Clutch going perhaps?

1animal1

1animal1

The Clar!! it mouves!!!
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Hola you peachy people!!

It's been a while :)

Right, I think incredibly my clutch is on its way out! when i drop a gear and put my foot down the car over revs noticably before biting and taking off!! its only got 19000 on the clock and I've always been great with my clutchs on previous cars.

I've booked it into Audi at the start of Feb (only time I could get a courtesy car) - manufacturer warranty runs out at the end of April so fingers crossed!!

Any thoughts, info, ideas

Tim
 
Same as my symptoms on 8P2.

Started in 5th gear, then got worse across the board, but more noticeably when weather was very cold.

I've NEVER had a single clutch replaced on any other type of car in my life (now on my 10th car), but went through 2 on last S3 in 58,000 miles. Expecting more of the same on this car unless I choose right. VW can build a car that can do 260mph with 1200hp, but they can't build a posh Golf with a manual gearbox that does more than 30k miles without a clutch change in 2012!
 
I've just been going through the searches Warren, ****** annoying tbh.... Mine only does it when i drop a gear, be it third, fourth or fifth so obviously once it hits peak boost in the particular gear, clutch obviously can't handle the jolt!

I remember reading before I bought this about the issues, and that some had managed to get the dealer to fit Sachs...my warranty chap wasn't wearing that though :) got the expected 'bring it in and we'll have a look' which is all i can expect at the minute - spose its more annoying as its up for sale currently :)
 
1animal1 said:
I've just been going through the searches Warren, ****** annoying tbh.... Mine only does it when i drop a gear, be it third, fourth or fifth so obviously once it hits peak boost in the particular gear, clutch obviously can't handle the jolt!

I remember reading before I bought this about the issues, and that some had managed to get the dealer to fit Sachs...my warranty chap wasn't wearing that though :) got the expected 'bring it in and we'll have a look' which is all i can expect at the minute - spose its more annoying as its up for sale currently :)
Click to expand...

Took me 3 visits to various dealers to get them to accept it was clutch as my first one went at 11k!!

The guff that spewed from various Techs mouths beggared belief. I'm no authority, but I can sense a slipping clutch.

In the end Oxford Audi were bright enough to see the issue, and when they checked guess what; 'the clutch had gone!'

After being fobbed off elsewhere with:

>'You need new tyres, it's not the clutch'
>'You could wait till it gets worse and once we can be sure we'll take a look at it'
> 'Clutch slip won't happen in fifth gear, it only ever happens in low gears'

They will only generally fit whats on offer unless they are very understanding and your relationship with them is exceptional. They make a habit of ignoring customers because we're idiots.
 
amen brother :)

I'll have to be prepared then haha - I know the warranty guy pretty well (wouldn't say exceptionally)but he maintains they will only fit genuine replacements.

I've just been out in it again and theres no slippage at all on take off, its only when your running over 40mph ish and changing down to boot it - I wouldn't mind but this car I have treat the best out of all my past ones, its such a pleasant 'tootler!'
 
mine did exactly same. boot it in 4th I got slippage at peak boost. car had covered 24k I think. think it lasted about 10 mins after re map ;)
 
Just had the remap stg1 turned down in the lower rev region due to clutch slip at 18k miles, 1k post chip ! Same symptoms ie slip in 5th at low revs. Too early to see if i have nipped it in the bud. I really dont want smf with paddle and the Sachs reviews are indifferent. I have a suspicion that the cold weather issues are due to viscosity in the fluid slowing things down on take up as I have never known a clutch suffer from cold its normally the other way around. Anyone know if the s3 has a clutch damper or some such work of the devil.
 
put it in 5th, hand brake on, rev to 2k rmp n lift clutch slowly if you can fully release clutch with out a stall its shot, if not quite shot u will tell if is slipping as u lift the clutch

chris
 
cheers for the info chaps - Chris i did that and it stalled, couldnt tell anything from bringing up the pedal....

Miracle!! it appears to have stopped completely exactly a week beofre its due in to Audi :/ wonder what it was, temps being low maybe?
 
I was absolutely convinced my clutch was slipping last year for a couple of days but then it just stopped and has been fine since (touches wood!). It slipped when I accelerated hard in 4th or 5th gear when the revs got to about 3.5-4k. My S3 is still standard.

Fingers crossed for you!
 
cheers mate.... its ****** annoying as you really want someone to look at it whilst its doing it... i just know that when i take it in they will hand it back saying nothing is wrong. This morning on the way to work it did it again in hard changes 4th and 5th, not enough to warrant a change of clutch though i'd guess - grrr
 
Exactly the same problem here - mine has been slipping, then stopped for a while. It slipped badly a couple of times in December and now hasn't done it since!

