Preventative clutch pipe fix might save you a break down.

[C11BRA]

So....day 5 of the Euro trip under our belt. Laps of the Nürburgring done. Black Forest B500 road done. Sitting in Spa exit traffic & bang! Clutch pedal hits the floor. Car lurches forward. Managed to roll out of the traffic just before T junction. Suspected slave cylinder failure. Looked under car. Could see high volume of fluid pouring from NSR wheel/gearbox area. Tracy asks.....is it game over? Could be I replied.

Ok. Options. Call our RAC cover that we sensibly took out? Sit at this junction for a couple of hours (traffic very heavy)
Or.....drive it clutchless through the twisty Ardenne Forest 56km to our hotel in Marcourt? Here at least we can consider options over dinner. (Michelin worthy dinner btw)

Selected 1st, cranked the engine & spluttered towards the T junction. Switched off. Waited for some kind of gap then repeated the start up, sounded horn & went for the left hand bend. Holy crap. That was close. Changed into 3rd gear from first, no crunch. Limped to next junction. Dropped to 2nd with a blip of revs. All good. Turned into someone's drive by mistake. Sh!t! Had to select reverse & start in gear. Then 1st, start in gear then off we went via the Ardenne Forest back roads. Keeping to 2nd & 4th. Serious hairpins were challenging.

Finally arrived at our hotel. As we had been last year, I knew a back way in where I could park down the side of the hotel so I could inspect the car & even jack it up if need be.



Phew. Made it. Let's check in, have dinner & discuss options.

Hotel staff were awesome. Promised to call their local garage at 8:00am Saturday. They know he works until Midday on Sat.

Had dinner. Exquisite food.



Laid under the side of the car with my torch.

Ahhhhh. Not the slave cylinder. I topped up the reservoir and could see fluid coming from the hard line under the chassis. The rubber hose had come off. I suspected that the metal crimped flange had corroded and given up its strength (similar to the power steering hose common fault...which I had prepared for).



Back to the room to draw a diagram to show the Belgian mechanic a possible repair to get me home.



After breakfast. We hear the bad news that the local guy has 3 dead cars on his 3 ramps. Game over? Not quite. They now another garage called Auto 5. But further away. Booked in for midday.

We decided to set off early knowing we are clutchless.

Arrived at 10:00am. Auto 5 was a Belgium version of a Halfords Auto Centre.
We spoke to the reception guy. Not much help due to language barrier. I showed him my drawing. Panic was all over his face. No sir no sir. He thought it was the clutch. I showed him the car....but still no. I eventually convinced him that if I could put it on a ramp, he could see. I started in gear & tried to line up for the 4 poster ramp asking them to keep an eye on my spoiler. More panic followed by a firmer no sir!!!! I followed him into the office, to see another gent. Between them they called Porsche assistance. The girl from PA quoted €160 for a technician visit, then more costs for recovery etc etc etc. No point I told her (as I knew the tech could not fix on the floor) so I said no thanks. The 2nd gent spoke broken English so I latched on to him. Showed him my drawing and pursuaded him to help push the car onto the 4 poster. Yay. It's in the air. The fault was obviously down to the rusted crimp as I suspected. I had 2 jubilee clips in my spares kit so....it seemed one mechanic was willing to try.



He carried out the perfect temp repair. We then bled the clutch with me pumping. At start by hand as the clutch pedal is Spring assisted the opposite way to normal systems. In 35oC heat balancing on the top of the ramp, intermittently topping the reservoir, eventually getting a pedal.

We reversed off the ramp with clutch!!!! By 11:45am!!! They would not accept a bean but I managed to slip the mechanic a decent bunch of euros.

We got to Brugge then home to London. Even went to the Ace cafe meet.



So.

This must be a common issue just waiting to happen on plenty of 996/997's.

