Caseyj955

Afternoon!

This is my first Audi, it's a 2006 A4, MT Sedan. What a brilliant car! It's a little miley at 170k but very nice condition. I was seduced by the champagne color with light tan interior.
I went to CO (from SD) to pick it up and in driving back some things became apparent that were not obvious during the test drive, which included only surface streets. So I had a few moments of real disappointment on the way back when I got on the highway and used 6th gear, clutch is weak. I figured with 170 on the clock it would be in my future. I assumed I would have to swap it out before chipping it anyway, which is about the only mod I'm planning on. Any guesses on what a good independent might charge for clutch labor only? My search results varied from $300 to $1200.

The more immediate thing that is a nuisance on the highway is the heavy steering. Not too bad in town, a little heavy but okay. Once on the open road it's annoyingly stiff and requires too much effort for a "relaxed" drive. I believe being an 06 it has the servotronic speed sensitive steering. There is no PS pump noise, the front is tight, steering lock to lock is smooth with no jitters, catchyness or noise. Just nothing there to point towards a defective rack or pump. It handles simply great. I searched and read about what sorts of things can be wrong but oddly a lot of the threads discussing it dont come to a conclusion or workaround. I read about a mod with an on/off switch which sounds cool but it doesn't sound like this will address my issue. Any definitive way I can get more PS assist, especially at highway speeds. I'm not sure I have an actual issue or if the wheel is supposed to be so stupid heavy but in either event I need to find a way to loosen it up a bit if possible. I have an old shoulder injury and after 300+ miles on the highway I can feel it.

If I missed a good thread in my search on this I would be super grateful for a link or any guidance. I did search but found a lot of dead ends on this particular issue.

Thanks all.

clix00

Hi, and welcome!

For the clutch question, I think I paid a local garage/friend $200 for the labor to replace it. I would assume most shops (not dealers) that know what they are doing on the Audi would be similar for labor.

As for the other issue, I never really noticed if mine would be considered stiff. My previous cars were always older, < 1995. The one thing I could suggest beyond the PSP is check alignment to make sure nothing would be causing issues there. You could always have a dealer run a diagnostic on the steering system, usually they don't charge more than $100. That will at least give you an idea of what you might need.

Caseyj955

Thank you for the response. I would be delighted if I could get the clutch labor done for twice that amount. I'm fearing the worst. There is a local indy shop that does almost nothing but euro stuff and my sister has her A4 serviced there... alot. I will check with them on the clutch labor.

As far as steering diagnostics I'm not sure anyone anywhere near me can do this, Sioux Falls is the closest one and it's a 5 hour drive each way. When I google the heavy steering issue plenty comes back on folks with the issue, but solutions not so much. I did notice a guy on youtube that said in the commentary "Retrofit 1N1 Steering Rack To 1N3 Steering Rack" solved his problem and the video seems to support that claim. He was quite light on details in spite of plenty of inquiry. My first thought was since it's got a module that it can be tricked into upping the assist boost but I'm guessing it's not that simple. Maybe the 1n3 is a later model with lighter wheel, as I have read that Audi addressed this issue on later models.

clix00

Seems like trolling around Google most prices seem to land between $500-$850. I really didn't think it was that difficult of a job, but some my disagree.

As for the diagnostics, I am sure any shop that deals with euro cars and diag just the same. I did look on Google as you did and saw the same. People have a tendency to only post the problem and not the solution. Did you look into the cost of the retrofit? If it is reasonable to do, it might be worth trying.

Caseyj955

I called the local indy guy and explained the issues with the steering, didnt sound like he had any ideas right of the top of his head but he's looking into that and clutch R&R prices. I expect to hear back from him today on specifics, I'll update when I hear. Thanks for all the input, really appreciate that.

Caseyj955

I called the local indy guy and explained the issues with the steering, didnt sound like he had any ideas right of the top of his head but he's looking into that and clutch R&R prices. I expect to hear back from him today on specifics, I'll update when I hear. Thanks for all the input, really appreciate that.

Caseyj955

Local shop, trusted by many, says clutch replacement is a 13 hour job on the mighty Q. $2900 + tax.

I called a tuner shop in Loveland and got a rough estimate of 1500 using a slightly lightened flywheel and improved design clutch. Sounds like an ideal time to have that stage one and test pipe worked into it.