I am stashing £1700 to one side for an uprated clutch + DMF + fitting for when it gets really bad because it will eventually.
 
Cheese said:
Exactly the same problem here - mine has been slipping, then stopped for a while. It slipped badly a couple of times in December and now hasn't done it since!

I am stashing £1700 to one side for an uprated clutch + DMF + fitting for when it gets really bad because it will eventually.
Click to expand...

Scratch that. It was a cold night last night at ~3 degrees C. It slipped real bad a few times when I was hammering it. Oh, and a roundabout taught mewhy winter tyres are a good idea too :asskicking:
 
Are the clutches notoriously bad on these? I am in the process of buying a standard car and was thinking about a remap. After reading various threads im a little proturbed by the fact i may have to replace the clutch.
 
if it stalled mate you clutch is 100% ok however the slave cylinder that operates the clutch could be sticking which is causing the ocasional slip, have a look around the grear box area for leaks if theres a leak id put my money on the slave, but if i remember correctly the slave cylinder is inside the gearbox so if no signs of leaking it could still be sticking/ leaking but would involve the gearbox to be removed to check
 
cheers chaps....

Chris, its going in to Audi tomorrow so fingers crossed they will sort - although i fully expect them to say nothing is wrong - im going to insist they let me take them for a drive if so, i dont care how they fix it as long as they do, new clutch or not :)

Depends how you drive it - agree to an extent, although mine doesnt hardly get much stick and i've had it since 8k....
 
After doing some searching around on the net, there are suggestions that later model cars have stronger clutches as Audi realised there was a problem......anyone know if this is true or not and what is classed as a later model.....post 2010 ?

Anyone with a car newer than 1 year old which has been chipped to stage 1 ( any higher and I think it's resonable for the clutch to need replacing ) and suffered clutch issues ?
 
I was once told that the uprated clutches were fitted from 2008 on, but have no way to substantiate this.
 
I have an 2008 Facelift - changed clutch with 65000km on it - so i think its not better
 
Well at 3,000 miles with Revo on for 1,250 of them (61 plate), no issues so far.

From memory the cold played a big part in my issues, and it was much harder to replicate in warmer weather. I've noted on 8P2 there is an air duct from NSF lower bumper grille which heads towards gearbox, you would think this would exacerbate cold issues.

Interested to see what they find 1animal1
 
Morning All,

I have been having this problem for 12 months now, about a year ago I had the Stage 1 done, was fine for a couple of weeks then suddenly the revs started going up if I tried to floor it in 4th 5th & 6th, terrible on a motorway, at first I thought it was the remap had been done wrong and there was a flat spot, turns out I was very wrong!
So booked it into Audi for them to have a look at, courtesy car the lot, thinking this is going well, obviously didn't tell them about the remap! Get a phone call to say before we start the work I should know that if they take the clutch out and find its not the clutch I would be getting a bill for £1000 for them to tell me this, if it is the clutch they would help out with the cost but would still cost around £2000, told them to ****** off. I would of thought they would check the clutch for me, considering the car only had 30k on it, to be honest the Audi service is total crap, no help what so ever, but hey glutten for punishment as getting an RS3 in April, hope that clutch is not made of chocolate!

Cheers
L
 
Reading around, it would seem that there have been several different iterations and changes to the clutches on the S3 in recent years, so hopefully the latter models will have one that isn't made of Bourneville.

Warren's write up sounds promising so far, and lots of the problems seem to be occuring on pre 2010 cars or cars which have gone beyond stage 1, so hopefully the newer models are a bit more robust !!
 
yup mines obviously 09 and has this issue which says something.... also the temp does play a very big part in it, luckily it was -3 when i dropped it off this morning and they have booked me into the courtesy car until tomorrow afternoon......

On a down side, they didn't put me into an A5 again, instead I have an 11 plate A3 Sline 1.4 TFSI :( i hate none quattro, hate the skinny gear knob, hate having no power (although its not massively bad!) and hate the bog standard stereo, it sucks balls

no phone call yet so im hoping!
 
If I'd have known the standard stereo sucked balls I wouldn't have specced the Bose!

Fingers crossed for you mate!
 
still no phone call.... so either they haven't paid their phone bill, they've crashed it OR its being repaired - the service chap did make a point saying that someone would want to be getting it early due to the size of the job after i described the issue....

Seriously hope i dont have this pile all weekend - its actually helped me decide, i was going to get all sensible next and purchase a 2.0tdi 170 A6 as opposed to the 3.0tdi A6... but think i'l get bored with anything less!! :(
 
**** spoke too soon!! the tech cant get it to do it and im gonna have to go in tomorrow morning to demonstrate it! :/
 
Prepare for the comment:

'Im not sure Audi expect their customers to drive their cars this hard'

I got it from two dealers, but you have to drive it hard to replicate the issue. In the end I got on an A road and sat in 5th gear and tried to overtake something. It slipped well and the tech who was now ****ting himself conceded it needed looking at!
 
haha that's one way of doing it.....

