i was trying to park my 1999 986 in a tight spot the other day and it took me a while going back and forth to get the car in the right direction and after a while of all that clutch pressing i started smelling the smell that a clutch makes when it gets very hot. after i got back to the car the smell was gone but when i press it for a long time the smell comes again, though for a few seconds. the car has 70,000 miles on the clock.
does this mean the clutch will give way soon and will have to be changed,
should i wait to see what happens?

 

you'll know it when it starts to go...

Depends on if you're rolling in $... if yes, then replace it now... if no, then wait for symptoms to appear...

 

definately not rolling in $
the smell seems to be fading away, it seems that it was that one time that the smell was strongest, when i was pressing it nearly constantly, now its not nearly as bad. could it be that it was tha one time that i upset it, or does that smell usually mean the beginning of the end?

 

One way to save on clutch wear is to be vigilant about holding it in. Don't sit at lights, on hills etc etc with the clutch pressed in.

 

I've driven several of my cars (none Porsche before) hard and the whole car smells/feels hot when you get out... (clutch smell too)... and put over 100K on the clutch w/out issues.

I don't see why the P-car would be any worse.

like thnxbabe says, don't "ride the clutch"... push it all the way in... and don't be a general nut all of the time and you should get lots of miles out of it...

There was a woman on here that was only getting 10K on a clutch... must have been "riding it" or something??? - obviously it is a "wear item" like brake pads, so no hope of getting it replaced "under warranty".

 

there are no signs of clutch wear til now other than the odd smell it sometimes does. i also noticed that when i spin the wheels slightly when leaving from stationery it smells a bit too. i guess i have to ease off when driving off on first gear eh!

 

I don't race stop light to stop light, but sometimes after spirited driving, i'll smell my clutch as well. it's part of owning a real car with a stick = p

drive it until it starts to slip, then take it in.