I've been scratching my head for the best way to handle this; any advice appreciated. 2005 TTS 13.9k miles with CPO warranty that I've owned for a couple of months. Overall goals for the car are probably no more than flash, intake, exhaust and other minor stuff. If it gets boring down the line maybe 24/18g. It is a daily driver.

Fantastic car, but I wanted a little bit more so I went with an EPL flash which works great and gives me consistent 1-1.1 bar. Pre-flash I had no clutch issues. About a month after flashing I started noticing some slipping during WOT, first in 5th, then 4th, and finally 3rd gears. Usually only at full boost from 5500-7000 rpms. The tach kept going but no power was going to the wheels. I initially thought I just sucked at shifting, since this generally happened only at max acceleration going through the gears. However, I have been able to recreate the slip while simply cruising in a gear and then engaging full throttle without a shift.

1. I can flash to stock and have the dealer take a look, but most likely this is wear and tear and I think I'll have to pay for the clutch anyways.
2. Private shop for my first independent inspection as a bonus in addition to inspecting the clutch. Have this shop replace with stock if needed versus upgrading the clutch. Any incidental findings I will then take to the dealer for CPO work.
3. Flash to stock and if I don't have any more clutch problems due to less torque, simply happily drive it for another year until I really need to change/upgrade it. I really don't want to do too much to it until CPO runs out.

Any thoughts?

 

go to indy put in a sachs 999 pressure plate and a fibertuff/kevlar disc boost on and get some 18g's if u want later.

 

Since you want to do some more to the car, I would go ahead and upgrade clutch to a stage 3 or equivalent. Trust me once you get the car sorted with the flash, intake, exhaust you are going to want more. Labor is more expensive than some of the clutches so I would only want to do this once.

 

agreed, no point in putting a stock one in there since labor is probably as expensive as the clutch itself, why pay twice for labor?

Or you just get a couple of friends, find a lift and do it yourself if you are a little mechanically inclined.

 

flash it back to stock.......Drive happily......
Were you dreaming when you wrote that?

Plus 1 on OS Inspector's reply.

 

wow people do actually read my posts wewt!

if when you get the clutch apart realise a LWFW(light weight flywheel) is probably about the same price as the stock dual mass unit, so if you want some faster revs thats an option but do your reading they are noisey on these cars (i know i own one)

 

My mechanic (inspection pending) suggested Sachs clutch upgrade and a light flywheel. Seem reasonable?

 

We do but most of the time people don't want to listen to reason
O S the noise is an ez fix, its called straight pipes!

 

I am actually in a similar situation as you, altough with stock power. My clutch is slipping in 1st gear when launching ~3k RPM. There is pretty much no way around the $$...unless you stay stock..which you know won't happen . I am just going to bite the bullet and spend the $5-6k for clutch upgrade, flash, and exhaust all at once. Now if I can only convince the wife...

 

We all read your posts.....you young genus mechanic

 

Since there is a long wait to get the car into the indy shop (end of october) I'm going to have the dealer take a look first. I also told him about 2nd-gear popout and he said depending on what is causing it, it will be CPO covered.

He did quote me for replacing the clutch at $5,000. $1700 parts and $3300 labor. Is that reasonable? If you can get the flash and exhaust for the same price how are you doing that?

In terms of exhausts, I'd like a bit more aggressive sound but not too loud. I want to hear it when I WOT, but I don't want to hear it when cruising. Suggestions?

 

dealership prices those sound about right but is that a stock clutch?

i recomend a x flow type exhaust. it really depends on where you want to go with the car how far. id say switzer, markski, speedtech, protomotive has a nice new exhaust.

be mindful on who does your flash alot of cars having trouble lately cause of edgy tuning.

tunes range from 1k-2k depending on the tuner.
exhausts 1800-10k for a akrapovic full system

 

The dealer quoted me for a stock clutch; however, he said he would be happy to put whatever clutch I wanted into the car. I'm not yet sure if that means he would order it or I would buy it and bring it in. I would guess still $3300 labor plus the cost of the parts. I was happily surprised that it wouldn't affect the CPO.

I already have an EPL tune and am very happy with it. Consistent 1-1.2 bar (if cold) bar with the rest of the car stock. In fact, prior to the tune I had no clutch problems. EPL gave me so much torque that it started slipping.

 

Listen to everyone as most have been down your road. I think everyone would agree the easiest way to waste money would be to have anyone put another stock clutch in the car. Remember, you could put a brand spanking new stock clutch in and it will not hold your basic tune. You'll be that $3300 lighter and in the very same position as you are right now with a slipping clutch. But at least you'd have a new slipping clutch!

There are several aftermarket clutch kits out there. Search a little and you should find plenty to help you make an informed decision.

My advice, for what its worth, would be:

- Get enough clutch to hold a full blown 24/18g package if that where you even think you might end up. Prices and driveability are not much if any different at all.
- You can get a lightweight dual mass flywheel from Aasco that alleviates using a longer eared release bearing...Quite a few of us have had them snap off due to the thinner lightweight flywheel. Also, some tuners will sell you the single mass lwfw but not send you or sell you a patch for the idle issue...unless you buy a complete tune from them. Remember, the single mass lwfw is prone to stalling issues. It will happen, no way around it unless you get a patch [I'd bet EPL would hook you up with something, but I also think they recommend against the single mass due to the above release bearing issues...but call them and ask...that way you hear from the source instead of reading about it from me...as I am not positive!]
-Strongly consider doing the GT2 modification when you do the clutch. Probably the single biggest issues people have with these cars that is clutch related involves the master and or slave cylinder. The GT2 mod fixes all those annoying problems.

Good luck and enjoy!

 

DrF,

Personally, I would retain the DMF, replace the pressure plate with a Sachs 999 and put in a new GT2 unsprung clutch disc. If you plan on 24/18G's then I would modify the pressure plate for additional clamp force before installation and use a Sachs Motorsports unsprung GT2 style, high friction disc.