Clutch judder from cold in damp weather

[Macduff]

Hi folks

We've had a clutch judder problem for a while now but it had been intermittent and the dealer was unable to fault the clutch when the car was serviced.

Recently the problem is happening more frequently and it appears to be related to how damp the weather is.

The problem manifests itself when the car is cold and only when pulling away in 1st. It can do it for few start and then is fine for the rest of the day. My initial thoughts were an oil leak onto the plates which would burn off as the clutch was used and the car warmed but I don't see what difference the weather makes.

Any ideas? The car is a FWD TDI 130 and has only done about 19700 miles. I'm pretty gentle with the clutch when pulling away and also generally match the revs when changing down.

I'll be booking it in again soon as that and a few rattles are getting pretty annoying.

TIA
Dave

 

[Rev-head]

If you had oil leak on clutch it would get worse when the car is hot as the oil would be thinner and leak more.....

Off the top of my head :

Would check the arm that controls the Clutch ......the pin that slides in the clutch master cylinder could be sticking causing the juddering and only when getting used is freeing it up

Or it could be the pressure plate of the clutch been faulty.loss of tenision in the springs

 

[A3-frankie]

Ive noticed my girlfriends car to this a couple of times, also only in cold and damp when car has been standing for at least a day. Would be interested to know what causes it.

 

[vw754]

Mine does it most time only in 1st gear or reverse.

 

[Macduff]

Car's in today. Left it overnight and took the technician out this morning. Typically it's a lovely bright, DRY day so the clutch behaved itself.

He's going to check a few things so finger's crossed he finds something.

Will update later.

 

[southpaw66]

I had some clutch problems on my old Seat Leon 110TDI - played up on cold damp mornings. In this case the clutch pedal wouldn't spring back and the bite point would be near the floor and I'd have to hook my foot under it to bring it back. Only happened first 5 mins of driving. I believe it was down to a faulty master cylinder (according to forums). The garage never found fault but didn't reappear last winter... it's sold now.

 

[Macduff]

Wasted trip (except for the TDI170Q that I got to thrash )

Clutch judder - Couldn't reproduce on my test drive with them but the tech said he'd look at a few things. Mainly around the master cylinder and possible water ingres. So what happens - different tech works on the car. They take it for a 5 mile test drive when it was warm when it's definitely not going to give problems.

Door rattle - they lubricated the door seals despite me telling them this morning that they'd already tried that. I told them something is loose inside the door and they ignored me.

Slow folding mirror - Its working fine according to them even though it is now noticably slower than the passenger side.

So basically I had the joy of about 5 hours of Aberdeen traffic over the last two days for no gain whatsoever.

It's going up to Elgin for the next service

 

[spwilliams13]

My 12 month old A4 Diesel has exactly the same issue. When damp and cold it judders terribly in first gear and will stall if I don't ride the clutch. Once the engine is warm the issue disapears. It is however intermittant and when I had it in to Audi they could not replicate the fault. It is actually quite dangerous when needing to pull away quickly in peak traffic.

I have now booked it in for a week to see if they can replicate the fault. I will let you know if I get anywhere.

 

[Macduff]

Thanks. It'd be good to know the cause so I can point my dealer in the right direction.

 

[styleinnovations]

My 2.5 Tdi 03 does this also!
please let us know if you find anything!

 

[spwilliams13]

My car was in four days and their "master technician" couldn't replicate the fault. They have however applied an update to the engine managment control which was advised by Audi to fix this particular fault. I've driven it for the last couple of days whilst damp and cold; touch wood there has been no repeat so far.

I did also have to replace a litre of oil the week before, they did not see any connection between the two but I was surprised as I have only had the car a couple of months.

It will take anpther week before I am confident that the issue is sorted. In any case I will write another post and let people know.

Regards,

Stuart

 

[Morbs]

Hi, anyone know how much a new clutch would cost for a 2001 A4TDI 130 Sport, mine judders alittle bit when damp outside but having now covered 120k it is really quite heavy

 

[vw754]

a genuine one is 201.00 pounds inc-vat! 3 piece kit. however i can get these at discount for 150.

 

[spwilliams13]

I have now recieved a new solution from Audi:

"This would be, to replace the clutch kit in your vehicle using a modified clutch friction plate that will stop the judder from occurring. This is a component that the factory has been testing recently to approve for general release. The new friction plate should eliminate the judder, which we believe is caused by moisture build up between the friction plate and the pressure plate."

I am hoping that will end the problem it is after talking to the service dept further a recognised fault.

 

[DavidR]

The clutch is vented to atmosphere so it makes sense that on a cold damp morning the cold damp air penetrates the clutch housing through the vent and contaminates the friction material.

Seems Audi have found a new material less susceptible to the effects of cold / damp!

 

[Macduff]

Interesting. Ours has been behaving itself despite the damp winter weather.

spwilliams. Which dealer are you using as if my problem returns I'd like to quote your solution if I need to force the dealer to do something.

Thanks

 

[cornishaudi]

I own an eleven month old A4 2.0 litre Avant which has developed an intermittant clutch judder. I have taken it back to a local dealer who cannot replicate the fault. They say that there is a technical report from Audi saying it is normal. I obviously disputed this so i phoned the customer service department. Surprise, surprise they backed up the local dealer. Every mechanic i speak to tell me they are wrong. I will be very interested to learn how other people get on with their complaints regarding this as i want to get this sorted before i do something stupid and buy a Mercedes or BMW. I have noted the previous reply re the new clutch materials being tested by the factory. I did phone the customer service department to try and verify this, they knew nothing about it. I await with interest anybody who gets a new clutch fitted.

 

[inigoj]

Every B5 diesel i have owned has occasionally had clutch judder on cold wet mornings, when pulling away for the first time.

At first i thought the clutch was on the way out, but as stated above it is just condensation between the plates, which should vanish upon the first application of the clutch.

 

[spwilliams13]

After six months with this fault I am now satisfied that the fault has been fixed through the fitting of a new modified clutch kit from Audi. It would seem that Audi has recognised the fault and has released a new clutch kit that rectifies the issue.

I have been dealing with Northampton Audi who have on balance tried their best to sort this out although I would have liked it to take less time than it did.

There is no doubt in my mind that there is an issue at least with some Audi clutches which they have now recognised and that there is a working fix for.

I too came across technicians who said that they could not replicate the fault, my advice is to put your complaint in writing to the after sales manager. In the end that was the only thing that had the desired result.

 

[Macduff]

Thanks for the info. I've booked mine in for next Thursday as the problem has returned. Hopefully I'll get somewhere this time.