Throwout Bearing woes....

[Daft]

As some of hte folks on here know already, I bought a Spec clutch and an Aluminium flywheel for my A4.

I just spent a long number hours busting up my knuckles and arms changing the clutch and flywheel this week. I've done several clutch jobs on AWD cars before and this one wasn't any different.

My problem is that the throwout bearing makes noise when the car is parked and in neutral. The noise is a clicking noise. The noise goes away when I press the clutch. So, I can figure that the throw out bearing is stightly touching the fingers on the pressure plate at idle. I called Spec Clutch's "Tech" line and they said that this will take some time to correct itself.

What do you guys think?

[DDQ]

Do you just have to put a little pressure on the clutch for the sound to go away? Or do you pretty much have to push it all the way in?

[Daft]

Not much pressure is needed at all. That's why I'm leaning towards the possibility of the throwout bearing grazing the fingers of the pressure plate.

[Daft]

Oh man......

Check out this link:

http://www.928oc.org/tip/tip130.htm

Perhaps they gave me the wrong throwout bearing.....?

[jrodmk2]

i have heard about that with a4's just from other people that have lwf. nothing with personal experience though. that is one reason that i am not going to get a lwf i think i will just get mine lightened & balanced (if possible) or just stay stock with a crazy clutch.

[RedRocket]

I have the same problem sometimes too. I had it before I changed my clutch(just replaced with stock) and after. I think my mechanic may have mentioned "input shaft bearing" or something but I'm not sure. Does that make sense or am I remembering incorrectly?

[Audi_Sniper]

Welcome to my world guys. I posted this up before on how my car sounds like a diesel truck ticking after I did my spec stage III with LWFW..
When I let off the clutch in neutral I get a ticking noise but it just does it when the A/C is on. When I push the clutch in or turn off the A/C it goes away..

[Daft]

Ugh.... I F@%KIN' hate the noise this thing makes. My car rattles like a cheap tin can now when accelerating in any gear. It totaly blows.

Just so everyone knows what I bought and put in the car:

Spec Stage I clutch
AASCO Motorsports Aluminium Flywheel (rebuilt by Spec)
New Throwout bearing
New Pilot bearing (goes into opening in the crank)

My old clutch slipped like crazy in 4th and 5th gears under acceleration so, that was the reason I swapped it out.

I talked with Evil today and he too has this problem. I'll tell you, this is a crock of sh!t for sure. Something is wrong with either these pressure plates or the step height these flywheels use because the T/O bearing should not make contact with the pressure plate when not in use.

I'm so frikken pissed.......

[Audi_Sniper]

So that makes three of us who have this noise, after we did a spec clutch....
Me and you have the exact same set up, I just have the stage III clutch with the AASCO Motorsports Aluminium Flywheel.

[A4_Andre]

ok, so spec clutches are bad. do not get a spec clutch!

[Daft]

Should have just replaced my OEM stuff.......

[Audi_Sniper]

Originally posted by turbo90awd
Should have just replaced my OEM stuff.......

Still not worth the amount of money for OEM.....IMHO

[Daft]

I dunno man, the OEM Luk Clutch that was in my car before would have cost me $287. The Spec Stage I was $375.

That's almost $100 difference and it doesn't make noise.

[20vturbo]

I have a fidanza flywheel with a southbend clutch and mine too makes noise not only on iddle but even when I drive..I was told it's the gears in the tranny and that it's normal with a lwfw

[Daft]

Last summer I spoke with a guy from New Dimensions when I was at Waterfest. He explained that they were getting alot of complaints about the combo of Spec clutches with LWFWs. They had stopped selling Spec until someone could sort it out.

To this day, I still have the horrid ticking noise. I turn off my A/C alot of times just to mute the ticking sound. The car shifts fine, the clutch grabs fine but, between the clicking and the shuddering below 3K the whole setup is not worth it to me.

I've got a ton of vacation days to use up and I might just take a few days off to swap my OEM FW back in and put this crap to an end. If I do, that damn LWFW will be on Ebay in a matter of seconds.

[20vturbo]

I know I've seen a few on e bay
check eurospec they have some bad ass clutches they come witha price but I am sure it makes a diference I am looking at their steel i7kg flywheel with dual diafragm clutch That should be enough for a stage 3+

[20vturbo]

Also this lwfw makes a diference I took the car to 270km per hour over the speed on the gauge and I know b4 it would'n do that..There was a corvette trying to reach me he never made it

[offroader1006]

you took it to 270km/h OVER the speedo?

btw daft, does the a4 manual use an external slave cylinder wtih a throwout arm, or an internal?

[Daft]

The slave cylinder is bolted to the top of the transmission housing (outside) and the actuator travels through into the housing to touch the pivot arm.

Like this:

[offroader1006]

thats what i thought, so theres no adjustment for the actuator to keep the throwout bearing from tapping the pressure plate

[Monchichi8]

damn guys, after reading about all of your problems..I am for sure steering clear of any of the spec stuff. Someone should call Spec them selves...This doesn't sound like some freak problem...I WOULD BE PISSED!!!!!!

[Daft]

Unfortunately, the guys at Spec couldn't give a damn about the problem.

[20vturbo]

The speedo stops at 260 in canada the nedle went about 1cm lower than that wich would make about 270..car felt tha same no diff from 200 to 270 if I get 400hp this car would touch 300 also the rpm in 6th gear was about 6000 something my rev limiter is 7500..and the whole manifold turbo and down pipe was red hot apr rocks I wonder how long these things will last Ia m getting forged internals and going to 2l I wanted 2.2 but it's to expensive and too many headaches

[20vturbo]

Also I don't think that the bearing is touching the diafragm...
I think it's harmonic resonance due to the lightnes of the fw..When I 9installed my clutch the diafragm was pushed in just like a stock clutch and the flywheel has the same offset as the oem one..soo what do we know oem clutch no noise oem fw with high performance clutch no noise things start to happen when lwfw is installed