Had this happen to a camaro back when I was in high school. Ended up being broken spring(s) on the clutch disc from what I remember. This was 15 years ago, but sounded like what happened to me. All was good until the car warmed up, once it was warm shifting was impossible. Everything else seemed normal, pedal feel, etc.

 

Thanks to everyone for their feedback....gotta love this forum…..

Thought I should provide an update if anyone is curious and interested:

Finally towed my 996tt baby 200 miles into an independent shop. They ruled out any hydraulic issues.

Mechanic/Tech had to drop the trans and found that the clutch and flywheel were both warped. Throw out bearing was fine. Stock factory Sachs Clutch had plenty of material left but was very brittle and warped due to excessive heat. Flywheel was NOT consistent with it's surface area and had markings from the previous clutch job performed at the Porsche dealer years ago. Hence this original Flywheel was also warped due to excessive heat over the last 6 years and 37k miles driven. So the flywheel is the original flywheel from 2001 with almost 84,000 miles on it and was "touched" up 37,000 miles ago with the Porsche dealer installed clutch job. When doing a full clutch job, our 996tt's should always get a new flywheel instead of resurfacing and/or "touching" up the flywheel. Can't believe previous owner/Porsche dealer mechanic didn't replace the flywheel with a new one – even the paperwork from Porsche dealer spells it out “”touched up flywheel”). I've attached some pictures. Check out the "Touched up" markings.

Went with a ClutchMasters stage 2 (FX200) clutch kit with matching lightweight flywheel. Need to break in clutch for approx 500 miles of clutch break in miles. I still have several miles for break in and now have stored it for the winter since the cold/snow/salt is inevitably hitting our streets.

Noticed the following with the new ClutchMasters FX200 clutch kit & flywheel:

1. Major throw out bearing noise when warmed up/hot when in idle & in neutral (Not pressing down on clutch pedal). As soon as clutch pedal is pushed in, throw out bearing noise disappears. As far as I recall, this is a classic throw out bearing noise issue. But I’ve heard from some that it maybe the new flywheel (clutchmasters FX200 lightweight flywheel)? So doubt it’s the throw out bearing and probably the new matching flywheel due to the fact there's a new throw out bearing in it now.

2. A "Glass Bottle rolling around" sound? When starting to roll in 1st gear or reversing. Never heard this sound before the full clutch kit job. In past high powered cars I’ve had, it was a ujoint or other drivetrain issue causing this “glass bottle rolling around sound”. But for this to happen after my Full Clutch kit job, I’m curious if it’s clutch related?

Will any of these above mentioned quiet down after the new clutch break-in period is over? Which I won’t be able to add more break in miles til Spring since my 996tt is stored for the winter now.

3. Extreme High engagement point for the clutch pedal? Will it get better after break in? If not, I'll have to remove the spring in the clutch pedal assembly. And No, I did not do the GT2 conversion which I’m sure I’ll hear some negativity about that....but it was a decision I had to make to opt out of for now. I've heard the pedal will get closer to the floor with it's engagement point once the stage 2 clutch is broken in. Is this true?

4. With new Clutchmasters Stage 2 FX200 kit, the Idle Rpm's are a little higher at 1,000rpms when warmed up/hot idle. Shouldn’t it be around 750-800 Rpm's? Does my new clutchmasters matching flywheel cause some higher and/or lower idle issues?

5. So, since it was confirmed that the clutch and flywheel was warped due to excessive heat and that was the reason for the original problem I posted - I'm wondering what causes the excessive heat that in turn caused the clutch/flywheel warpage? A dragging clutch? What other possibility/reason for the excessive heat causing the warpage?

Wow, sorry for the long post and all the questions. But I’m still learning our beautiful 996tt platform.

Much appreciate everyone’s feedback from this forum.

 

Thanks for updating us with what the cause was and the fix! Makes future searches for other members much more useful!

 

yeah thanks for the update people don't do that often enough.

About the noise, lightweight flywheel will rattle, in fact, it is the gear noise in the transmission that you are hearing. Do a search on the forum about noise on the lwfw, you will find a lot of post. I doubt it is your TO bearing.

about the glass bottle, it can be the flywheel again, you will hear it when rolling out but once past 2500 rpm, it will stop. Again, nois coming from the transmission. This is the purpose of the dual mass flywheel, to dampen the sound.

I doubt it will get more quiet but you will get used to it once you realise how nice a lwfw is. I also doubt the engagement point will change, you'll have to live with it, this is pressure plate dependant and not every kit is the same.

About the high idle, it might cause that, usually with the lwfw you need a new flash because the car will die when coming to a stop and engaging the clutch. The ECU won't catch the idle quickly enough because the engine declerate too quick and won't be able to catch it before the engine dies. This is to me the most annoying part. It gets better with time because the ECU "learns" the pattern and react quicker. If you disconnect the battery though, the ecu resets and it will do it again until relearned.

No clue how you can warp a clutch like that. Usually you would get some vibration from it or a weird engagement but for it to stop to work completly, no clue.

 

Hey man,

What you're experiencing is totally normal for your LWFW. Do some searching on that. In theory, the benefits you receive are faster spool up and a more lively gas pedal.

However, in return you are going to hear marbles rattling around whenever you are under about 2400 RPM and a sound kind of like a diesel engine at idle until you push in the clutch. Just the way it is.

 

sounds like dealer fail! Hope you get them to fix it without charging you again.. Just my experience, dealers never take responsibility for their work, never!! They're never wrong.. I'd have them fix it , free of charge hopefully, and find a good indy guy you can have a relationship with.. the service people work off commission at the dealer.. sorry this happened, sucks!

 

Come to think of it...Record the sound and post it up. Otherwise we're all just being armchair mechanics.

That idle sound is definitely normal though - welcome to your new diesel