transmission troubles?

[blmlozz]

this just started happening today I guess, I have a 99.5 1.8qm and about 15-17k ago I put a sb stg5 clutch and their 20lb lwfw on the car, I drove like I always do but I started to stall alot in the city just shruged it off to my bad driving and i went on, when I drove to work it became more serious, the pedal now vibrates when idling at a stand still without the ac on, and the engagemet point is acting weird, when shifting from 2-3 the car lurches like the clutch tries to catch in the middle of the pedal instead at the very top like it normally does. haven't driven it enough to notice it in any other gear changes and it's getting worse, the car is leaking oil but I've always thought it was the front seal, if it's acutaly the trans could low oil be causing this? I wasent driving hard when it got worse and I don't beat on it with launches. I did have the front off to change a front seal which I where I thought it was leaking from, and it still leaks oil but that could also he just because I only changed the seal and forgot to change the gasket too, it has only been maybe a week since this was done. I'm at work now so hopefully it will hold together so I can get home and mabye learn more about what it's doing in the process.

[DND]

I'm guessing wildly but I think it's related to the clutch and not the transmission.
If you park on a clean spot of ground where does the oil leak seem to come from? (or you could go clean the car thoroughly and then check where it shows up)

[blmlozz]

it always leaks from the opening in the back of the noise damper, but the oil always accumulates all over the bottom of engine and spreads back onto everything, it must still be a front seal issue since there's a lot of oil in the timming belt cover, I'm going to buy some walmart gear oil tonight and see how much comes out. if it makes any sense when I first put the clutch in it would engage where it's sticking now almost, then at somepoint it moved to the top, can't remeber what triggered it or if it was gradual

[mike-2ptzero]

When you push the clutch in, where does the clutch release? If it moved further down it could just be air in the line to the slave, you would just need to bleed it. It could also be a broken throw-out bearing or the pressure plate cracked. I would start with bleeding the slave and then work from there.

[blmlozz]

When you push the clutch in, where does the clutch release? If it moved further down it could just be air in the line to the slave, you would just need to bleed it. It could also be a broken throw-out bearing or the pressure plate cracked. I would start with bleeding the slave and then work from there.

does it make any sense if I said it dosent really engage in the middle but just acts like it wants to then fully engages at it's normal point? the little I drove , it didn't do it in first, but did it in 2nd and 3rd would air in the lines explain the vibrating pedal?

[mike-2ptzero]

Vibration at the pedal would most likely be a bad throw-out bearing. Only way to find out is to get in there and start playing with it or pull the trans.

[blmlozz]

Vibration at the pedal would most likely be a bad throw-out bearing. Only way to find out is to get in there and start playing with it or pull the trans.

the bearing was replaced with the clutch, how does that happen? as I said before I don't really abuse the clutch or drivetrain.

[mike-2ptzero]

the bearing was replaced with the clutch, how does that happen? as I said before I don't really abuse the clutch or drivetrain.

Dont have to abuse the car for a throw-out bearing to go bad because half of it spins with the pressure plate and the other is locked into the fork.

[blmlozz]

replaced the clutch slave cylinder off my spare parts car, I know this one works, bled the system about 20 times and it was hard to get any pressure in the system, I don't think it was because of not doing it correctly or not closing the valve enough though. Still have the same problems, now with a spongy pedal.. the vibration wasen't present when I was taking it easy but as soon as I speed up quickly and tried to shift faster the pedal vibrated noticably.
clutch engages at the middle then It feels like pressure is lost in the pedal until it gets back up to the top again from the point that it engages.

going to try to take the tranny out tonight..

[blmlozz]

turned out to be the throw-out bearing, the friction material was worn down to <1mm thickness and acutaly fell off when I was trying to remove it. plate looks okay.
this was a new bearing, with less than 20K on it..got it from ECS


I've yet to re-assemble the whole thing but the bearing looked pretty bad so I'm guessing this was the problem.

new dealer bearing cost $86, it even came with a porsche part number and porsche box haha. I'd rather not have to go through this *that* often, anyone have suggestions to what this could be caused by? I was thinking poor driving since I learned to drive a stick on this car but really by the time I put the stage 5 in it was down to it being part my driving and part it being a very stiff and touchy clutch to work with..still poor driving you think?

