Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Car surges on light throttle in any gear, changed plugs, leads, cap & rotor arm and still the same. The engine runs fine.
It has done 88,000 on the original clutch, have been told it sounds like the rubber doughnut on the clutch plate breaking up. Tried looking in the small inspection hole on the bell housing with a torch but could not see the clutch plate, if i take the starter motor off will i be able to see it then? Or is there another way of checking it?
Do not want to pull it all apart to then find it's OK
Any advice appreciated
Thanks Ian.

Is the surge as you change gear? If it does then it could be the rubber doughnut. But if it surges while the clutch is not being operated but you touch the throttle, then that probably isn't the doughnut, as the clutch plates will be engaged at that point. Can you describe the surge, do the revs go up? is there increased vibration?

One of the biggest giveaways for a knackered doughnut is if the car is very warm and in traffic. A shot doughnut will judder a significant amount upon engaging it.

The surge is not when i change gear only light throttle , for example if i was trying to go at 60 in fifth and the car was doing 65 I ease off to light throttle to bring the speed down and it starts the kangaroo effect (the revs do not go up and down), so i dip the clutch and coast to drop the speed, then accelerate back up under load
it is fine again till i ease back on the throttle. There is no increased vibration but the kangaroo effect is probably killing the engine mounts ....and my new exhaust Could it be fuel pressure/starvation/injector? All this is worse when the engine is hot.
Thanks Ian.

As Chas rightly says, one "sign of" a "doughnut clutch" going is judder when pulling off. It gets particularly bad when you have been doing a lot of stop-start driving in heavy traffic.

Another "sign" is what feels like transmission shunt when you're trying to maintain a steady speed on a light throttle at about 2,000 rpm. The car will feel "jerky". With the gearing on an S2 this equates to about 30mph in 3rd or 40mph in 4th.

Hi could it be your gearbox drive shaft cv joints, easy to check. Years ago when my 944s,s donut went the first thing I knew was I heard a clicking noise when setting off, when I changed the clutch lumps of doughnut fell out.
Regards Balders.

Ian,

Sorry to hear this. I had exactly these symptoms on my S2. Take your foot on or off the accelerator when in gear and the car lurches as though the power has caught / gone suddenly. Engaging gears was fine and there was no judder at any point. Tried a few things, but it only went away when I changed the clutch. Garage said the doughnut had indeed perished. I could have lived with it, but as I intended to keep the car for a while, I took the pain in the wallet and as I said, the problem went.

If you do decide to get it done, get a few other things done at the same time, such as the rear oil seal. I can send you the list of things I had done.

I hope I'm wrong and it turns out to be something else for you, but sounds like the same issue I had.

Cheers,
Bryan

Hi, I need to revise my thinking in my last post..! I should have remembered what it was like to drive with a torn doughnut, I now recall the drive surges and the lurches, etc . Of course the plates are engaged but the whole drive goes through the doughnut and if this has torn then the clutch will spin until the emergency stop tangs are engaged to allow the torque shaft to rotate. So, as most of the members have said, it does sound like a new clutch is needed. You cant get rubber doughnut centred clutches anymore, they are all traditional spring design.

Thanks guys for all the advice, looks like a new clutch, rear oil seal etc is on the cards in the near future. I am lucky that my garage has an inspection pit which will make things a lot easier. the last clutch i did on my old 924 was over 20 years ago, I was a lot fitter then, but still remember that gearbox being ;#'=%*~* heavy!
Ah well there goes the wifes Christmas present, sure she will understand!
Will keep you posted on what I find.
Ian.