SouthBend Problems ARRRG

[mainer0311]

I picked up a southbend stage 4 clutch. For my 98 a4, the stock one was slipping. So I pulled the motor, decided it would be easier to do that than spend 10 hours under the car.

So I got the motor out no issues. The old clutch came off and the new one bolted on like it should have. But 4 hours later I still couldn't get the clutch onto the imput shaft in the tranny. I pulled the motor back out to check to make sure that the groves on the clutch and on the imput shaft lined up. And they dont!!! The alignment tool fits in both the old and new clutch, but is tighter in the new clutch. The old clutch goes over the imput shaft no problem, but the new one wont even start onto the imput shaft.

It seems as if the clutch groves wernt fully cut. Thats why the the alignment tool is tight and it wont slide over the imput shaft.

Anyone else seen this? I'm gonna call southbend tomorrow and talk to them about what I should do.

Cooper

[GetBoosted84]

I'd like to know the answer to this also since a stage 5 is going into my car this weekend.

[mainer0311]

I will post what I find tomorrow

[GetBoosted84]

Any word on this? I will double check my clutch with the alignment tool tonight but I am pretty sure I checked that last week and it was good to go so I think you may have just gotten a bad unit.

[mike-2ptzero]

I have sold plenty of SB clutch kits in the last few months and have never heard of this problem. Sounds like you might have been sent the wrong disk or the spline on the disk you have is just bad.

[GetBoosted84]

I have sold plenty of SB clutch kits in the last few months and have never heard of this problem. Sounds like you might have been sent the wrong disk or the spline on the disk you have is just bad.

Maybe it's the car's way of telling him he should have went with a stage 5

[mainer0311]

Should have gone stage 5?? I won't be putting any amount of power down untill this time next year. Money is tight on a college budget with only 6 week long summers.

I talked to John this morning at southbend. He wanted me to have the clutch disk in hand and be able to answer certin questions. He also said I may have burs on my imput shaft which I checked and found none.

So I called them back after work and talked to dave. I told him my problem again and he said he'd put another disk in the mail over night. He said that using the stock flywheel they dont change anything with the splined part of the clutch, they just change the friction material. Which makes me think my tranny may have a larger imput shaft, maybe v6 tranny but they have the same size imput shaft.

So we will see monday when the new disk comes in. I'm hoping I just got the one out of thousands sold that is messed up.

Cooper

[GetBoosted84]

Oh I was just messing around since I just got my stage 5 from mike the other day. I'm not sure what clutch you should use on your app to be honest.

I hope everything works out for you. That sucks that it didn't just drop in.

[djwimbo]

Just don't do what I did and roll some of the splines over b/c I didn't have a tranny jack. I had a floor jack w/ a 4x4 on it and basically put it in manually.

As long as the splines aren't rolled like I did, or twisted in any way it should fit. How loose is the alignment tool in the old disc? Can you see light through the splines w/ the tool in it?

... 10 hrs? my first time was ~7hrs. Now it's on the floor in a little over 2 hrs.

[GetBoosted84]

Got the southbend stage 5 in yesterday and it went in perfectly. I'm bumping this back up so your issue can be resolved.

[mainer0311]

Well I got my clutch today, tested it on the shaft and it slide on fine. So I put it onto the flywheel. Also talked to some people that have done a few of these. They said to grease the shaft and the spline on the clutch.

Well 20 min later it slid right on. WooHoo. Now all I need to do is get 500 miles on it by thursday so I can try luanching it before I leave for my first year in hell(mass maritime academy).

A+ to southbend for taking care of this with out any questions. At first I wasn't happy but they took care of it no questions asked.


Cooper

[mainer0311]

Alright, everything is together and most of the stuff is working.

The problems I'm having: The speedo only works part of the time. I wiggled the sensor on the trany but it didn't help. I'm gonna try and un plug it/plug it back in tomorrow. It seems as if when i down shift or go WOT it will work, like something is loose.

Other problem is that my gas gauge is all over the place. It doesn't move fast, just is moving up and down constantly. I'm not sure why I would have touched anything to do with this, but maybe i did.

No CEL or other warning lights.

Any ideas??

Cooper

[GetBoosted84]

IMO the gas gauge is completely unrelated. I'm not sure about the speedo though.

[Poopie]

if your vehicle speed sensor connection is bad, the gas gauge will be erratic. they are completely related. the ecu does some sort of calculation for your fuel level based on the fuel sender, your load, and your speed. get some electrical cleaner and clean the connector and plug it back it. you can get to it from the engine bay if you remove the coolant reservoir. if not, the part is only 40 or so bucks from the dealer.

[GetBoosted84]

No shit. Well I stand corrected. I am pretty sure Poopie dreams of nothing but 4 rings.

P.S. - You have a PM... need your input on a DP to replace the other DP I got.

[Poopie]

( o ) ( o )

does that count as four rings? lol

[GetBoosted84]

Definitely counts

[mainer0311]

Thanks Poop I'll grab some contact cleaner today and give it a shot. I didn't unplug the sensor when I pulled the motor, but maybe it got bumped. But before this all started one night the speedo stoped working. It was pooring and I figured it had something to with that because it worked the next morning.

I'll let you know how the contact cleaner works.

Cooper