I am not very knowledgable with vehicle mechanics, but I recently purchsed an 01 Audi A4. It has 5 manual transmission and I feel that it has minor difficulty downshifting into 2nd and 1st gear. I do not know if it is just my delusion and it was always like that, but I highly doubt it. Sometimes when I try and shift into gear, it has trouble to find the gear and the dealer I purchased it from placed in a brand new clutch before I purchased it. I do not know if I somehow messed up the slots as I was getting accustomed to the driving of the vehicle or if it were always like that and I was un aware of it. I had the car for about a week now or so, and the place I bought it from has a 30 day engine and transmission warranty. But I did not want to call them up if this was just a problem created by me, or is this an issue that is relevant amongst Audis. It is not that serious of an issue (to me anyways). It is just at times, when the car is moving, it takes time for me to be able to get the stick into 2nd and 1rst gear when downshifting. But when I am idle, I can move from slot to slot with ease. Is this a major problem I should get remedied (or a small problam that can manifest into big problem) or maybe it is just me?

And on the other note, I absolutely adore this vehicle. It is an 01 Audi A4 Quattro 5 speed manual. This vehicle has a lot of pep for a 1.8 liter engine. This is my first vehicle with a turbo and had no idea those things can pack so much punch in them. Then it had me thinking about cars with twin turbos and how much kick those bad boys have. Or like the A6 with a 2.8 turbo. But I bet those things are gas guzzlers. I bought this vehicle as it is a 4 cylinder and had sufficient horse power. I was planning on purchasing a 99 Acura 2.3 CL, but saw the add for this vehicle with great price and had to check it out. Ended up buying it. The brakes, and steering are phenominal for a little peppy A4. I just heard maintanance is very expensive so I just have to be carefull of oil changes every 3000 miles, other fluids, and not to drive the car too hard like my last vehicles. I plan on placing 19" rims on it BBS style, black projector headlights w/xenon bulbs, tint all around 30%, clear bulbs for side markers (after black headlights installed), and just place like 28% film tint over tail lights instead of getting altuzza lights. The the simple things like rain guards, sunroof windshield, and maybe a bras. Then it should be complete. Oh, can not forget sound system.

Ok, that was my review and 2 cents on the car, but I still have the problem listen in the first paragraph. Can anyone give me advice on how to handle this problem? I am still under dealer warranty, but do not want to bring there if this is just my delusion. Or would it be prudent to bring there anyways as am still under warranty. I just am not sure if this warranty covers the clutch. Yet I would conjecture that is under transmission coverage. Any suggestion and/or help would be much appreciated. Thanks!

 

i'd bring it back to them immediatly before your warrenty runs out... why not take advantage of it?


haha

 

I just went to the store and that only happens when I downshift. And only in the 2nd and 1st gear. This is my first manual transmission vehicle and am not sure if it was like that the whole time or not. I am pretty sure that I should be able to go to all gears with no problems like water. But I can easily move to first with absolutely no problem when the car is not moving at all. But if it is slightly moving, then it gives me problems. I myself have no problem with this issue, but I do not want to be "that guy" whom can not keep up with the flow of traffic because I could not get into gear quick enough. I did the "finger test" to check how easy I can get into gear (just shifting with no more than 3 fingers and minimul pressure). UPshifting is no problem. It is only when downshifting.

 

it may be one of several things, the shift linkage is made of flimsy rubber parts and theres alot of slop this can make it hard to select gear, the 1st and 2nd cogs are really short and the tranny doesnt want to go taht low, there really is something screwed up with the tranny, the tranny mounts are gone this can cause the tranny to move around and eventually lead to bad stuff, and also the syncro may be going.

 

2 thoughts
1) a 30 day warranty is there in case problems occure in the 30 days. anything that broke was about to anyway. you just bought it before someone broke it on a test drive. take it in.
2) i don't ahve an audi stick, but 20+ years of daily driving w/a manual taught me cars don't necessarily like to downshift into 1st gear. second gear should work better for almost any rolling start. your version of difficulty may, to me, be expected. that said, try and find another similar one @ a dealer and test drive it. see if it reacts the same.

 

Oh yeah, the dealer placed in a brand new clutch before I purchased off their lot.

 

Is the problem most probably caused by me not properly breaking in the clutch?

 

try giving the engine a blip before oyu downshidt into 1st or 2nd. It is almsot never usefull to downshift to 1st, but into 2nd, rev the engine a bit to bring it up to speed with the driveline for 2nd gear.