Sudden clutch failure ?

8690q · 15-01-17, 05:40 PM

My wifes car had to be rescued by a recovery lorry yesterday due to what seems to be sudden clutch failure.

Its a 1998 a4 2.8 30v quattro avant with 5 speed gearbox and has had a new clutch fitted not long before we bought the car.

No signs of impending doom, car drove great with no slipping, crunching or strange smells or noises.

Driving along and went to change from 3rd to 4th when the clutch pedal stayed on the floor and unable to select any gears, luckily I managed to coast to safe spot to stop.
Once stopped the pedal returned to normal position and feels fine and gears can now be selected again but when you let the clutch out the car goes nowhere.

I managed to get it raised up a bit today for a look underneath and all seems present and correct. No leaking fluid from the slave cylinder, clutch plates look brand new through the inspection window and as far as I can tell all cv joints and the prop are still connected.

I'm wondering if anyone has any other possible causes I could be looking for ?
I'm thinking if something has failed inside the bellhousing it'll have to go into a garage to get repaired, I don't have the facilities. I would like to check the simpler stuff first before getting my wallet turned inside out though.

Cheers

Michael

simons2 · 15-01-17, 05:53 PM

I had something similar of a VW T5 van. Obvious though was drive shaft but turned out that the centre of the clutch had ripped out from the outer! This can happen if the car has a jolt i.e. hits a speed hump to hard or if a clutch disc is not put in centrally. Just a thought.

Colin Aitchison · 15-01-17, 09:53 PM

Hi 8690q,
I take it your are still in Sauchie now, I did visit you at your work place with my B2 blue coupe GT, You may not have a fluid leak in your clutch system but you are correct that is the first thing I would have looked for is a fluid leak, you may have seals in the master or slave clutch cylinders that are passing fluid, this can be quite hard to test for, as for the clutch test with the engine switched off put the car in first gear then try to push it forward or back, if the car moves and dose not try to turn the engine over there may be a problem with the clutch disc or plate, a test for the clutch master and slave cylinder would be to remove the slave cylinder from the front of the gear box and place a large zip tie on the slave cylinder to stop the pin from coming out, the press the clutch pedal it should be solid or very hard,
if the pedal moves slowly towards the floor the seals are passing fluid, if you snap the zip tie with the clutch pedal I would say both slave and master cylinders are ok, this test dose not confirm what cylinder is faulty, but you would be better changing the slave first, the master cylinders can be very hard to change, hope this helps.

8690q · 25-01-17, 11:43 PM

Sorry been without internet, thanks sky.

Problem with the car turned out to be all material had fallen off the friction plate.

New clutch had been fitted 2000 miles before we bought the car but that was 2 years ago so car has done plenty of sitting about so I'm assuming it had partially seized to the flywheel at some point.

Thanks for the suggestions.

15-01-17, 05:53 PM	#2
simons2 Grown up member Classic Audi Club Member Join Date: Jun 2012 Location: ireland Posts: 291	I had something similar of a VW T5 van. Obvious though was drive shaft but turned out that the centre of the clutch had ripped out from the outer! This can happen if the car has a jolt i.e. hits a speed hump to hard or if a clutch disc is not put in centrally. Just a thought.

15-01-17, 09:53 PM	#3
Colin Aitchison Senior Member Classic Audi Club Member Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Back home in Tillicoultry Posts: 1,308	Hi 8690q, I take it your are still in Sauchie now, I did visit you at your work place with my B2 blue coupe GT, You may not have a fluid leak in your clutch system but you are correct that is the first thing I would have looked for is a fluid leak, you may have seals in the master or slave clutch cylinders that are passing fluid, this can be quite hard to test for, as for the clutch test with the engine switched off put the car in first gear then try to push it forward or back, if the car moves and dose not try to turn the engine over there may be a problem with the clutch disc or plate, a test for the clutch master and slave cylinder would be to remove the slave cylinder from the front of the gear box and place a large zip tie on the slave cylinder to stop the pin from coming out, the press the clutch pedal it should be solid or very hard, if the pedal moves slowly towards the floor the seals are passing fluid, if you snap the zip tie with the clutch pedal I would say both slave and master cylinders are ok, this test dose not confirm what cylinder is faulty, but you would be better changing the slave first, the master cylinders can be very hard to change, hope this helps.

25-01-17, 11:43 PM	#4
8690q Grown up member Classic Audi Club Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Location: Coalsnaughton Posts: 190	Sorry been without internet, thanks sky. Problem with the car turned out to be all material had fallen off the friction plate. New clutch had been fitted 2000 miles before we bought the car but that was 2 years ago so car has done plenty of sitting about so I'm assuming it had partially seized to the flywheel at some point. Thanks for the suggestions.