Another "what is this..."

[motoken]

I replaced it proactively. I had about 2 inches of dead travel in the clutch pedal and decided to replace the master and slave cylinder, with associated hoses to avoid complete failure. Now the clutch pedal is much firmer and there is no dead zone. But after driving the car hard this evening, well, that was when I experienced the slippage. In 40 years of driving cars, I’ve never worn out a clutch, so this is all new to me.

[Tom]

Yeah. i think that is what is happening. I just replaced the slave and master clutch cylinders. Could something out of wack there be the culprit. The clutch pedal is significantly firmer than it was before the of those parts as well.

New clutch hydraulics shouldn't change how stiff the pedal is... Not sure what that's about? If it stiffer than a normal 944, or was maybe the pedal spongey before? I might be tempted to get under the car while someone pushes in the pedal to see if anything is going on...

[dr bob]

Don't know if the release is similar to the 928, but if it is..

The release arm depends on a pivot ball on the bellhousing, and it's a wearing part. It's quite possible the release arm fell off the pivot ball to present a rattling sound and less than full engage or disengage. The 944 gurus here can comment on whether the clutch release mechanism is similar to the one on the V8 cars.

[motoken]

Car is in the shop. I'm having my mechanic look at it. Car has 65k miles on it. Hope it is not the clutch.
If it is the clutch, what's a fair price to pay to have it replaced (parts an labor)?
Any "while I am in there" things i might consider to do as preventive mx?
Just prepping for worst case scenario.
Thanks,
Ken

[walfreyydo]

Heres the list of items I replaced when I did mine:

Clutch fork bearings
Pilot Bearing
Rear Main Seal
Throwout Bearing
Clutch Pressure Plate and Disc
New flywheel bolts
Resurface flywheel

In terms of cost (labor + parts) hard to say. Parts could be upwards of $800, assuming you need a new clutch (clutch kits are in the $600 range alone). It really depends on what the problem is though and what, if anything, needs to be replaced. Clutch replacements are known to exceed $2k or more in labor. However, based on your description, I wouldn't make any assumptions about needing to do a clutch job.. at least not yet.

Clutch slipping could be related to the pedal position, and nothing to do with the master or slave or clutch itself. For instance, if the cruise control safety switch isnt adjusted right, it can cause the clutch pedal to be slightly engaged causing slippage (ask me how I know). If it was grabbing fine before you replaced the master and slave, its more than likely due to some issue related to whatever work you just did - perhaps incorrect installation, pedal adjustment/position or wrong parts. Start with the stuff you changed recently, before moving to other theories. When an issue appears after you have done some sort of work on the car, more than likely the issue is related to whatever you did.

[motoken]

I like your optimisim and i appreciate your insight. I've owned probably 15 manual cars and about 25 motorcycles over my 40 years of driving/riding, and never had to deal with a worn out clutch, so i am not real familiar with the symptoms. Hopefully you are right and it is tied to the install of the master/slave cylinders.