Dustin

I've had some nasty problems with the clutch on my '98 A4 1.8t. When it started getting cold the clutch started slowing down. I would push the clutch in and it would slowly come out but fall a couple inches short of where it should. It got to the point where I couldn't get my car out of gear at a stop light and then couldn't shift into second later on. I actually had to pull over for about 20 min. before I could finally get it into gear. A dealership said the clutch master cylinder was defective and replaced it. Its starting to get cold again and now its doing the same thing. What the hell is going on here? I would appreciate any advice.

Ray Calvo

Dustin, have never had this problem on present A4, old Coupe Quattro (132,000 miles), but I believe have read that things like this could be caused by a clogged vent port on the fluid reservior. Hwover, I think the A4 uses the brake reservoir for both the clutch and brakes, so if if this was the cause would expect brake problems also.<p>Another idea is that first failure got debris into hydraulic lines that wasn't completely flushed out. Would have dealer look at it again; if master cyl. is bad again, insist on both master and slave cylinder replacemetn and a complete hydraulic system fluid flush and bleeding (that includes brakes).