lessemm

Hey Folks,

I'm new here and new to owning an Audi. I just picked up a nice 2011 S5 Coupe with a standard transmission. I had the car inspected by a well known Audi shop in my area (not the dealer I bought it from), and it came back with a "Super clean. I'd buy it." report.

I'm having two intermittent issues with the clutch/transmission that the dealer's shop is having trouble reproducing:

1. When I first got the car, it would occasionally give a "Depress clutch to start." warning when I'd hit the start button. Obviously, I already had the clutch in. Letting the clutch up, then putting it back in would clear the error, and the car would start. I'd say that happened about 5% of the time, but I actually haven't had the issue for a couple of weeks.

2. The more worrisome issue. About 2% of the time the transmission grinds when shifting into gear -- as if the clutch is not fully depressed. Again, letting the clutch up and then depressing it again solves the issue, but it's obviously not ideal. I'm being super careful and deliberate in my clutch behavior, and I don't think it's just me getting off the pedal too fast.

This appears to happen more when the car is cold, as in not warmed up, and when the weather is cold, as in under 30F.

The car is currently covered under the used car dealer warranty, and it's been at their shop for a week. They are unable to reproduce the grinding issue despite their claim that they drive it every day first thing in the morning.

To me, it seems like an issue with the clutch actually disengaging -- like hydraulics or mechanical issues with the pedal, but I'm not an expert. I've had much older (50 years older) vehicles that required double-clutching into certain gears. This feels similar, but doesn't appear to be happening in one gear more than another, and, again, is only happening a small amount of the time. If I drive it for an hour, it'll happen three or four times.

I'd love any advice on how to reproduce the issue for the shop or any hints on where to look for a problem.

My current thinking is to treat the service manager to lunch somewhere that's an hour away from his shop... assuming they are just taking it for a 5 minute test drive and not experiencing any issues.

Thanks

J. Patterson