My 1995 A6 wont start ive had to pop the clutch to get it going lately, i called up an audi mechanic and he said that the starters in those barely ever die, i was wondering if this is true, and if there is anything else it could be? the battery seems to be working just fine, any help would be appreciated

 

Just because they barely ever die, doesn't mean that they never do. Make sure that you are getting power to the starter solenioid before condemning it though.

 

how do i check for that?

 

With a multimeter. You'll have to get under the car to access the starter, and find the solenoid (mounted on the side of the Starter). There will be two large terminals and 2 small terminals (or a small 2 wire plug). Make sure that there is 12v to at least one of the large terminals, then check the small terminals for 12v when the key is in the start pos. (one of them should have 12v then). If you get voltage on the smaller wires, then the starter is bad.

Having had time to think about it though, you probably have a bad ignition switch, these are a more common failure than the starters. The only way to check that is to pull the steering column surround and look for continuity between the proper wires (I don't have a wiring diag. handy to tell you which ones though).