I have read and searched through many posts, but I have not found anyone having a similar problem.

We juist bought a 2000 A4 1.8T. After about a week of having the car, it all of thesudden will not go into any gear in the morning with the clutch fully depressed. You let the car warm, pump the clutch a few times and it will eventually slide into first then its fine the rest of the day. However, the clutch pedalhas sunk since this problem startedand only travels half the distance it used to. It sits, at rest, a little below the brake pedal.

There is no grinding of gears, no burning clutch smell, and the car shifts fine once you get it going. I am going to check the brake fluid level and bleed the system. Is there anything else this could be..it does not seem like a bad clutch to me??

-Jeff

I am pretty mechanically inclined, worked on many GM's, this is my first shot at a German engineering. Please advise....

 

Actually i have kind of a similar problem. when i press my clutch in i cant put the car in any gears. Also now grinding sound or smell. But unlike you, i cant ever get it into gear. no matter how long its running or how many times i pump the clutch. and my pedal isnt low. I am replacing my clutch myself but it seems like your problem is more of a low fluid issue. Hopefully thqats your problem and you can just put more fluid in. if not i think bleeding the clutch systems is kind of hard. mainly because its so hard to get at your clutch master cylinder and even harder to get at your clutch slave cylinder. The master on my car is under the dashi believe so my guess is that yours isin the same place. and maybe you can bleed the system from that but i dont think so. the slave cylinder is on top of the transmission and i think the only way to get at it is to drop your tranny a couple inches. so hopefully thats not your problem. otherwise you'll be spending a lot of time or a lot of money fixing it. good luck.

 

PKSJeteras long as your car goes into gear with the car is off, you will need a new clutch.

As for the original problem, it sounds like you have a leak/air in the system. The clutch slave is kinda hard to get to but nothing needs to be removed. You can bleed it without dropping anything. Remove the slave from the trans and look behind the boot. Check for fluid in there. You dont even have to remove the line from it. If theres no fluid in the boot for the slave, you most likly need a new master.

 

Thanx for the comments. I do think we have different problems. I pulled the pedal up this morning and the damn thing came back, to life. The pedal is now high and firm and springs right back up.The car shifts fine and the clutch grabs right in the middle! I drove it at 30mph, put it in 5th and floored it, no reving what so ever. The clutchseems totallyfine. The level was full in the master cylinder. VERY STRAGE!!

Is there any other mechanisim responsible for the pedal travel other than the slave cylinder? Any spring, or lever..anything? The car is back to perfect. It only happens int he morning. Maybe there is a little water or air in the system that settles just right as the car sits over night?

I did not mention in my first post, the car sat for 4 months. I know cars can develop temporary and strage problems from sitting. Maybe there is a little sludge or corosion in the hydrolic lines and it every so often is gumming up the slave cylinder and gets the pedal stuck and mushy?

Confused, but confident its not the clutch or tranny!

 

Thanks Dankhound, I just realized that that makes complete sense because if my slave or master was the problem i wouldnt be able to put it in gear when the car is off or on. and i can put it in gear withthecaroff. I posted my problem but never really got a definitive answer.That takes a load off. and i just got my clutch inthe mail today! so here goes the tranny drop. thanks again.