The Porsche love / hate relationship (the hate part)

This is a partial cross post from over at pelican but you all will probably appreciate it more

I was driving home from a bid opening today. I go over a set or railroad tracks and then go for third gear. I very normal rev matched shift I might add due to this being the center of a sleepy town where the police know me. I let the clutch out and as I start to squeeze off the gas I here / feel this sickening crunch followed by the sound of things bouncing around in the back of the car. I now have no drive in any gear. Fortunately I passing by a local gas station I know. I coast in and park it in the lot. I call AAA and in less than an hour I am home (about 7 mile tow).

So here I sit thinking about it as it is raining out.

A little more info.

This was / is a 951 open diff trans. (R&P is hardened and does not usually brake)

Half shafts are in place and connected. I had them out about a month ago and inspected the CV's and re packed them. They were in good shape.

I can feel the sync-rows working when I shift it in to gear.

You can shift in to gear with or with out the clutch. and there is a little bit of noise coming from the gearbox when it is in gear.

The clutch feels like it is working properly

I have had R&P's go before and this did not feel like that. The bucking crunching and random engagement you get when that happened did not occur.

There were no warning sounds oddness of any kind. This was more.. .. well quiet. Just felt a crunch and there was a little bit of that sound of metal bits bouncing around and then all was quiet from the trans.

So any bets? Output shaft on the trans?

R&P? I dough this as I have been very nice to this trans and it is a 951 unit. I have not hammered this trans at all. I have broken enough of them in the past (when racing) that I have that out of my system. I have not had this trans on the track

Something in the box grenade?

I guess I am going to have to look at fixing the other trans I have in the shed. It needs the carrier bearing replaced on the driver sides output shaft. It is also an NA trans and I like the gearing better than the 951 unit I have been using for a while now.

I guess know what I am doing this weekend. Some quality time with my 924s.

Broke the fancy drive-shaft thingy (brain farting at the moment)

Clutch disk exploded.

My daughters car did the same thing. Took an off ramp, pushed in the clutch to downshift, bang, dragging sound, no more movement. The disk came out in a million pieces.

I bet you'll find out when you take it apart!

Bryce

Nashco wrote: I bet you'll find out when you take it apart! Bryce

+1

I've experienced the Porsche experience ownership thing as well. Its definately a love/hate relationship. Not a problem any more though since I'll probably never own another one.

I've never had a problem with my Porsche.

...I shouldn't have typed that...

dean1484 wrote: ... I dough this

You can $AY that again!

It's funny, I spent ten times as much money on my 944s as my Boxster S. I never did any abnormal maintenance $ on the 986, I never had a 944 that I wasn't so upside down in when I got rid of it that I wanted to cry.

While you drive it all is well though.

I would second the torque tube coupler failing. It is just ahead of the transaxle and joins the transaxle to the torque tube.

If you look at them, they are essentially two splined clutch centers welded to a tube of steel, with a pair of clamps on the ends.

They can and do fail from time to time. Luckily not the end of the world if they fail (provided no other damage happened)

944 clutches explode. I can't remember if the turbos had the rubber centered clutch or not.

Sucks, and hard to get to.

The rubber center clutch is designed to let the car still drive after explosion ;-)

I'm sticking with torque tube.

I am leaning towards internal trans failure as from the feel of things I am getting rotation in to the trans. Fortunately I have already located another trans if I need it. We will see this weekend if it is not raining.

Javelin wrote: The rubber center clutch is designed to let the car still drive after explosion ;-) I'm sticking with torque tube.

The clutch has been replaced. I don't think it is clutch as the "bad sounds" came from the back.

I am in some ways hoping you are rite as it would be a good time to change the clutch as a while you are there type job. This does however put a damper on my MS conversion.

I think your clutch is fine. Judging by how you're describing the failure and how the car acts now, I'm still sticking with the torque tube broke.

I was going to say clutch until I realized it was a 944 and not a 911. So I am not sure as I am not familiar at all with the 944 gear box other than its in the back.

If you still have the rubber center clutch disk that's a culprit, another thing that fails alot now is the clutch fork. Literally shears off one of the arms.

The 924S and 944 that I owned did nothing but punish me for loving them. . Sounds like torque tube coupling to me. Good luck, I hope it isn't an internal trans failure.

6 little bolts.. . . I just hope that they did not sheer off in the stub axle.. . . . All this for 6 little bolts. Now to see if the local HDW store has something I can replace them with.

Not real familiar with 944's. What '6 little bolts' are you referring to? I'm guessing they hold a CV to a flange...

Yep. The 6 outer bolts exited stage left on the passenger side. It is strange since I have not messed with that side since I replaced the half shafts about 4 years back. I just had the trans out last fall and I thought i checked all of them. (inner and outer)

And then there is the German engineering at its best. Hardware store replacements are in 8mm x 45mm or 50 mm. If you measure the bolts they are about 47 mm. Put the 50's in and they bottom out on the suspension binding up the wheel. The 45 mm will not reach and give me enough thread contact to be comfortable. Yes I just added lock washers to the 50's but come one Porsche. You can not even use a "standard" metric bolt size. This is the hate part I am talking about. As soon as I get it together I am going to take it for a drive through the twists and the love part will come back.

Maroon92 wrote: I've never had a problem with my Porsche. ...I shouldn't have typed that...

Literally one day after I typed this, I had a thermostat failure. It SUCKED to replace. It's all back together now, though.

Got new wheels, too. Next comes suspension components, and a new steering wheel.

dean1484 wrote: Yep. The 6 outer bolts exited stage left on the passenger side. It is strange since I have not messed with that side since I replaced the half shafts about 4 years back. I just had the trans out last fall and I thought i checked all of them. (inner and outer) And then there is the German engineering at its best. Hardware store replacements are in 8mm x 45mm or 50 mm. If you measure the bolts they are about 47 mm. Put the 50's in and they bottom out on the suspension binding up the wheel. The 45 mm will not reach and give me enough thread contact to be comfortable. Yes I just added lock washers to the 50's but come one Porsche. You can not even use a "standard" metric bolt size. This is the hate part I am talking about. As soon as I get it together I am going to take it for a drive through the twists and the love part will come back.

That's how they get even with us for winning The Big One.

The love part is back. Even with studded snow tires on it it is still a great car. LOL

glad the love is back in your life... and you are right.. that is an odd length.. even by porsche standards