Hokie_Audi

The short story. My clutch pedal started acting weird this morning, very low engagement height (just a touch above the floor) abnormal feel, and shifting is now very difficult. Had it flatbedded to the dealer this afternoon and they diagnosed it as a bad clutch and then told me that it wasn't covered under warranty.

My problem:

This is partially true. The clutch lining is only covered for the first 12,000 miles. That's the only thing that's explicity mentioned as not being covered for the full 50,000 in the clutch area.

Now the symptoms I described seem to indicate a fault in the hydraulic system somewhere. Also the clutch has never slipped before, never *EVER* been abused at all. The most abuse it got was when the dealer's technician was testing out the car. He actually revved the engine up to 4-5 while riding the clutch. This resulted in a nasty smell (first time I've ever smelt it coming from my car). The tech then pronounced that the clutch was still grabbing so the friction surface was in good shape.

Even with that they want to pin it on the clutch lining not working. I've got a lot of questions here so please bear with me.

A failing clutch lining results in the clutch slipping a lot yes? (Never happens on my car)

A TO bearing or hydraulic problem would also cause these symptoms. Is there anything else that I could point to? I've heard that the pressure plates can crack sometimes too. Anything else I can tell them it could be besides my lovingly cared for friction surface?

I've already contacted AoA about this and they said they're going to contact the dealer. I'm not real optimistic about that at the moment. I feel the dealership is assuming it's a bad clutch lining to avoid the warranty costs associated with actually opening up the tranny and looking. I'm confident that once they look they'll find my lining in excellent condition, aside from the thrashing that the tech gave it this afternoon (which I'm sorta pissed about anyway).

Let me run a couple of scenarios;

1. They open up the car to fix the bad clutch and find out that something else is broken, as I suspect. That would have to be a warranty issue at that point.

2. I take the car to an independent mechanic and have them diagnose the problem and/or perform repairs. There's probably no way I could recover these costs unfortunately, but it's likely to be less than the Mexican lube job I'm likely to get at the dealer.

3. I convince AoA to authorize my dealer to perform the repairs based on it not being a worn clutch liner.

4. Anything else I didn't think of already.

I mean am I right? A clutch doesn't just go bad, one minute it's working fine and then bam... the pedal effort is whacked (tech says it's normal) and it's impossible to shift. That could be many things besides the lining correct?

Sorry for rambling I'm still very pissed about the whole thing. Like I said, I'd greatly appreciate any advice you could give.

Sigh.

JAFO

when they got inside. they found a leaking front trans seal. all the work was covered under warranty. and this was under extended warranty. your problem sounds like a colasped pressure plate to me.

Kapoosh1

I had a clutch replaced at 25K. Local dealer wanted $1300 but i towed it to chicago and they replaced it all under warranty.

Hokie_Audi

What are the symptoms of a collapsed pressure plate (consistent with what I'm experiencing I take it). Beyond that what could cause it? I totally grandma this car and it's mostly interstate and highway driven so the clutch sees very little action. Any details would be great.

JAFO

makes me think it's the pressure plate. i had this on a different car. also i've seen some posts on pressure plate problems on 1.8t with no apparent reason.

Guest

Take it to a different dealer... should be covered within the 50k warranty.