My 79' 911SC was just towed for the first time. Might be the clutch. Tips anyone?

[1979-911SCTarga]

I am the first time owner of a 911SC, (79) with 62k milles, a wonderful car. It's been a good year, with much help on maintenance from reading this forum. However for the first time today, the car needed to be towed as it appears the clutch "may" have burnt out

As I watched her depart on the flatbad of a AAA towtruck, I await a call from the garage as to what I need to do, and how much I need to pay to get her out. It's a bit scary anticipating what the garage will say needs to be done - and what they will quote for it to be repaired and released.

The tow truck operator says he believes he smelled a burning clutch. We needed to hold down the clutch to roll the car back, and the car will stall when the stick is in the nuetral position. When attempting to drive or reverse, the engine just revs, car stays still, and stalls.

Car was just looked at by a Porsche dealer less than a thousand miles ago with all fluids checked, and given a "clean" bill of health. Also, the problem occurred in 90F+ weather, after 150+ mi of driving.

Not sure if the heat is to blame or if it is indeed the clutch, cable, or transmission.

If I let the AAA garage it was towed to take care of it, what should one expect in terms of costs?
What should I ask them as to know if they have the competence to diagnose properly and repair?
Would it be better or less expensive if I ordered the parts on Pelican and used a specialist or PCA recommended shop?
Or could it be related to cooling and all will be well when temp cools down?

Thanks much for your guidance!

[pete3799]

You'll need to describe the events leading up to the tow truck call better.
The car will roll with the clutch depressed but will not roll when it's in neural?
The car makes no attempt to move when you let the clutch out but stalls the motor?
Can you shift into all the gears with the shift lever (motor not running)?
Did this happen while you where stationary or while you were driving?
Did you shift out of reverse and into first gear when this happened?

[Bob Kontak]

As Pete says. More info.

Cost to drop engine is a long one and the clutch pack will be another with labor.

The triple A place is not where you should have this done. The $100 to tow to an independent Porsche place is what you want.

Have a full PP, disc and TO bearing installed and have the flywheel re-surfaced. Replace the TO bearing fork ($100) and have the associated pivot bearings/seals replaced. Also, replace rear main seal and pilot bearing as you are going to be "assuming the position".

Better to assume the position with someone who will get the job done right.

[Reiver]

Run don't walk to the phone...call up AAA and tell them you have a Porsche shop (indy) that'll do the work. Not a Porsche dealership...an Indy shop familiar with older air cooled P's.

[spuggy]

Originally Posted by Reiver

Run don't walk to the phone...call up AAA and tell them you have a Porsche shop (indy) that'll do the work. Not a Porsche dealership...an Indy shop familiar with older air cooled P's.

+10000 THIS, what he said.

[porwolf]

Originally Posted by Reiver

Run don't walk to the phone...call up AAA and tell them you have a Porsche shop (indy) that'll do the work. Not a Porsche dealership...an Indy shop familiar with older air ccooled P's.

+1 on that! I had excellent experiences with a small local SoCal independent shop that has been around forever. The owner and one worker do all kinds of cars, have air cooled P-car experience and the services are priced very reasonably. I cost me only a few hundred dollars to reawaken my 79SC from a 16 year hibernation. They did an great job and the car runs like new, as it always has.

[Bill Jennings]

When I imported my car a couple of years ago the shipping driver managed to get the car stuck in two gears when removing the car from the container and the symptoms sound very similar to yours, car would stall every time I let the clutch out, would not drive forward or back and we had to depress the clutch lever just to push the car onto the trailer.
Now I know I was very lucky as after the 180km trip homevon the trailer the gearbox was no longer stuck in two gears and it's not happened since, and after reading up on this here I am always careful to be at a dead stop when going from reverse to first or vice versa.

I really hope your lucky too so check to see if it has freed itself after the trip on the trailer.

Fingers crossed!!!

Cheers
Bill

[1979-911SCTarga]

Thanks for your quick replies everyone!

@pete3799 & @bob:

The car will roll with the clutch depressed but will not roll when it's in neural?
>>Correct. When the stick is in the neutral position, car will not roll suggested it is stuck in gear.

The car makes no attempt to move when you let the clutch out but stalls the motor?
>> Correct, releasing the clutch stalls the motor, and shifting into first, second, reverse, etc. while pressing the gas does not move the car (engines revs, and then putters and stalls)

Can you shift into all the gears with the shift lever (motor not running)?
>> No, cannot shift into gears when engine off.

