Hey what's up all. I bought my RS4 a few months back and broke it in properly. Never abused it but also never babied it. I just got her back from the first service at 5000 miles. I figured I'd go out for a spirited ride this evening. Weather was nice and cool, I put her in S mode and proceeded to take a few freeway onramps.

Before heading home, I figure I'd try to launch her off the line for the very first time. So I came to the next stop light. I reved her up to around 5000 RPM, the light turned green, I fed in the clutch and nothing happened. The clutch seemed to stick at a certain point, the car barely moved off the line. The engine totally bogged. It all felt very wrong and I imediately let off the gas. Almost instantly, I was hit with the foul odor of something burning.(Clutch?) So of course, I drove home very carefully (less than a mile away). The car felt fine while driving at a normal pace, although the burnt plastic smell persisted. I parked her in the garage and now I'm left wondering what happened. Did I just fry my clutch? Is my transmission ok?

I've launched plenty of cars off the line so it's not like I'm an idiot and I don't know what I'm doing. Has anyone else experienced this? Can anyone offer any suggestions on how to get a good launch off the line. I don't plan to drag race this car by any means, and I don't plan to do any four wheel burnouts. I fully appreciate the true purpose of this car and take full advantage of it in the twisties. I just want to be prepared in case some punk kid starts reving their STi on me. Thanks in advance for any info you seasoned Audi owners can offer.

 

Hey what's up. First off, there probably really isn't nothing wrong with the RS4, I've done it, I think we've all done it. There pretty tough cars to begin with, but if you did it all the time thenI could see something breaking. I've personally done it on accidentwhen I first got my RS4 and everything is fine9kmiles later The smell was the same, burnt rotten eggs and all. I think the thing with Audi/Quattro or "real" awd cars, they tend to be hard to launch with a manual. You probably have to have some good experience with rear wheel drive launches, let alone 4wheel drive cars. I'm sure by now the smell is gone and nothing is wrong. ps. I've read the sweet spot for launches on the RS4is 4000 rpm ESP off, I think it's just how you let off the clutch is the kicker.

 

Thanks Jiambi. Yeah the smell has gone and the car is running fine. I have experiemented with different launch techniques and found that you really don't need to rev ittoo high to get a good launch. The car has so much torque. Your absolutely right in that clutch technique really is the kicker. Iwill try to launch next time in the 4000 rpm range with ESP offand see what happens. I hadn't even thought to turn it off before. Thanks for your input.

 

No problem. FYI you may already no, but just in case.The ESP isfully defeatable by holding it down for 4-5 seconds and letting go. If you just press is once the ESP light blinks and it's partially defeated, meaning it will still kick in with some slippage. You know you have it completelyturned off when the ESP light stays lit. Good luck