mike90q

I was bringing my mother to work today and the clutch died.

I was going from 4th to 3rd as a car in front of me was stopping and bang, it felt like the clutch pedal had cracked off. Of course this is a time when the thing that stops you from knocking the shifter out of gear becomes a pain in the ***.

Here i am driving in 4th with the tach just before 2 grand......until I found a place to pull in. with over two meters of snow after falling in my city it takes a few seconds.

Now I can lift up the lever with my hand but there is no preasure pushing it up or whan I push it down...

What could it be as my car in in some guys drive way. Could the fluid be low? Where is the fluid resivior etc.? With all this snow it's not uncommon for me to be driving through snowas hi as the front bumper, god love quattro, cold that cause anything?

Thanks
mike90q

mike90q

I described what happened and he seems to think it's gone.

Do ye guys agree?
If so any aproxx. as to cost?
I thought $1200 can for a complete rebuild
but the "part man said $900-1000, but after spending the day on the net I think I my be able to squeeze it for approx $6-750can.

Any ideas
anywhere else I should look or that I should check before commiting myself to this expense and time.....?


Thanks

Evilclown

Sounds to me like your clutch fluid went missing. Since it happened all at once, it leads me to believe there was a blowout between the master and slave cylinders, the cylinders themselves don't usually lose all the fluid at once. The clutch itself is probably ok, since it was holding in 4th, though it could have glazed a bit from the ordeal. The fingers might have broken on the pressure plate, too, but that's a pretty remote possiblity. I'd have the whole system checked over by a good mechanic.

MikTip

Audi clutch's are known as being "over-built", "Robust" and normally don't abruptly fail.

However, the clutch "hydraulic system" is a bit more fragile!

Audi clutch 101-

Your clutch pedal is attached to the "clutch master cylinder", similar to the brake master cylinder.(Especially since they share the same fluid!)
Pushing down the clutch pedal, moves the mechanical components inside the clutch master cylinder, forcing fluid, under pressure, through a
hose, to the "clutch slave cylinder".

Being a hydraulic system, the fluid is the "force" which actuates the slave cylinder. This action makes the throw out bearing depress the clutch pressure plate, enough to release the clutch disk off the flywheel, to allow you to shift.

Your clutch hydraulic system is probably the most actuated, moved system on the car, next to the brakes!

What does this all mean to you?

What were trying to say, is first verify the clutch's hydraulic system is intact, and functioning, before you start assuming its the clutch pressure plate, and disk.

Why?

Because normally it is the clutch hydraulic system
which has failed.

You can take a look under the hood, look at the brake fluid resivior. There's a hose coming out of it on the drivers side. This is the hose for the clutch system. Follow it down, and you will find the clutch master cylinder. Then from the clutch master cylinder, there is a metal tube, which will lead to the clutch slave cylinder.

If the fluid level in your resivior, is below the clutch hose, then more than likely you have a hydraulic failure.

I would recommend, first, adding some good quality brake fluid, to the resivior, and seeing if its only an issue with the fluid being low!

Who knows, it may only cost you $2, for fluid, to fix!

mel g

(cheap to fix) rather than the clutch itself. I agree w Miktip- read what he says.

mike90q

That is what my first hope/assumption was.
I have yet to get my baby home though, do in part to our weekly blizzards. The guy who own's the house where it is is best kind though.
I will be getting the car brought home tomorrow at which time i'll give it a good check over.

Our daily snow count is now up 370cm and counting.


thanks again,

mike90q