I've been experimenting this past few weeks and noticed that it does actually overun even when progressively accelerating, so hopefully i won't need to push hard. Saying that, I told the chap when he rang back to get the tech to drive it in 3rd, 4th or fifth and drop a gear, then boot it and it'll do it without a doubt - I have a feeling its going to be down to me - 8.30 in the morning, at least it'll be cold so prime conditions for it and if they agree I might be able to wangle an A4 estate (to see if my dogs fit in the boot!!)
 
I'm being lazy and not using quote, but to the Guy who posted £1,700 for a new clutch fitted, Try Stattlers in Sheffield for a quote and even factoring in petrol you will have enough change for a nice weekend away !!

I was quoted £850 fitted on the Gti, it will however cost a little more for the S3 due to additional labour.
 
Spin140 said:
I'm being lazy and not using quote, but to the Guy who posted £1,700 for a new clutch fitted, Try Stattlers in Sheffield for a quote and even factoring in petrol you will have enough change for a nice weekend away !!

I was quoted £850 fitted on the Gti, it will however cost a little more for the S3 due to additional labour.
Click to expand...

That was me - thanks Spin140.

My quote came in a bit under £1700 and is for a racing clutch not a standard one + DMF + fitting. If I went to Sheffield I would have to add petrol costs, I would have to take holiday off work and if there were any problems I would have a real hassle. I prefer to pay a bit more and to use someone local that I have dealt with before.
 
update : I went to Audi this morning to drive the tech around in my motor, only to find it no longer slips at all!! the car does feel under powered now which confirms to me that it was mapped previously as thought and they must have flashed it! I want the stage 1 back :(
 
Hi animal why not take it to steve jnr just down the road from you at statllers , see what his thoughts are?
 
s3kel said:
Hi animal why not take it to steve jnr just down the road from you at statllers , see what his thoughts are?
Click to expand...

+1

Get the truth, not some lame best guesses!
 
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s3kel said:
Hi animal why not take it to steve jnr just down the road from you at statllers , see what his thoughts are?
Click to expand...

oooh good call - Incidently I took it to Derby straight after the dealers and its slipped upon entering the motorway... im noticing it will only slip now in the higher gears if i dont try to make it slip for say 5 minutes beforehand... I'll run to Steve in the week, see what he thinks - Audi said come in and take a tech out any time, they only need to witness it once and they will change.

LAstly, im not 100% the map is gone, it seemed to be running less power when i took the tech out but dont think thats possible for it to suddenly get its power back after an elapsed period
 
Hi steve jnr knows his onions he will sort out and give you all the answers in no time...
 
audi upgrades
Animal mate- unless i'm missing something, if your car is mapped then it seems pretty sure that the clutch is at fault and has been a highlighted weak spot on an S3 since the year dot on this this forum.

My 8P2 standard at 50,580 miles has no slip - maybe you should just bite the bullet and buy a new clutch like the other modifiers have had too...

S
 
Shadowman said:
After doing some searching around on the net, there are suggestions that later model cars have stronger clutches as Audi realised there was a problem......anyone know if this is true or not and what is classed as a later model.....post 2010 ?

Anyone with a car newer than 1 year old which has been chipped to stage 1 ( any higher and I think it's resonable for the clutch to need replacing ) and suffered clutch issues ?
Click to expand...

I am really interested to know if later cars have a more robust clutch set up too. Having pretty much decided against DSG (for cost reasons on a PCP car) and knowing that an S3 is only half the car without at least Stage 1, I need to know that if I buy a new S3 manual, I wont have the clutch slip nonsense after having the car remapped.


Cheers

Paul
 
PaulAr said:
I am really interested to know if later cars have a more robust clutch set up too. Having pretty much decided against DSG (for cost reasons on a PCP car) and knowing that an S3 is only half the car without at least Stage 1, I need to know that if I buy a new S3 manual, I wont have the clutch slip nonsense after having the car remapped.


Cheers

Paul
Click to expand...

Hi Paul

Not much to go on, but my first observation when I got the car is how draggy the clutch was at 50 miles (no map), and it took about 200 miles to settle. It now feels pretty much as it did in my 8P2, and I was wondering whether it was just shoddy workmanship or was it that they are using a stronger clutch.

I was almost struggling with it after the one on 8P2 as the bite point was way different (and after 4+ years you get pre-programmed to something!).

I know thats confirmation of nothing, but it does feel different in day to day use. I've not been caning it much, but after a 1000 miles at S1, 3,500 miles in total I'm all good (even in this cold which is notorious for bringing the issues to the surface!)
 
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