[aaronamerica]

any pics of the breakdown, I've been thinking about swapping my tranny myself but I don't know if i can handle the job with out a lift and stuff

[blmlozz]

any pics of the breakdown, I've been thinking about swapping my tranny myself but I don't know if i can handle the job with out a lift and stuff

this is probaly my 4-5th time taking the trans out and I tell you what, every-single-time Its a PITA..
if anything some things that I've learned are;

always take the exhaust DP out, it's possible to remove the trans without doing this, but the PITA of taking the DP out is far less than the PITA of trying to take it out without removing it, such is illustrated by my efforts to do this and it end up taking 4 days to remove the trans and me just ending up taking the exhaust out anyway.

You'll need 6 ton jack stands, 2ton stands are just not tall enough, period, you need the front of the car at *least* 2-3feet in the air, I cheated a little bit and I need to raise the stands even in that picture to get the trans back in.

You also need a trans jack, regular jack isn't worth the hassel or chance of it comming off

buy lots of disposable gloves & simple green, latex or nitrel... the amount of CV joint grease is going to get crazy no matter what.

the first time I took the trans out it was maybe a 10-12hour job.. now I can get it down to about 6-8hours in-and out if I don't mess around and don't have any seized bolts.

[AudiA4_20T]

any pics of the breakdown, I've been thinking about swapping my tranny myself but I don't know if i can handle the job with out a lift and stuff

take his advice, I dont use a trans stand but it does take me a bit more time that way. You can use like 3 ton jackstands just get them WAY UP

[aaronamerica]

but how do you guys hold the tranny up after taking out the last couple of bolts with out it falling on you??

[blmlozz]

but how do you guys hold the tranny up after taking out the last couple of bolts with out it falling on you??

thus is what the trans jack is for.

you can unbolt the housing from the block and leave the tranny mounts on and just take them off last after the jack is in place, whichever you prefer.

getting it out is the easy part, the hard part is getting it back in, it never just 'slides in' it's more of a combination of weird posistions and wiggling that gets the job done, that is also why you want a trans jack because it has angel adjusters that a regular jack dosen't have.

I think I spent $100 on mine at harbor freight tools (greatest place ever concieved) and it's been completly worth it.

[mike-2ptzero]

I have done it on my car 4-5 times and have no problem getting the tranny to balance right on the cup of my floor jack. Going back in I just use my race jack to lift up the rear of the trans to get the right angle.

[aaronamerica]

thus is what the trans jack is for.

you can unbolt the housing from the block and leave the tranny mounts on and just take them off last after the jack is in place, whichever you prefer.

getting it out is the easy part, the hard part is getting it back in, it never just 'slides in' it's more of a combination of weird posistions and wiggling that gets the job done, that is also why you want a trans jack because it has angel adjusters that a regular jack dosen't have.

I think I spent $100 on mine at harbor freight tools (greatest place ever concieved) and it's been completly worth it.

nice

[blmlozz]

all the problems are not really gone, infact I can't say much has changed since the replacement. the clutch really isn't bleed correctly so I can attribute the pedal engagement point to that, but the pedal still vibrates..

[blmlozz]

***bleeding the system *correclty* resolved the issues...apparently it was my helper that was the problem and not the slave cylinder... haha.

[Poopie]

lol. they make trans jack adapters to fit on top of a regular car jack too.

[blmlozz]

lol. they make trans jack adapters to fit on top of a regular car jack too.

turned out he wasen't holding the pedal all the way to the floor, so I got my neighboor who knows a lot more about cars than I do and got him to pump it instead, presto! clutch feel is back and engagement point is back to where it was before.

http://www2.northerntool.com/product/200332755.htm

didn't know that.. cool. $42, only 400lb capacity though, so you'd be buying it for your audi only and maybe a compact.

[Poopie]

how much does the stock tranny weigh? I lifted it on my own to put in the back of my avant. It wasn't TOOO bad.

[aaronamerica]

I lifted a couple of them and put them in the back of my suv and I'm not that strong and I know its not over 400 pounds, my guess would be maybe 200lbs

[blmlozz]

I lifted a couple of them and put them in the back of my suv and I'm not that strong and I know its not over 400 pounds, my guess would be maybe 200lbs

ditto.

I was able to lift it off the ground and onto the jack no-problem.. my guess is the same, 150-200lbs..

[mike-2ptzero]

Yeah it should be no more then 200-250 lbs.