My wife complained a few days ago that the clutch on her 2006 Cayman S was not feeling right, and it was sometimes difficult to select gears.

The car has about 89000 km on (55000 miles). I bought it at about 72000km and it's my wife's daily driver.

I took it for a test drive and immediately felt the clutch was a lot lighter than the normal "solid" Cayman feel.

First attempt was to bleed the system , hoping that this would solve the problem, but no dice.

Anyway I preceded with the not so difficult but extremely big task of removing the transmission to check how the clutch looked.

After about 2 nights of slowly removing bits , (the exhaust was a real pain to remove) . I finally got everything off, (thanks to the pelican parts technical articles)

At first glance , everything looked fairly normal (which was a little worrying !!) The clutch plate looked like it still had some life in it.
From the markings on the transmission bolts (they were numbered) it seems as if the clutch has been worked on before.

On closer inspection of the pressure plate I found a crack on the outer edge of the plate, underneath the outer ring , where the "fingers" join together



So it seems the entire outer ring lost some tension, hence the soft feel.

I also noticed some oil on the inside of the transmission bellhousing so I pulled off the flywheel to check the RMS and IMS.



Will definitely replace the rear seal as it seems to be leaking significantly , although I never really noticed it leaking from the outside.

The IMS seems to be the upgraded 22mm bolt type , so I am going to leave that alone , since I have read upgrading that requires engine removal.

The car will be out of commission for at least two weeks while Porsche Centre Joburg sources the clutch kit from Germany.

 

Looks like a pressure plate failure. Kind of rare but it happens. You did good in not continuing to drive the car but instead getting to the bottom of the symptoms.

Time to renew the clutch pressure plate, of course, but the disc and release bearing any other questions clutch related hardware while you are there.

As you have already acknowledged, the RMS is due to be replaced as well. Be sure you install this correctly which means, among other things, you do not push the seal in where the seal ends up where the old seal was. In this case if this happens the new seal's crankshaft journal seal ends up in a groove that the old seal wore into the journal and the new seal will leak very soon after you button everything up. The new seal wants to be positioned so its seal lip is running/sealing against virgin crankshaft journal.

Also, it is SOP to when replacing the RMS to replace the IMS end flange and its bolts with a new improved flange and micro-sealed bolts.

Now the 2006 Cayman engine may have the best IMS flange already but you should still consider replacing it to ensure the leak is not coming from the old IMS end flange seal or its bolts.

Be sure you know how the properly replace the end flange and its bolts.

 

Thanks for the advice.
As a matter of interest I had a look at the full history of the car when ordering the new clutch kit at the dealer. The clutch was worked on very early in the cars history. At about 650 km the records show a report of "No Clutch" , but no new components were fitted, thereafter no work recorded on the clutch.
As I mentioned above the actual clutch plate still looks in good condition, I measured it at around 7.7mm thickness with still around 1.5 mm in the "rivet holes". I understand the the limit here is around 0.3mm if my info is correct.

So this means after 89000km the actual clutch plate still has about 70-80% life !!

With regard to the RMS, I will measure the current installed depth and try to push it in a few mm deeper if possible.

Can I get the "IMS end flange and its bolts with a new improved flange and micro-sealed bolts" at the Porsche dealer ?

 

I'm almost done with my clutch replacement , just thought I share a few details.

I managed to destroy my first rear main seal by pushing it in too deep, and the only way to get it out was to destroy it !

I then decided to 3d print an installation tool, which actually turned out quite nice




It worked quite well, I was a bit doubtful about the strength when tapping the seal in, but I used a rubber mallet and it went in quite easily and was plenty strong enough (material is PLA)
I worked the RMS installation depth into the design of the tool, so I did not have to worry about pushing it in too deep this time.

The thing that caught me by surprise was re-installing the clutch slave cylinder. It came out quite easily so I didn't think putting it back was going to be any drama, but boy was I wrong!

After reinstalling the transmission and exhaust (which was also a bit of a pain) I thought I was done. Then I found it almost impossible to maneuver the slave cylinder back into place. I was unsure whether the rod that pushes the clutch lever was actually engaging correctly, so I was hesitant to force it. After about an hour of struggling, I decided to leave it and think about it overnight.

So anyway my solution was to disconnect the fluid line, and then compress the cylinder ie push in the rod and then lock the cylinder with a plug (thereby using the hydraulic force to hold the cylinder in). I then only had to overcome the internal spring force when pushing the cylinder into place.




The slave cylinder then went in quite easily.

I must now bleed the slave cylinder and install a few more bits under the car and she will be ready for a the road !

 

Interesting thread, the pressure plate went on my 06 carrera 4s at around 30,000 miles. Mechanic told me it's a known issue

 

My pressure plate went on the way to the track on my 07 c4s with around 38k miles. That was the straw that broke the camel's back. I traded the carrera in for another cayman s that weekend.

 

My 2nd hand info is clutch wear is not linear. I've been told that early on the disc can wear a bit but then the wear tapers off and if the thing is not abused wear comes to a near standstill.

I might have mentioned my 2003 Turbo's clutch disc at 120K miles exhibiting no measurable wear with a disc material measurement of 1.7mm which is the "New" dimension.

While I haven't had a chance to measure my 2002 Boxster's clutch disc the original clutch over 290K miles on it and works just fine.

Yes, you can get the IMS end flange and bolts from the dealer parts department. The parts should be ordered based on your car's VIN.

When/if you go to replace the IMS end flange be sure you know what you are doing. IIRC You can't just unbolt and remove the old one and install the new one. If the cams are *not* properly secured the IMS can shift out of position when the old flange is removed and then you can be faced with an engine out and engine disassembly to fix this.

 

My husband's '07 Carrera S also just had a pressure plate replaced/repaired at 32k miles. Boy, was he pissed!