Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

I have been told that my clutch has gone and I'm driving around in "get me home mode" if I remember correctly they said that the rubber bush around the spline has gone and this put it on to the other mode to provide drive to get me home.

What appears to happen is that changing gear is fine but when you quickly raise your foot off the clutch pedal or press the accelorator pedal like a kangaroo effect you will get an engaging clunking sound but actually selecting gears is fine.

Also, My car had a short shift system fitted to it by the previous owner and I can't help but think that is should be sounding like that with this system on as changing gears appears to be fine, it has been like this since I got the car and have done about 3000 miles in it.

Does anyone know anything about this?

My car is a 2.5 8V non turbo 5 speed 1983 square dash.

Thanks.

The 944 originally had a rubber 'doughnut' in the centre of the clutch pressure plate. This is known for degrading, unbalancing the clutch and getting in the way of it's proper operation. I'm not aware of any get you home mode and your car could probably lose drive at any time although my clutch was pretty much completely gone and continued driving with the rivets above the clutch plate.

Your symptoms are identical to mine you should get it changed for a sachs clutch which uses the more modern spring centre which removes the rubber centre and won't degrade in the same way. It's not a cheap job unfortunately and most places will charge around £1000-£1300 to do the job.

Have a read of the thread where I asked similar questions and check into the additional items that should be replaced at the same time as these parts are cheap and the labour to fit them later is extremely expensive due to the clutch needing to be removed again to fit them should they fail.

viewtopic.php?f=25&t=20992&hilit=clutch+failing

Good luck with it.

Mine had exactly the same symptoms and afraid it was the clutch that was the cause.

Thanks Digi944 and Briggy I found this part:

2. Raise the car up on jackstands or on a lift. In the forward section of the differential located between the rear wheels, you will see a rubber square about 3" x 4". Pry this off with a screwdriver. Put your hand up into the diff and grab the rod that runs inside the torque tube that connects the clutch to the diff. (Of course, the car should be OFF!) If there is any play in it, and you can clank it around, then again, your clutch is toast.

In one of the post links and can confirm that this is what the garage told me and showed me, I just could not remember what they said.

Thanks for your quick replies, I best book it in and get it done as it's my only car and it takes me to work and back which is 36 miles a day!

Yep, clutch is goosed. I had the same issue and got the same quote from the good indie it was at. Basically there is a metal 'back-up' to the rubber bush which allows the car to be driven for a short time after the rubber doughnut has failed. Unfortunately it is a fairly large labour bill for the clutch change because the torque tube need to come out, which requires trans-axle out ect ect.

Thanks for the info Prophead it helped me to understand how it works a lot better.

I also would like help with a new problem now and that is over the past couple of weeks around 80mph it will start to have a pop and splutter when I put my foot on down, and in the last week it has gotten worse starting to do it at lower speeds. I know very little about cars but I'm guessing this is my HT Leads beginning to break down, or my dizzy cap or rotor arm, am I right?

Thanks David.

Hi David -

With reference to your engine non performance, it will be either fuel or electrics, hopefully. The HT leads, rotor etc don't normally fail, they just get slowly tired and their replacement is always a good idea. In that regard, I would suspect the ignition coil performance possibly? Fuel starvation due to an overloaded dirty fuel filter and blocked injectors are also possible...

Back to electronics - I would also check the spark plugs (always a nice change item). The plug 'wells' in the head can also fill with engine oil, due to leaky seals in the cam cover and cause misfire. Bit extreme but worth a look...

Dave
CT

My rotor arm failed completely at 70mph. Well worth taking the cap off and having a look, any kind of burning to the connectors or cracking of the plastic and you'll do well to get them changed.

Thanks for the info chaps, I changed the rotor and dizzy cap on the weekend and it is better but now on tick over for a couple of minutes in the morning it only fires on 3 cylinders and then 4, it drives with power but still has a mis fire and also I have mow idea what my oil pressure gauge should read on tick over or when driving, I do know that since having the car most of the time it's on 5 but since this mis fire in the last two days is been on 2 on tick over and when driving back up to 5.

I am becoming to dislike this car.... Please help!

They take a bit of sorting to get right but i'm sure you'll enjoy it immensely once it's there. My oil gauge almost always reads 5, it hasn't bothered me tbh. Sometimes it works but not very often. 2 is about right when idling and it'll go up when driving but mine is so intermittent.

Thanks, I won't about that then, do you know what the firing order is at all as it doesn't seem to be fully right after I put the new cap and rotor on.

You'll have to wait for someone with more knowledge than me for that answer i'm afraid mate. I can only answer from my experience with my own car.

I bet the dizzy cap isn't on properly. The bottom screw is a pig to get properly engaged.

Hi Jim, I did notice that and have put it on again and it seems to be in correctly now. I have just did a new post for this problem topic of mine which is here viewtopic.php?f=25&t=21786

Do you know the firing order at all please?

Thanks Dave for this info very helpful, I have now switched this to a new topic of mine here viewtopic.php?f=25&t=21786

Do you know what the firing order should be please?