Help needed -- Clutch/shifting problem

[jolecanard]

Hello,

For the past few month I have had difficulty changing gear. I can disengage the gear easily, but is very difficult to engage a gear (needs to be forcefully pushed in). This is particularly difficult when at high RPM (need to give it several seconds for the RPM to go down to <2000rpm).
I need your help to figure out what is going on.

Let's start with the basics: 2008 RS4; about 42k miles; clutch/flywheel/pressure plate changed about 18 months ago (12k miles ago) with the JHM Stage 1R combo.

Two years ago I experienced about the same thing (difficulty shifting), and the Audi dealership pointed out to the clutch disk and pressure plate (OEM at that time). This is when I decided to upgrade to the JHM 1R. After the new clutch install, everything was fine for a bit more than a year.
Now I am back to having trouble shifting, and took the car to my mechanic. The expectation was that some bolts on the pressure plate came loose, not allowing it to disengage fully. Taking the clutch apart, it was found NOT to be the case. At this point, my mechanics does not know what is causing the problem, and this is why I need help from the community to figure that one out.

* According to my mechanic, the clutch can slide on the shaft without problem (no apparent scratch mark on the shaft or any kind of blockage).
* The primary and slave cylinders were NOT replaced when the Stage 1R was put in.
* It it noteworthy to point out that both the clutch disk and the flywheel are showing significant hot spots (see picture). I think this is the consequence of my problem, and not the cause of it...but I am sure of nothing at this point.

Any help and guidance would be greatly appreciated!

J.

[ven0m]

Can you shift normally through gears when the engine is off? And it is hard to put it into gear when the engine is running (even harder at high rpm)?

If yes, I would say your clutch doesn't disengage properly and since you made a thorough investigation of the complete clutch assembly, I would propose a new slave cylinder as the root cause sounds like that. http://www.uspmotorsports.com/Drivet...onversion.html

[xtbinfernos]

My buddy has the same problem in his 2002 Jetta wagon, he was told it was due to bad synchros


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[jolecanard]

Can you shift normally through gears when the engine is off?

I do not remember having trouble shifting through gears when the engine was off, but at the same time this is not something I would normally try. Now that the car is taken apart there is no way to try it...

[ven0m]

Did the problem of getting it into gear persist on single gear or pair of gears like 1st-2nd, 3rd-4th, 5th-6th or all of them in the same way?

If the problem was isolated to a specific pair, it could be that synchro has gone bad. If it was the same in all the gears, it is a very very small probability that all synchros have gone bad simultaneously in the same way - in this case my guess would remain the same and I would change the slave.

[MattRS6]

I have the same problem. Follow my thread and it'll be figured out.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...ift-into-gears

[MattRS6]

I just wrote today's experience with my RS4

[MattRS6]

I got mine fixed if You wan't to check out the link in my previous comments i have pictures and videos! Peace out

[denis silva]

I had problems on 1th,2nd and 3th gears , so ended being bad synchros , but before that i had problem w pressure plate jhm replaced for me under warranty and also slave cylinder died on me! So i ended getting a full transmission rebuild and my are problems are gone,i have the5R clutch and jhm rebuild tranny!


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[MattRS6]

Yes, if You only have problems shifting into certain gears than it's typically bad synchrons.