Bob_Trevithick

I have a problem. One day my car began shuddering and smelling bad (buring, pungent) whenever I had to slip the clutch at all. Starting up, even downshifting if the engine and tranny speed weren't precisely matched.

The car has not been abused.. it's been babied.. a 2001 A4 QMS.

The dealer says they can't tell me if this is under warrantee until they take the tranny out.. a $400 job. At that point, if they feel the clutch was abused in some way, it's not under warranty and I'm out $400 plus I have a car with the tranny in the trunk. Another $400 to put the tranny back in.. and over 2 grand to actually fix the problem.

I've been driving for over 40 years, and have *never* worn out a clutch. I'm very easy on clutches.. idle as I start out, wait until clutch is fully engaged, then accelerate. I don't rest my foot on the clutch. But the symptoms sure seem to point to a burned out clutch.

What to do?????

My first thought is take it to a good local place, pay them to fix it, and then trade it in with them (they have some mint BMWs on the lot that look really nice.) And I'm not sure I trust the Audi, or the dealership, anymore.

My friends say to fight this tooth and nail.. but others say you don't fight a big auto company unless you have a lot of time and deep pockets!

What would you folks do??

Thanks,
Bob

Audi2ptzero

with an aftermarket clutch setup. Clutch setups sell for as low as $500 and it is about $300-$400 to have it installed.


BTW the $400 they said it would cost you to remove the tranny, that should also include to put it back in if they dont find a problem with the clutch. They cant charge you to remove it and then charge you again to put it back in, it just dont not work that way.

Bob_Trevithick

No, I meant if they determined they wouldn't cover it under warantee, then it would be another $400 to put it back in.

But the aftermarket solution sounds much better than taking a risk like this. Under a grand aftermarket, versus over two grand for Audi? This seems like a no-brainer. I have a hunch they may find it isn't warranteed, because there may be some burning.. although it isn't what's causing this problem. A few months ago the aftermarket shifter came loose, my wife had the car, and wondered why she couldn't take off in low.. of course she was really in 4th or 5th or something, and she smelled the burning for sure. We had it towed, because I had no idea from her phone call what was going on. But the car has been fine for months since that time. Nonetheless, they may point to this as a reason to screw me out of the warrantee.

Thanks for the great info.. I'll call back my mechanic and see what he quotes for the clutch replacement.

Appreciate the help!!

Audi2ptzero

if they find nothing wrong with the clutch that is all you pay. They have to tell you $800 up front because they cant just hand you your car with the tranny off the car for the $400. But $800 is about 10 hrs of work and it does not take that long for audi to remove and install a tranny since it is a 5 hr job.

NDA4

My clutch did the exact same thing @40K miles. My other vehicle is a Mazda that I currently have 185,000 miles on the original clutch. Obviously it isn't my driving style. Just like everything else with Audi it is probably a manufacturing defect. Also, if your car is still within the warranty period I really don't see how they can charge you for diagnosing the problem. Drop it off at the dealer and tell them to call you when they have fixed the problem.

Bob_Trevithick

Well, we've already decided to bring the car to the guy I trust tomorrow.. let them figure it out, and not take a chance on Audi.

Thanks for the feedback, folks!

donahoe73

mine went at 50,000 and I didn't abuse it at all. Replaced under warranty.