Jim De Arras

As you know, I'm repairing my transmission, waiting on parts at the moment. I decided to upgrade to an RS4 clutch while I was at it.

Now, as you also may know, I seriously burned my clutch in Feb 2000. It failed totally by April. The dealer replaced it under warrenty, replacing (so they told me) the pressure plate and flywheel at the same time.

Since then, it's been OK. I've never been impressed by it, hence the desire to upgrade to a stronger clutch, but there have been NO smoking clutch episodes, maybe 5 slips total, all brief, all had no effect on feel.

Now, imagine my surprise when I find the pressure plate shows signs of MASSIVE burning, warped to concave. But the clutch plate does not have the "crispy" look of the first one I fried, and has an unusual convex wear pattern.

I do not see how this could have happened, unless the dealer just replaced the clutch plate, and reused the pressure plate, not noticing the concave warp.

Otherwise, it would have to have been done by me early on after the replacement, as the inside of the clutch plate shows little to no wear, whereas the outside edge is at wear limit. The apparent contact area is only a 1/2 inch band on the outside edge, hence my impression that the clutch is not as grabby as I think it should be.

Anyway, here are the images, compared to the new pressure plate and clutch.
<img src="http://www.imola.org/images/mvc00045.jpg">
Old pressure plate. Notice fairly even burn coverage

<img src="http://www.imola.org/images/mvc00046.jpg">

See the gap on the inside of the plate to the straight edge?

<img src="http://www.imola.org/images/mvc00047.jpg">

The nickle fits nicely without displacing the straight edge.

<img src="http://www.imola.org/images/mvc00048.jpg">

See the uneven wear? BTW, I pressure washed this clutch before I suspected anything, just so it would be clean to handle, and that always raises some fibres.

<img src="http://www.imola.org/images/mvc00049.jpg">

Overall view of Clutch plate

<img src="http://www.imola.org/images/mvc00050.jpg">

New Clutch plate, for comparison

<img src="http://www.imola.org/images/mvc00051.jpg">

Also notice the difference in height of the release "fingers" on a new pressure plate (above), and my old one (below)
<img src="http://www.imola.org/images/mvc00052.jpg">

Straight edge on new pressure plate.

<img src="http://www.imola.org/images/mvc00053.jpg">

Shot showing lack of wear on inner area of old clutch

<img src="http://www.imola.org/images/mvc00054.jpg">

Same shot on new clutch plate for comparison

<img src="http://www.imola.org/images/mvc00055.jpg">

I'm not after Audi for this, been too long, and I don't really care, but I need to know if I did this, or Audi did (by re-installing a warped clutch). Else, I will worry that I'll do it again without noticing it! :-(

Jim

NickS

Do you have the slip showing what they replaced? That thing looks NASTY!

Taner Halicioglu

That would be royally lame of them to have not replaced the pressure plate (and throw-out bearing) when they replaced your clutch disk!!

Not that you needed anyone to tell you that

by the looks of the wear on the PP and disc, it looks like the PP may have been the old one :-(

ANy way you can get a parts list from the dealer? Altho, that doesn't mean they actually USED the parts in your car :-/

-T

LCP

Good post Jim. What's the significance of the release fingers being higher?

Jim De Arras

The slip DID show all parts as replaced, I do remember that much.

Jim De Arras

Re: fingers, don't know. SAC failure, perhaps, or got hot enough to bend a bit.

UR-Idiot Savant-S6

I would have to think that the dealer re-installed the old pressure plate.

Jim De Arras

The throwout bearing was also messed up, the finger cushion pad had come loose from the bearing itself.

Boy, I love dealer service!

NickS

I would guess that it was because they reused the PP and it was not caused by you. I'm no expert though.

Jim De Arras

Would not have survived the pressure washer! Also, that first clutch showed metal discoloration in the rivets, and supporting metal. None of that is apparent on the current one. The black you see on some rivets is just clutch dust I missed when spraying it.