sbmellen

I need some serious help with shifting in my 1998 A4 2.8 liter with Quattro. I learned to drive on a manual-transmission - a 1966 Volkswagen Beetle and then later drove a 1969 Mercedes 220 Diesel with a manual 4-speed. Both were extremely easy to drive and shift smoothly.

Even my brother's 1990 Ford Mustang GT with a 5-speed manual was extremely easy to shift. However, my 1998 Audi A4 is quite the tempremental automobile. It seems that I always get TONS of back to front (pitch) motion when I am shifting from 1st to second. I don't know if I'm letting off the throttle too much or too early when pushing in the clutch or what... I also have quite a pronounced pitch when letting out the clutch and engaging 2nd gear. I have tried all sorts of different ways of letting the clutch out and throttle positions since I got the car new (June, 1998), but nothing seems to work to make the car shift smoothly like it does from 2nd to 3rd or 3rd to 4th.

Any tips from the 2.8L Quattro manual transmission folks?

Oh, and another thing - the 2.8L has absolutely NO GUTS when the air conditioner is on. What a dog! I'm seriously thinking of a turbo-charged Audi next.

Thanks,
Stephen

Bucket

Try higher RPM's in first. Also, the 1.8T is a dog with AC on too!

djnelsen

and 1.8's are the same way, possibly worse.

As for smooth shifting, my 2.8 is smooth as butter. To be honest, it's one of the best gearbox's I've ever driven.

Sounds like you might be letting the clutch out too soon when engaging second. Try a bit more gas when letting the clutch out. If it's REALLY bad, maybe there's a problem with your transmission.

Hope this helps.

RKA

I suspect you don't have the sport suspension? The pitch and dive you notice is a result of soft springs and shocks. You can adjust your driving style to ease off the throttle just before a shift, and ease back into it after shifting (as opposed to abrupt throttle lift off, and WOT after shifting). In my opinion, even the sport suspension is soft, and results in quite a bit of this. After I chipped, it became that much more apparent, so I started exploring aftermarket suspension options. Be prepared though...if you want to reduce it significantly, your car will lose it's luxury edge, and it will start to feel more like that Mustang when driving over rough pavement.

djnelsen

Good point!! Although I haven't noticed too much pitching and diving with my sport package =)

RKA

:-) Sorry, couldn't resist!

sbmellen

Ouch.
Stephen

chrismartin

I don't really have a pitch problem, but here are two points...
1. The gear ratio change is huge from 1st to 2nd. Check out the gearbox specs in the historical data on AW. Much larger than the others. This causes a jerkier shift unless you wind up the RPMs a bit more.
2. Be aware of the clutch pressure point. On my 98.5 the pressure point of the clutch is at the top 3" of the peddle. When I first got my A4, this really caused a problem with the 1-2 gear change. Once I figured that out I could change gears much faster (as I only need to push in the clutch 2-3" from the top) and it fixed my 1-2 gear change.

As for the AC dragging down the engine, to fix that buy a V8, or better yet the W8 in the A8 would be nice. AC load the engine and suck power, and there's no replacement for displacement Think of the compressor button as a turbo button. When you want to go fast, turn off the compressor... TURBO! Also, I don't think that the 1.8T would be any better.