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View Full Version : Clutch Issues, Pedal spongy. Slave? Fork? Clutch? Throwout Brg?



GTfoxbod89
03-14-2012, 12:33 AM
There are only a few posts covering this issue so I plan on telling what happened and what fixed it.

Tom Williams Audi in Birmingham said it was the throw-out bearing, fork, clutch or flywheel and that my worst case scenario was $2800.00 best case $1800.00. I cannot fathom the idea that without any prior warning signals these would be the culprit. I believe it to be a hydraulic problem specifically the slave cylinder or mechanical linkage going off the sound of the "snap" I heard.

Vehicle involved:

2006 Audi A4 S-Line Quattro 2.0T MT, 161000 miles
Silver, Black leather, navigation, 18" factory wheels, bridgestone turanza serenity tires, satellite, and de-badged (in case that matters)

What happened:

I was driving my vehicle home from work at 745am on Tuesday, March 13, 2012. The trek is a good 20 miles and mainly highway roads. There is one section of the journey containing stop lights. I alerted a nearby commuter that his tire was low on air and he may want to check it out. Two intersections later I approached a red light and as I am nearly stopped, the light turned green. I depressed the clutch and near the floor i hear "SNAP!" the clutch pedal ended up sticking to the floor and the shifter was in first but the car was rolling as if it were in neutral.

I turned my flashers on and attempted to make my way to the right of the road with the momentum I had. My car wouldn't move. I reached down to the floor and pulled the clutch toward the seat and it felt loose, but wouldn't stay back. I depressed the clutch a few times and the clutch came back to me. Now, the clutch refused to disengage and while it was running I could not put it into first gear. I wasn't completely off the road so I was trying desperately to get into gear so that I would not obstruct traffic. When I tried to jam the shifter into first I noticed the car would creep forward and was able to creep into a parking lot where I could take a look. It easily moves into gear with the car off. The clutch pedal has no feel of being hung up.

I opened the hood as if I knew what i was going to do. I couldn't really see anything and had it towed to the nearest dealer (which I despise, due to lack of customer service skills) Tom Williams Audi of Birmingham, Alabama. I do not trust their advice nor technical recommendations so I search here for my savior. If the worst case scenario is true, I would gladly fork out the money , however, not to Tom Williams.

Like I said above, I will update this letting everyone know what the actual outcome is and my process to full repair.

All inputs and wise cracks welcomed and encouraged.

GTfoxbod89
03-17-2012, 03:34 AM
I called the dealer and told them to replace the slave cylinder. With the new slave cylinder installed, the clutch feels different, more loose, as if they didn't properly bleed the line to make me think what they said was still the problem. I still cannot shift in to gear while the car is running.

The next step is to obviously tear the transmission out and take a look deeper. I wish I were doing this myself because I then would be 100% confident the problem is what they say it is and that I'm not being screwed over. Once you lose trust in a mechanic it's hard to regain that. Hence, the negative tone of this post.

Worst case scenario:
Clutch
Flywheel
Slave cylinder
Pressure plate
Throw-out Bearing
Fork
9.8 hours of labor @ 115/hour
10% tax
Anal sex, no lube
$30/day for car rental for 10 days


I still can't believe that the problem would be the clutch. Nothing besides the inability to shift would suspect that. There were no warning signs. No slippage. Hopefully, Tuesday it will be completed.