Clutch Judder

[Guest]

Hi

My 2.5 1997 Boxster occasionally judders when setting off in 1st gear at low revs, though it is fine when I give it a decent bootful of revs. It is worse when I' ve been travelling for a while and the car is hot, then I get stuck in stationary traffic - like last Saturday on the M6. I haven' t noticed at what revs this happens as it catches me by surprise but it feels like I have set off in 4th!!!

Anybody else had this happen to them, and if so what was the cure? I' m hoping I don' t need a new clutch......

Cheers

 

[JCB..]

Paul

I have had the occasional judder but not as severe as what you have described.

I did have the flywheel replaced at the 24k service (warranty)but current clutch has 50k on it!

JCB..

 

[Guest]

Hi

It' s only done it a couple of times in the 4 months I' ve had the car. Allegedly it had a new clutch 12k miles ago though I' ve no documentation for that. I' m not to worried as the clutch doesn' t slip, so I' ll just keep my eye on it.

Thanks

 

[Helen Goff]

welcome to the PCGB forum.

when you say the air intake i guess you mean the ones on the side of the car??

not the ones on the bottom of the front.

well the ones on the side of the car are diffrent as one is an intake and one lets the heat out.

BTW this is not so on the 2.5

someone eles will have to help you with the other things as it' s not something i' ve noticed on mine although the brakes do have squeeky days sometimes.

 

[Guest]

the lhs air intake sticks out further than the rhs and doesn' t seem to be clipped in correctly

If you run your fingers under the top of either duct, you will find the retaining screw that holds the duct in place. If the duct was incorrectly seated then it would be difficult to line up the screw-holes.

The left duct is a different shape to the right so congratulations...[] you have just found your naca duct. The intake does sit slightly proud of the car and the resulting lip forces air into the opening which feeds the air intake for the engine (don' t ask me why ?). The other side has a different profile and is a ventilation opening for the engine bay. The lack of lip on the right intake suggests to me that the hot air is extracted courtesy of the venturi effect however if anyone knows for sure, let us all in on the secret please.

Have you also noticed that the engine induction noise is louder on the left than the right ?

 

[Guest]

I have read (cannot remeber where) that the intake (on lhs) has the lip to reduce the amount of water ingested in very wet weather. Apparenty water is supposed to " slide" over the side of the car and was being taken into the engine. This was feature was not on early cars.

 

[NicD]

It seems to have a couple of faults including clutch judder when letting clutch out (is this the main seal problem ? and will Porsche fix it under warranty ?)

John,
My guess is the clutch need attention, no surprise and 50,000 is a pretty fair mileage. RMS (rear main seal) manifests itself by spots or more, of oil under the car after having being parked after use. The extended warranty does not cover oil leaks, I am afraid, though the new car one does.
Did you have the car checked over before buying?

Brake squeal is not common with standard brake pads. The recent pads have special weights to reduce resonance. Have you got the service invoices to see if they have been changed?

Sheena is correct about the difference in engine air intakes, this is a feature!

 

[Guest]

Sheena is correct about the difference in engine air intakes, this is a feature!

Yup, I' ll put my hand up and go with the explanation that makes a bit more sense. [](I got my explanation from the previous register director who was a Jaguar expert !)

 

[JCB..]

I' ve heard Biggles called many things but never that! []

 

[Guest]

Thanks everyone. So not totally good news then !

Nic, I didn' t have the car inspected prior to purchase, I was considering it but as the car had the extended ' Link' warranty I was hoping Porsche would foot the bill for most faults not due to ' normal wear' ?

I also own a 1999 BMW 328Ci and whenever I' ve had any kind of problem with it (not that I' ve had any since a few initial teething problems) , I' ve easily pursuaded BMW warranty to cover all the costs.

The Boxster doesn' t seem to be dropping any oil at all so maybe it' s just the clutch. Pedal is quite heavy but apart from the judder it' s fine, it doesn' t slip at all.

Pleased to hear that the side vents are supposed to have slightly different fitments


Took the BMW out last night, I used to love that car 193Bhp , 2.8L 6Cyl , Coupe, but I was amazed at how soft it felt after the Boxster. The power felt a little less then the Boxster, but the handling and specifically the steering are so vague it was making me wonder if the steering wheel was actually connected to the rack anymore !

 

[Guest]

I' ve heard Biggles called many things but never that!

You mean you haven' t read about the twin engined Jaguar he used to drive ? Every article he contributed seemed to contain this revelation. I must concede that the articles weren' t bad ..... just a bit predictable in that you soon knew he was a fighter pilot. [8|]

 

[ashley]

Totally agree with your BMW comments, I have a 325Ci and always feel the same after driving the boxster, the BMW is a fine car but there' s no comparison when it comes to handling.

 

[matt643]

Hi,

My 1999 2.5 does exactly the same thing! The clutch judders a little when pulling away from cold and then goes away.

If I sit in a traffic jam for a while and the temperature goes up its a b*gger to get away smoothly in first but its fine in second.

Oddly after giving the boxster a really heavy get away (lots of revs and a bit of tyre smoke!!) the problem almost totally disapeared, this leads me to think that its some sort of build up on the clutch surface.

Would be great if anybody knows a cure for this problem!

 

[Guest]

I've got EXACTLYthe same problem on my 2000 2.7 It got really bad when stuck in a motorway hold up for a couple of hours constantly having to creep forward with the traffic. I spoke to the garage and they have said that at 48,000 miles it is probable the clutch allthough it may be a possability the dual mass flywheel might be the problem. Something to do with silicone detaching or something. Anyway it's going in for it's service on the 20th and I will let you know the outcome if you want.

 

[JCB..]

Gary

I'd be interested as my flywheel was replaced under warranty at the 24K service. I occasionally get the judder and I'm still on the original clutch at 56K.

JCB..

 

[matt643]

Cary,

I would be very interested to hear what they say. My local Porsche dealer, Silverstone, just shrugged and said ' could be anything!'

Cheers,

Matt

 

[JCB..]

The only way they are going to tell is to drop the gearbox and that will not be cheap!

 

[matt643]

surely if three people have reported it on this post there must be many more sufferers? An hence Porsche should be aware of the problem?

Dealers normally have a database of re-occuring problems, I wonder if its a known fault but the dealers dont want to admit it because it would open the claim floodgates.

Dont fancy having my gearbox taken out, sounds very expensive!

By the way does anybody know of an independant Porsche service center in the Bedfordshire area?

 

[Guest]

I said I'd let you know what the problem turned out to be Are you sat down!
The juddering is caused by a failure of the dual mass fly wheel which needs replacing together with the clutch. I was prepared for the cost of a clutch but the£570 +vat for the flywheel came as a bit of a shock! Also the Rear main Oil Seal needs replacing Fortunately the extra cost of this is negligeable if it is done at the same time as everything else. The independant who is doing it (Tech9 on Merseyside) has said that it is well known in the trade that these keep having to be replaced. The relevant oil seal is apparantly now on version 16! So much for the fabled Porsche engineering excellence. As you can imagine I am a little P****d off with Porsches at the moment.