If your pipe crimp is corroded, I would strongly suggest opening a small jubilee clip (so it can be passed around the intact hose). Then re-close the jubilee clip, add the security wire under the jubilee. Tighten the jubilee clip, pushed up against the rusty crimp. Then bend the security wire around the bracket & tighten via twisting with pliers.

It might just save you a near disaster or break down. I was lucky & got away with it thanks to Auto 5 & a sketch.

 

[ru']

What a mission! Well done for persevering and getting it sorted against the odds!

 

[DucatiRob]

Good going! Amazing what you can do when needs must!

:thumbs:

 

[Bonners1]

What a geek.

Love it :thumb:

 

[rob_p]

Amazing! I wouldn't have even dared drive the car - let alone try and diagnose the problem. That's why I have European brake down over - I am afraid I would have found a coffee and a donut and waited.

Out of interest - how do you drive the car without a clutch - can it really be started in gear? (And doesn't that ruin the starter motor??).

Great result though - you clearly know you way around the car very well indeed.

 

[C11BRA]

Thanks chaps. I don't go down without a fight.

Agreed, it's not kind on the starter motor to start a car in gear. Never do it up hill either. Massive increase in load. But in 50kms, I managed to only need to start in gear 4 times. 2 at junctions. 2 when I pulled into the church drive by mistake. Once you're up an moving in first gear its a case of timing the gear change with engine revs. The synchromesh works hard & you'll get the odd crunch so care must be taken. The good thing with Porsches is the huge torque. This means you can skip gears. 1st to 3rd, 2nd to 4th. Etc. Even 1st to 4th

Good to remember the start in gear trick if you ever break down in a seriously dangerous position. Eg. Fast lane. Blind corner. And you're on your own with no pushers. Again, avoid hills and full lock but you can get yourself out of danger. Try not to do more than 30 second bursts to avoid overheating the starter motor & cables. You can try it in 2nd if your on flat or slightly downhill roads. Top tip??

 

[C11BRA]

Here's the offending part.



It seems the 996.2 & 997 don't share the pipe but I suspect that it might still have the same crimp connector. Worth checking still IMO.

It is however, shared with seemingly most or all 924 & 944 models. Good parts sharing Porsche!

 

[Frenchmeister]

It's not usually the pipe / crimp on the 944 but the seals in the cylinder, which you can get a kit for circa £30.
I also own a 944 BTW.
I suspect that Porsche were fitting a lower (cheaper) quality pipe as is the case with most of the components in the later water cooled cars.
A few euros saving here and there adds up to millions of euros.
Believe me the older car's components are way better.

 

[C11BRA]

Shame really. A few stainless steel parts here and there & these cars would have a much better reputation than they all ready have.

Oh. On a more positive note. Did I say how much I loved the laps on the Nürburgring????

 

[Frenchmeister]

Exactly fella !
If it cost the customer say 200 euros more when the car was new but fitted with better quality nuts bolts etc it would be a drop in the ocean and make the cars more reliable and good for them image wise.
Top marks for persevering with the problem though,paid off as the car got you home.
Epic cars but they can piss you off at times, dreading taking my exhaust manifolds off due to crusty studs :nooo:

 

[Scholester]

Exactly fella !
If it cost the customer say 200 euros more when the car was new but fitted with better quality nuts bolts etc it would be a drop in the ocean and make the cars more reliable and good for them image wise.
Top marks for persevering with the problem though,paid off as the car got you home.
Epic cars but they can piss you off at times, dreading taking my exhaust manifolds off due to crusty studs :nooo:

Their image won't take a beating due to a few lesser quality components. They just see it as a further moneymaking venture when they sell you replacements after a few years and again after a few more years....
I carried out a fair bit of minor work on my old 964 and they were very well screwed together. Not had to do anything other than wash the 997 but I will take a nice close look underneath when it is MOT'd tomorrow.
I have some stainless fixings in the garage that I would like to start replacing the exhaust bits with so things should only get better (I am not tackling manifold studs mind)!

 

[C11BRA]

Here's a quick photo of the repair.

Quite accessible.