I'm looking for advice and collective perspective from this group on a potential clutch wear problem on my new-to-me 2010 C4S Cab. I bought this CPO car in July with 37K miles from a P dealer with over a year left on the original warranty. Driving to work last week the linkage broke and I had to have Porsche tow it to my local P dealer (but NOT the one the sold me the car). Their service was great, turning my car around in 24 hours and getting it back to me the next day, all under warranty. However, when I picked it up, they told me that my clutch is basically shot, and that it would require a new clutch for about $2,800.

I have to say that I was shocked to hear that a P dealer would sell a CPO car with a clutch that would go as quickly as this apparently has. I called the original P dealer, explaining the situation that another P dealer assessed my clutch as shot, and asked them what they are planning to do. They are picking it up on Thursday to check it themselves, and we'll see how they respond.

So here is my question: What responsibility should the original P dealer that sold me the car have for either taking care of this or bearing at least some of the cost? When I bought the car from the P dealer, I had obviously assumed that the big items like clutch wear would have been checked and dealt with appropriately. Is this not an obvious check they would do before putting it up for sale? I've only put 4K on it since I bought it as my DD, so I'm frustrated that I may facing this kind of completely unexpected bill after only 4 months.

Do you guys have any thoughts or perspective on how I should I approach this with the P dealer that sold me his car? I have one P dealer telling me one thing, and I half-expect the other to disagree and tell me that it's fine. I just want to be prepared for how they may come back to me. Any help on this would be hugely appreciated!

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well I am subscribing here as it will be interesting to hear their take...37k seems kinda early unless it was mistreated before your stewardship...good luck...could be that the other dealer is trying to keep his bays full...definitely time for another opinion...

 

Keep us posted. Good luck

 

A very similar episode happened to me. I purchased a 997.1 C2 with 47k miles, and learned that the clutch was on its way out about 1 week after I took delivery (I felt it slipping under high load). The dealer did a "make-good" and agreed to pay for 50% of the cost. Albeit, this was one week (vs. months) after, so I'm not sure what recourse, if any, you have. I'd probably recommend you play the "good cop" strategy and see what they'll do. Perhaps they'll discount the job if you do it at their dealership.

$2,800 sounds pretty high though, I paid about that much to do an RMS + IMS cover plate (both were weeping oil) + clutch replacement.

Good luck

 

Good luck - my clutch just cost $4200 with the flywheel included by a reputable Indy off of this board, because on the Carrera 4 apparently the labor is more involved. And I know thats a lot!, but I honestly think the Indy was honest with me on the amount of labor it took (21hrs). As stated they are highly recommended on this forum.

 

How was the diagnosis made the clutch was shot? Is it slipping? Is the pedal effort very hard? Is the release bearing making noise?

Just because a dealer says a clutch is shot doesn't make it so. It will be interesting to read what the selling dealer finds regarding the clutch.

BTW, a car receiving a CPO warranty does not mean the car was reconditioned.

While I have seen some cars in for a CPO getting a new clutch when the clutch was obviously slipping or new brakes when the brake wear light was on or the wear of the pads or the rotors warranted replacement, these wear items are not replaced as a general rule.

Barring the clutch being replaced do to obvious problems, all the dealer can do is at the time of the sale confirm the clutch is not slipping or in other ways exhibiting any signs of distress. (And you can do the same during your test ride/drive.)

 

as you know the clutch will not be covered but maybe the dealer will kick in something to reduce the cost. Other than that bite the bullet get a new clutch and it will last you longer than you may own the car. Having bought a CPO car too I would have thought they have a way to check whats left on the clutch but apparently not so.

 

Actually, if you read the CPO page on the Porsche website, it does state that they recondition the cars to new...I think the actual statement is: except for the odometer reading, you will not be able to tell a CPO car from new.

In regards to the brakes, on the CPO worksheet it states that if there is more than 50% wear the brake pads and rotors will be replaced. This is also true with tires. And, if the vehicle just needs rears, they replace all 4 tires as standard practice...