Hello. I purchased a 2001 C2 Carrera about 4000 miles ago. The car now has 46,000 miles on it with a new clutch, RMS and IMS bearing installed about 5000 miles ago by a porsche dealer. The flywheel however was not replaced. I've noticed when letting up the clutch in first gear and reverse I am hearing a little bit of chatter noise towards the front of the car. It is more noticeable when the gas pedal is applied lightly vs heavily when letting out the clutch. Could this possibly be the result of not replacing the flywheel. If it is the flywheel is it still OK to drive or should I have it fixed asap?

 

Could be the clutch going out, sounds like it's not grabbing at low rpm. I'd have it looked at since, as with most things, if you wait too long you run the risk of more damage and/or more $$$$$.

 

^+1

Unless the previous owner was completely delinquent wrt allowing the clutch to over-wear, you shouldn't really see any flywheel issues.

 

Thanks for the feedback. Unless they didn't replace it correctly, the clutch was replaced just 5000 miles ago. I did have 1 mechanic listen to the chattering noise and they seemed to think it was the flywheel. They also told me it's OK to drive unless the chattering gets worse.

 

I did have one mechanic listen to it and tell me they thought it was the flywheel making the chattering noise. There is also a burning smell from the rear of the car which he thought was the remnants of the old clutch. With this said maybe she did over-wear the clutch. I have been told these clutches should last up to 80K miles!

 

Ok, let's have a look. If the clutch was replaced 5k ago, it's possible the PO did not break it in correctly, possible.
But, did they replace it with a "standard" class one clutch or did they upgrade to a class two which would be a high performance clutch? This is a key question because "chirping" does happen with class 2 and 3 clutches, especially in first gear when taking off, this could be your issue.
Find out what brand and what class clutch was installed.

 

Any chance that the flywheel was replaced with the clutch? Specifically thinking light-weight, single mass - that would explain the chattering.

 

Hmm interesting. In looking at the previous owners paperwork from the porsche dealer it does not specifically say. What I can tell you is the clutch assembly kit costs $782 and the Porsche OEM part number for the clutch repair kit was 996-116-911-00. I'm thinking this is the original "standard" class one clutch vs high performance. Not to mention the previous owner was a women in her 40's who was not into high performance driving.

 

The flywheel was not replaced. It was only checked and cleaned by the porsche dealer.

 

Typically when the dual mass center goes bad, if you are driving and take your foot off the gas, you will feel the flywheel move too far and then hit then end of it's travel. Or if you accelerate from a decel, you will feel a very quick slide then it catches. It is hard to describe, almost like a "lunge", but very noticeable.

Now if the flywheel just wasn't resurfaced on a milling machine (and it is getting hard to find places that will do this anymore without ruining the dual mass center), then it definitely could be slipping prematurely. I had a local shop doing them for me, turned probably 50 flywheels over the course of a few years, then all of a sudden stopped doing them. I have a feeling someone brought in a bad dual mass, then blamed it on them. I never had any problems. At this point, I just replace the flywheel with new clutches until I can find another machine shop to work with.

 

Thanks for the interesting feedback. I'm not experiencing any slipping or lunges. In fact the chattering I'm hearing is only when the car is barely moving and I let up on the clutch. Since the flywheel wasn't resurfaced I'm thinking it might be the problem. I wonder if it would also have something to do with the clutch like smell coming from the rear of the car. I'll have another mechanic look at it but I always like to have some other people's opinions.

 

I just replaced my clutch on my 99 c2, previous owner put a light single mass flywheel in it and was the reason for the clatter. Once replaced with an OEM part the clatter was gone... Just my 0.2 if it helps