spring centered Sachs disc




All put back together

[Booney1golf]

Wow Michael. I was afraid of that. Thanks for taking the time to help me. I did smell a burning rubber smell. Other than the parts you mention is there other seals or items I should have the mechanic change while he has the motor out.

What is the difference in driving with a rubber centered clutch versus springs and also the expected life expectancy (guesstimate) of both using the car as a daily driver and not racing the car?

Thanks again for your time and advice.

Booney1golf
87 911 Turbo look Cab - And I thought Golf was addicting

[88-diamondblue]

Booney1golf,

I haven't really noticed much difference between the two. Maybe just a little chatter when at idle. The first clutch disc had 88,000 miles when it went. Spring centered has no rubber to fail, but the original was 17 years old and still had plenty of friction material left. I decided to go the spring centered clutch since I resurfaced my flywheel. Porsche doesn't recommend it with the rubber centered clutch due to clearance issues, not a problem with the spring centered disc. Also the spring centered clutch/Pressure plate at PP is about 140.00 cheaper.

The other things I would replace are the pilot bearing in the flywheel $8.00 and the crankshaft seal $15.00.

There was also a shaft update by Porsche that required drilling the shaft holes on the trans. The G50 improved kit does not require drilling and is very simple to install, it is shown on the clutch kit page. Not hard to do once the engine/trans are out and the G50 is one of the most expensive to replace. Oh the price we pay for having one of the best years of the 911.

[Tigerrat]

Maybe look again at the simple stuff. What is the fluid on the floor? Front or back of the car? Is the fluid low in the reservoir under the front bonnet? You might just have a hydraulic issue.