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Worth checking this clutch pipe on 996/997 manual models???

C11BRA

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Joined
30 Mar 2015
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1,063
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.

 

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