Clutch slip only at 2000-2300 rpm??? Weird/help

[ryanmorton007]

I'm in need of some help (as you do)
i work in the motor trade but I work on Porsches and ferrari etc. my knowledge on general cars is vague....

i have a 2004 2.0tdi a3, I bought the car 15 months ago and as I bought it the guy said it has had a remap.... It seemed a little nippy but nothing much..... (It's had a decat so I think this may be the reason for the better response)???

i drove the car a week and had the dreaded dual mass vibration at tickover, so I put a solid flywheel kit in it and a new starter motor, as that had a high resistance when warm so struggled to crank....

All was good and roughly 10k miles later, when I was driving down the slip road the car got to 2000rpm (accelerating) and the rev needle lifted (as tho the clutch was slipping) but only went up to 2400 rpm then back to around 2100 rpm and kept accellarating with no slip...????!!!!

I then went in to 6th and accelerated and same again.....

every gear at 2000rpm (less noticeable in lower gears) it does the same thing.... The revs blip up a few hundred rpm but then back down????

ive tested the clutch every way possible (I'm in the motor trade) and it's checking out fine, I can't get it to slip at all.
ive even at the point where the rev counter lifts as tho it's slipping, I've dipped the clutch to enhance it to slip but it doesn't.....

i read somewhere on a forum a while back that the clutch switch can over ride the rev counter?

I feel that although the revs lift on power/boost, that it's not the clutch slipping..... It's like the management system is correcting something faulty?

ive also tried it with the traction control off and on as my pal once had a focus st170 years back (when we were stupid and young) and although with the traction control off and dropping the clutch to spin the wheels etc, it would just slip the clutch and stink!

i know it's a long shot but I hope someone has had this problem lol.

much appreciated,

Ryan.

 

[c_w]

It does sound like clutch slip to me. As the clutch is entirely mechanical if you can feel the motor revving and the car's not acceleratiing properly then it has to be clutch slip. If a clutch starts to slip it will always slip around 2000rpm as boost/peak torque comes in, and with a remap it's possibly a bit peakier making it worse. As the boost stabilises the clutch often "catches up" and locks so then appears ok.

It's not the first time I have read of a clutch no time at all in these cars. I'm not sure if there is a correlation with the SMFs but there does seem to be a lot of people with issues on new clutches.

What brand of clutch was fitted?

 

[ryanmorton007]

But surely if I pressed the clutch as it started to slip then it I would be able to make it slip even worse/more?
I know how to test the clutch in every way so if the clutch was weak then surely that would show when putting it through all test procedures?

The clutch kit was a valeo from euro car parts....

 

[Mikemc]

Did you fit a new clutch when you did the smf?

 

[c_w]

But surely if I pressed the clutch as it started to slip then it I would be able to make it slip even worse/more?
I know how to test the clutch in every way so if the clutch was weak then surely that would show when putting it through all test procedures?

The clutch kit was a valeo from euro car parts....

Valeo is obviously good so be surprising for that to fail so soon. By pressing the clutch, do you mean to slip the clutch on purpose and get it to bite again? I suppose if the clutch is still working to a degree but it's torque capability might just be say at 95%, so out of peak torque from the engine the clutch might behave as normal, but that last 5% takes it over and makes it slip a bit like you're seeing?

 

[tdi-man]

any play in gearbox shaft ? may be oil seal ?

 

[SmithyAG]

Mine does exactly the same randomly, albeit on original clutch and flywheel.

Started 6 months ago when the turbo was overboosting, would slip specifically from 2000 to 2300rpm and back again, but quite slowly. I've been in a Citreon that had a knackered clutch and that would shoot from 2k rpm to the redline quickly as the clutch slipped, this is nothing like that.

After a new turbo at christmas it stopped until last week and it did it twice during a long journey, and I could replicate it by accelerating in 6th from 2000rpm. The next day it stopped and now it won't do it whatever I try. I've done WOT runs in every gear from low revs, I've upshifted and downshifted with no throttle to check it bites quickly, I've lifted the clutch pedal in 4th from a standstill to see if it would stall instantly and it did. I then decided to stop giving my clutch so much abuse and left it alone, putting it down to a random blip or possible glazing on the surface from something which has now burned off.

I am going with the principle that if it's on it's last legs and about to go, then so be it, that's why I have breakdown cover!

 

[c_w]

Unless there is a major fault, the clutch won't let you down and leave you stranded, it takes ages to go from clutch slip in high torque/low gear conditions to no drive at all.

I drove mine with clutch "slip" for months, it drove fine. There would have to be nothing left on the clutch (no drive) for it not to stall the car lifting the pedal in 4th at a standstill. On my car, the clutch plate I took off was well worn down (130,000miles) and just starting on to the rivets but it still had enough clamping force to cope nearly all of the power/torque (170TDi).

 

[ryanmorton007]

Yeah I fit a complete solid flywheel and clutch kit, as I say it's prob done around 8-10k and never drove it silly. It worked fine yesterday and I couldn't get it to slip (as it does on its own) which was weird and today it's back to normal/fault etc.

Sounds exactly the same as yours SmithyAG.....

When I fit the flywheel/clutch kit with a new slave cyclinder It wouldn't clear 1st gear.... My friend owns a transmission company and he said there's a shim and a cap kit which can be done in situe without taking the box back out so he did that in about 10mins!!
It's due to the dual mass having excess play when worn that it wears something on or around the main shaft (I can't remember) but after he fit that it's been perfect.

I don't feel that it has had a remap but just due to the cat being removed that that's only why it boosts a little better (nothing super quick/excessive boost etc).

Even if it had a remap it should last longer than it has!!

The only thing I can say that's different that could be a part of the problem is that when we fit the kit and a slave then bled the slave out, we then road tested the car and realised it wouldn't clear 1st gear so we re bled it a couple of times and was no better.
We then fit the shim kit and all was good, although every so often I get more than normal free play at the top of the pedal??? (As though there's air in the system???
And if your in 1st gear in traffic then go to set off, there's a creak/groan and the pedal lifts fractionally before taking up the drive.....???

(Sounds really bad but it's very minor to the point that I didn't think it was problem) then when it started with this problem I wondered if the slave cylinder was sticking somehow and wasn't fully returning ie; causing slip on full boost/torque...???