Hey all,

New guy here bout my A4 2 years ago with 198000km on it. some standard maintenance like bearings, flex hoses and sway bars. all that has bene done an the car has been in seemingly good shape.

However, a couple months after I had problems with the clutch sinking and not coming up. eventually i had the thing taken apart and the said the "cap" (best word i have) at the bottom of the hydraulic clutch cylinder was corroded and cracked. anyhow, replaced it, car seemed to be fine. im now at 203000km and today it happened again while backing out of the driveway. the brake fluid level is the same as it was when the service was done a year or so ago. and i got back in the car this evening and pumped the clutch and it was fin to back up the street and get back to the driveway.

Does this mean my clutch is failing?? SOrry if im repeating but I didnt see mention of others with the sinking clutch problem. what can i say, im a noob :P

Any help would be appreciated. Thank you!

 

Hey man i had the same problem with mine, im at 200k miles. Aftet getting stuck to the wall so many times it just stoped engaging, so the only way i could get it home was to start it in gear and shift without the clutch pedal by timing it. I tried changing the slave and the master cylnder and i got presure back without getting stuck to the floor but now the clutch isnt working at all, audi tells me the whole clutch needs replacing, havent got to that yet, doing it this week i will let you know if that solves it.

 

Make sure both the slave and master are bled - that's a classic symptom of air in the lines and system. If you didn't bench-bleed the master before installing it, that could account for the problem. Otherwise you may need to bleed the slave.

 

Wow, Can't thank you enough for your fast response!

Okay so (ImTheDevil), when i had the clutch work done it was at a dealership. It's my understanding that the whole system was bled because the brake fluid was a dark blue and the new stuff was clear. but i have no idea if there are new bubbles. is this something that just happens??

Secondly (rayzelito), I would definitely appreciate the update. sounds like I could be in the same boat as you. I was told by a mechanic i trust that i had 6 months to a year of life left onmy clutch and the dealership tried to tell me i needed a new one when i got the clutch hyrdraulics repaired

Any opinions on whether i should jump to getting the clutch replaced, guys?

 

For what it's worth, shortly after I got my car I had to get my front fenders rolled (previous owner should have done it...) so I took my car to a local tuner/performance shop. The guy said my clutch would only have maybe 10k miles left (it was at about 112k). Well, I replaced it at almost 136k because it couldn't handle 240 ft-lbs of torque Though I really babied the clutch.

 

Thx MetalMan, good to know. I think this will be it. how much should I expect it to cost?

I had a thought today though, in the manual it says not to press the brake if the car is off. I know for a fact that I have accidentally pressed the brake pedal on several occasions. could this be a cause of air bubbles in the clutch hydraulics?

Once again, thanks everyone. You are all very helpful. I wish I got on this forum 2 years ago when I bought the thing.

PS does anyone have a good idea about what the gas mileage should be on the quattro 2.8L? Im getting almost 10 litres/100km which seems high to me even though it is quattro. is it time for sparkplugs? last change was at 85000km.

 

Idk the gas mil but mine drinks gas to me. But check out my you tube page it shows you what my clutch is doing when i put it in gear now. It just grinds alittle and grab slightly but not enough to move the car. Youtube name is rayzelito. And name of video is audi a4 clutch problems i think. Oh and its gone say car for sale but its not anymore. Tell me what yall think. Im still changing it out next week tho.

 

@ jim norton) if you have the cash i would change the clutch, cuz you will never know six months till a year from now if you might b in a hole and dnt have cash and all of a sudden your clutch goes out and thats even more money you dnt have to spend, least you know the time frame you have on your clutch. But thats jus my opinon tho.

 

we got it done last summer by a local German Car shop for about $1,100 (in NC, which is a low cost State). The car had 175,000 miles at that point on the original clutch. It would slip when in 5th gear applying gas when going up hill.

 

HI,

I have a 1998 Audi a4 1.8 turbo Quattro and I don't know if my clutch or my transmission went out, I have a manual. Anyways, i was at a stop light and when it turned green i shifted into first gear as normal. I heard a weird snap/clank noise, and the car wouldn't move. So I turned the car off and than back on and still it would not move. i tried shifting without the clutch and the speedometer would jump to 30 if i put it in third. If anyone has the answer please help.
Thanks.