Did this happen while you where stationary or while you were driving?
>> Symptoms happened last night at end of long drive, and then this morning drove about .25 miles than needed a tow.

Did you shift out of reverse and into first gear when this happened
>>No.

Events leading up to it: At the end of a long highway drive in 90+ heat, getting off the highway the car all of the sudden started making a noise and a jerky reaction when shifting into first gear. Then, it became difficult to shift in other gears as well. When I took the car out in the morning, engine started OK (still starts OK) but will stall when the stick is in the nuetral position (not when clutch is pressed).

Hope that gives you enough info to make an assesment.
Agree with @reiver that indy porsche shop is a better alternative to a AAA generalist for this type of issue. Hopefully the AAA garage wont hold the car "hostage" with high fees to release to a specialist.

Any guidance on finding a qualified specialist in NYC beyond a Google search? Possible a forum member here?

[wwest]

Originally Posted by 1979-911SCTarga

I am the first time owner of a 911SC, (79) with 62k milles, a wonderful car. It's been a good year, with much help on maintenance from reading this forum. However for the first time today, the car needed to be towed as it appears the clutch "may" have burnt out

As I watched her depart on the flatbad of a AAA towtruck, I await a call from the garage as to what I need to do, and how much I need to pay to get her out. It's a bit scary anticipating what the garage will say needs to be done - and what they will quote for it to be repaired and released.

The tow truck operator says he believes he smelled a burning clutch. We needed to hold down the clutch to roll the car back, and the car will stall when the stick is in the nuetral position. When attempting to drive or reverse, the engine just revs, car stays still, and stalls.

Car was just looked at by a Porsche dealer less than a thousand miles ago with all fluids checked, and given a "clean" bill of health. Also, the problem occurred in 90F+ weather, after 150+ mi of driving.

Not sure if the heat is to blame or if it is indeed the clutch, cable, or transmission.

If I let the AAA garage it was towed to take care of it, what should one expect in terms of costs?
What should I ask them as to know if they have the competence to diagnose properly and repair?
Would it be better or less expensive if I ordered the parts on Pelican and used a specialist or PCA recommended shop?
Or could it be related to cooling and all will be well when temp cools down?

Thanks much for your guidance!

I'm betting that you have a pretty common but somewhat unique RUBBER center clutch failure. Normal failure is that the clutch cannot be fully disengaged accompanied by a burning rubber odor. Rubber segment thrown into a position blocking motor turning.

[1979-911SCTarga]

@wwest - thanks for the advice! Do you know of any other threads or posts that point to this issue? Any additional insight appreciated!

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by wwest

I'm betting that you have a pretty common but somewhat unique RUBBER center clutch failure. Normal failure is that the clutch cannot be fully disengaged accompanied by a burning rubber odor. Rubber segment thrown into a position blocking motor turning.

This is good info. The SC's originally had rubber noise/vibration dampeners in the clutch that caused problems. Given your car has low mileage, you may still have this bad boy installed. My 81 SC had a standard non-rubber Sachs clutch disc stamped 1983 in it when I pulled the engine for a broken stud problem..

If this is the case. it's time for a change out.

[Bob Kontak]

Originally Posted by 1979-911SCTarga

The car will roll with the clutch depressed but will not roll when it's in neural?

Yep - this is weird - may not be the clutch at all.

Get to a recommended shop. Are you in NYC proper?

Tony (boyt911SC) in Phila can wrestle with SC's well and I trust him equal to any independent shop.

[1979-911SCTarga]

yep - in nyc proper. any reccos?

[wwest]

If I remember correctly the one in my '78 Targa failed at 37,000 miles back in '84 before the issue became common knowledge within the community. Wife and I dropped the engine and installed an '83 clutch.

[FinallyGotOne]

So for me in my 79 SC, 6 -7 years ago: I drove to work, then tried to drive home but car went nowhere all of a sudden. Had to get a tow. Was a tranny rebuild at $5,500. Been great ever since.

[nicfranc]

The original owner of my car had the rubber centered clutch replaced two years after he bought it.
From what I understand it was a common problem and Porsche paid for the replacement. A spring centered clutch plate.

[ben parrish]

Funny, when my rubber centered clutch went out (14 years ago at 65k) the clutch pedal went straight to the floor. I actually drove it 50 miles home by matching revs to my shifts and starting the car in second gear when I had to stop. The tranny shifted fine.
By your description, sounds more like a linkage issue, not a clutch issue.
Good luck.