This may all be in my head, which is what I am hoping, but my clutch pedal felt a little light tonight. Are the clutch pedals on these cars more on the light side, or should it have a heavier feel to it? I know it's hard to describe how light it is, but it doesn't take much pressure to full depress it at all. <5 lbs I'd say, and it doesn't seem to have much resistance.

A little history on the car..

I bought it back in January with 49,xxx miles, and the dealership admitted upon initial negotiation that the clutch (which was apparently replaced around 20,000 miles) was starting to slip, and offered to replace it for me for an extra $1500. I agreed, and they replaced the clutch with a Sachs Stage 2.5 (or so they were instructed to do so). I don't trust the dealership at all, but I sent a local 3rd uninterested person into the dealership to check out the car for me, and he says he say it on the lift at the shop halfway taken apart having the clutch installed, so I have no reason to believe they didn't do the work, besides the fact that again, I don't trust the dealerships word.

The car shifts fine, no grinding gears, not difficult to get into gear whatsoever, and no clutch slipping at all (i've launched it lightly a couple times since I've owned it after proper clutch break in over 700-1000 miles). I don't ever rev and dump the clutch, and don't shift it hard usually.

The only things that do slightly worry me (though they may be 100% normal) is when the car is off, the clutch pedal will feel heavier than when the car is running, and you can hear/feel a sort of creak, or maybe a slight binding in the pedal (only when the engine is off). It can sometimes be difficult to switch gears with the car off and the clutch not engaged, but when you engage the clutch it shifts through all gears just fine (again, engine off).

Am I overreacting and paranoid, or is a light clutch pedal feel a sign of bad things to come? Again, car shifts just fine and clutch doesn't slip. Only things that worry me are the light feel and the weird feeling in the pedal when the car is off.

 

Since the clutch is an assisted clutch it will always be easier to press in when the engine is running. Everything you have explained sounds perfectly normal.

 

What rob.boost said.

But I have to add that I'm under the impression the 997 Turbo clutch similar to the 996 Turbo clutch is assisted but also similar to the 996 Turbo clutch should have an "accumulator" that provides clutch pedal assistance when the engine is off.

With my 996 Turbo even with the engine off the clutch pedal is easy to depress, feels about the same with the engine off as with the engine running.

'course, this hasn't always been the case. A common problem at least with the 996 Turbo clutch, and one my Turbo manifested earlier is the accumulator can fail. While the clutch pedal is still easy to depress with the engine running with the engine off the clutch pedal requires more force. And often along with a failed accumulator the clutch slave cylinder can leak.

If the 997 Turbo has the same/similar clutch accumuator setup and if the accumulator has failed this can account for the difference in clutch pedal effort with the engine off vs. on.

 

Yes, also... Don't push your clutch in too many times with the car off, the pressure will build up and you won't be able to push the clutch in anymore to start the car.