Just got an excellent deal on a 98 A4 Quattro 2.8 5-speed. Wasn't able to drive the car when i purchased it due to a failed water pump (leaking) and a misfire (injector) Now that I have been driving the car for a few days I've noticed some issues with the clutch. First and foremost I have no problems engaging or disengaging the clutch to shift gears, no slipping, chattering, good pedal feel throughout it's travel. At any time when the engine is under about 1700 rpms there is a strong constant vibration in the clutch pedal ie, driving, stopped, in gear, out of gear, clutch in or out. When I press the clutch in I get a groaning or moaning noise. Kinda sounds like a old ford power steering pump with the wheel turned all the way to lock. Not a high pitched whirling/squeeking like a throw out bearing usually makes when they are going out. Any ideas?

 

Does the groaning coincide with the action of the pedal itself? Or does it groan when held in?

As for the vibration... check the crank pulley. Be sure the pulley doesn't have rubber coming out of it or isn't loose or the belts aren't loose or glazed. It was likely removed during the water pump replacement. Double check the work.

 

I did the work, that was the first thing i checked, it's good. The groaning is when the clutch is pushed in all the way, clutch disengaged. Not during the motion of releasing the clutch.

 

Then I would guess it's the release bearing or pilot bearing. How many miles are on the clutch?

 

Thats what i figured but wasn't sure because there's the dual mass that I've never delt with at all so i wanted some opinion. I have no idea about mileage on the clutch, how long does one normally last on an A4? The car has 176k

 

Average lifespan is 80-120K miles, depending on the driver. Usually the pressure plate explodes or cracks before the original clutch disc wears out. If you change it, get a whole kit with bearings and pressure plate. The DMF are pretty durable unless gouged and often don't require resurfacing unless damaged, gouged, or heat spotted.

 

OEM flywheel will need to be replaced at some point since the springs inside tend to get soft allowing too much movement and not enough tension over time.

The vibration when the pedal is all the way pushed in could also be the fingers hitting the disk from being pushed in all the way. If the vibration goes away if you pull the pedal up very slightly from the floor then this could be the cause.

 

All true. I've seen plenty of OEM flywheels with over 100K on them and no issues. The general rule of thumb is to twist the friction surface plate until you feel tension. It should have some spring tension in both directions. There was a big controversy about the flywheels needing to return to the "center" after this test, which was ruled incorrect by both Audi and Porsche after a number were replaced and then rechecked. After the discovery that there isn't a true spec to check the springs, we only began to replace them if they were gouged, heat spotted, chattered badly, or had absolutely no spring tension. The largest customer complaint with a bad DMF was usually noisy shifts and some harsness with throttle on/off.

But that's in a dealer. In the DIY world, most of us just go to Ringer Racing for our clutch kits.

 

LOL. All good but who really wants to take the chance that their used OEM flywheel might need to be changed not long after putting in another clutch. Cheaper to replace it when replacing the clutch then to have to pull the transmission down again just to replace the flywheel. Mostly seeing that dealers and some shops now are charging $150+ an hr and about 10 hrs book time to pull the transmission (well really only working during half of that time) . Lets see, $200-$400 now or $1500-$2000 later? That one cant be all that hard to figure out. hahaha

Its kind of like placing an order for stuff from 5 different places online and paying shipping 5 times when you could have just bought it from 1 place with 1 shipping charge or no shipping charge at all.


Ringer Racing offers OEM flywheel resurfacing when ordering a clutch, cost is only $15-$50 depending on which clutch is being ordered. Then just add in the cost to ship the flywheel which is only around $25 with insurance from anywhere in the USA by shipping it in a USPS large flat rate box.

 

Update:
I got in there, clutch and flywheel looked good, the throw out bearing was completely shot, rusted and was hard to spin by hand. Took me about 5hrs and $38 to do it at my shop. Book time is 9hrs. But with a Lift, air tools, etc it's quite easy. Thanks for your guy's help.