2001 A6 2.7T Clutch / Downpipes?
 

Well, treading into new territory (at least for me) on this car.

The clutch (6MT) needs to be replaced, and one of the DIY accounts states that the downpipes at the turbos need to be removed first. Is this true?

If true, and advice (from someone who has done the downpipes) as to the best method to remove and replace?

Any additional tips on the clutch R&R?

The turbos don't have to be removed, just the downpipes off the turbos. I have a lift in my garage and it took me 26 hours to do the clutch. It was my first time.

I'm sure there is a walkthrough somewhere on here. But basically, remove the o2 sensors, remove the heat shield for the upper cats. Bolts may be rusted so I didn't remove mine but it would be easier. Remove 4 downpipe bolts from turbo. You get at 3 from under the car and 1 from the top back of the motor where you take out the o2 sensors. Oh ya and you will have to take everything off the top of the motor to do that.

Then remove the driveshaft. That may be tricky. It's just those bolts but it will be rusted on. I had to use a hammer and a tie down strap to pull mine off.

Then remove the tranny mounts and tilt the tranny and engine down. Support the tranny while you remove all the tranny bolts. You get two of them from the top. Long long extensions for others. The hex ones at the very bottom are the worst.

Then pull the tranny, remove and replace clutch, torque to spec. Oh ya and the thing that pushes the pressure plate.

If I were you I would replace the slave cylinder and maybe cross rod and some bushing while you're in there. Definitely the clutch slave cylinder.

Then line up the spline and try to get it back together. It's really hard to get the spline to line up. Just keep trying. You can stick a flat head in the holes at the bottom of the clutch and move the flywheel a little so you can move the spline while you're trying to line it up.

Good luck.

PM me if you have questions.

I pulled engine + tranny when I did my clutch, along with changing other items while there.
I removed downpipes from turbo, but I do recall it wasn't easy even with all out of car. Bolts had allen heads on them & difficult to get straight shot at them with allen socket. Had to resort to allen L wrench with breaker bar. After having done it with engine/tranny removed, I could imagine it's one big PITA x 2 sides with engine still in vehicle. Hats off to Redbull for doing it w/o pulling engine. FYI, I rebuilt my tranny (new syncros & 1-2 collar) while I had it that far, because of difficulty getting into 1st & 2nd gears.

thats a way to do it too. Thanks btw Ruby. I just hate pulling the motor if i dont have to. I almost thing doing the motor mounts are harder than the clutch. maybe just because you get less reward.
i will save pulling the motor for when i put RS6 turbos in it.

edit: btw for anyone who doesnt know JHM sells a fully rebuilt tranny for 1400$ which is a steal

Thanks, guys... That's exactly the kind of advice I was hoping for. The good news is that I have lots of time and patience, as I have several other cars in good shape at the moment...

Aftermath of Clutch Replacement
 

2001 A6 C5 2.7T 6MT

Completed the clutch job. It has taken quite awhile, but much learned in the process. The reason for the clutch job was the throwout bearing had worn through one half of the contact surface, thus only releasing one half of the clutch (meaning that I could not shift into gear with the engine running.)

Total labor time: 24 hours (spread over 6 weeks)

Lessons learned:

1) Remove the downpipes. I could not imagine having to work around the downpipes with the transmission on the jack.

2) If you have to remove the flywheel (to press out the pilot bearing), mark the position of the flywheel before you remove it. Set the engine to TDC on #1 and mark the flywheel and mark the engine block in the corresponding place. Not knowing that added a couple of hours to the job. I'm fortunate that I have another 2.7T 6MT car in the stable. (The large window on the flywheel goes in the same orientation as the TDC mark on the harmonic balancer.)

3) Careful when removing the spider hose from the rear of the engine. Brittle and expensive to replace. Take digital photos of all the hoses on the top of the engine before removing anything and again after removing the Y pipe.

4) Get and use a diagram of the various bolts and sizes that attach the trans to the engine. Mark each one with its location as you remove it.

5) The allen bolts at the very bottom of the trans are the toughest to remove. They are inaccessible with the crossmember in the way. Three bolts took me three hours to remove.

6) I used a floor jack with a transmission adapter. Next time, I'm springing for a dedicated transmission jack, to avoid having to jack up the chassis while trying to roll the trans under the car.

7) Leave the slave cylinder in the trans when removing it. Leave the driver side half shaft disconnected until you get the slave completely bled, then attach the half shaft at the trans. You will need to bleed the hydraulic system. I used a Motive power bleeder, empty, to force fluid down the line. Have the rear of the car higher than the front while doing so, or an air bubble will not be purged.