Porsche Enthusiasts Club Forum

Hi
My 1987 s4 manual has developed a noisy clutch bearing,
When i dip the clutch pedal a bearing rumble noise appears ,would this be the release bearing?
Would it be worth just replacing this or would it be better to replace the whole clutch?
The clutch is operating fine nice and smooth,the pedal does have quite alot of travel but i have been told this is normal?
A daft question but whats the worst that can happen with this bearing and how many miles will it go on for?
I use the car every day and its great to drive just dont want to pay out at this time of year with kids presents etc,
Cheers Grahame

Hi there , No experience with 928 clutches as mine is an auto but I have had a few clutches and bearings go over the years and all the clutches ive seen worked and looked the same! The noise you described sounds exactly like the release bearing starting to come apart, I don't think if it goes it will do any damage to the clutch but I do think that if it becomes seized it can eat through the pressure plates on the clutch and if there is still a bit of life left on the clutch it will render it unusable which will be a shame as if its not in your budget at the moment it will soon have to be! In my opinion I would do the bearing and have a look how much life is left on the clutch plates, The other factor is the labour costs doing it twice , Tough call hope it works out ok and its just the bearing


Jezzy

Are you planning on doing it yourself? Or do you have a garage that you use?

Hi all
Not sure about whether to do it myself or not , i have done a few Triumph clutch,s before but i think the porsche one is a little more involved at least its not the older twin plate one which i think is a pig to set up.
I think there is a grommet on the bellhousing to inspect the plate to see how much material is left i shall have a look and see and then decide
I have in the past never just fitted a bearing as even as a diy job you have to take it all apart again to fit the plate and cover later on. But the complete clutch kit for those cars were less than £100.
I hope it lasts the winter the clutch kit is around £600 But then in 1987 it was a 60.000 car and our first house in 1986 was £30.000.
I do plan on keeping the car for many years so its going to be part of the maintainance program i,ll just have to hide the bill from the wife
Cheers Grahame

Quote-- .., i,ll just have to hide the bill from the wife

.., That,s probably the toughest job of all Grahame, ...good luck

Ken

Its probably the release bearing, you can recondition them and because the bottom of the bell housing is removable, they are quite easy/quick to fix

Regards

Geoff