S3 Stronic: Stutter from cold

[WetFishDB]

Hi all,

Has anyone experienced the same as me. I live on a main road. Basically when starting the car from cold, e.g. first thing in the morning, and then steadily and normally accelerating it will stutter briefly after a few secs. A second or so later it will then go back to normal and work fine.

The stutter feels like the engine is lacking air/fuel or something. It stops accelerating completely for a second or so.

It's going into Audi next week, but would be interested if anyone else has had similar experiences?

Thanks

 

[Chimp]

What fuel do you use? I had a similar situation on my TTRS, I always used 99 RON tesco's but it seems they were putting crap fuel in it.

I changed to shell optimax or whatever its called now (although more expensive) and it ran fine after that. I thought it was things like spark plugs and all sorts.

 

[WetFishDB]

What fuel do you use? I had a similar situation on my TTRS, I always used 99 RON tesco's but it seems they were putting crap fuel in it.

I changed to shell optimax or whatever its called now (although more expensive) and it ran fine after that. I thought it was things like spark plugs and all sorts.

Thanks. I almost always use Shell Nitro. Only once ever put normal Shell in when the local Shell garage had run out of Nitro. Never anything else.

 

[Chimp]

Ah ok, I think the tesco stuff was the problem... sorry no help then!

 

[WetFishDB]

Ah ok, I think the tesco stuff was the problem... sorry no help then!

That's okay, thanks for trying to help though

 

[JohnM100]

Engine stutter not exactly:

I have had a few cases with S-Tronic in Manual (M1) when accelerating it seems to half pull the clutch as if changing gear and then realises it's in manual mode (so shouldn't do that without gearshift input) and pops the clutch like a learner driver. Is this what you are describing?

In theory could be engine stutter but always thought it more gearbox than engine.

Had it both warm & cold engines. Only ever use Shell VPower Nitro+

John.

 

[WetFishDB]

Engine stutter not exactly:

I have had a few cases with S-Tronic in Manual (M1) when accelerating it seems to half pull the clutch as if changing gear and then realises it's in manual mode (so shouldn't do that without gearshift input) and pops the clutch like a learner driver. Is this what you are describing?

In theory could be engine stutter but always thought it more gearbox than engine.

Had it both warm & cold engines. Only ever use Shell VPower Nitro+

John.

Yeah, it sounds VERY similar. This morning it was in D, but still felt a bit like it tried to change the gear and then changed its mind and just popped the clutch. Have you come up with a solution?

 

[JohnM100]

No solution yet. Car going into garage tomorrow but for different reason: kids throwing handfuls of stones off a bridge & damaged car. You'll probably get an answer before me so please do report back on what garage tells you.

John.

 

[arad85]

How quickly do you pull away after putting the car into drive? I seem to remember someone saying that Stronics pre-select R and 2nd gear (R is on the same shaft as first) and when you move off, it will start in second, then drop to first as it realises you are going forward.

 

[cemerson]

That doesn't make sense at all... if you were going backwards you'd select R, not D!

 

[cemerson]

Hmm, apparently it does it if you put it into D and press on the accelerator straight away, but for most part it has switched clutches by the time you try and move away after selecting D

 

[WetFishDB]

How quickly do you pull away after putting the car into drive? I seem to remember someone saying that Stronics pre-select R and 2nd gear (R is on the same shaft as first) and when you move off, it will start in second, then drop to first as it realises you are going forward.

Not that quickly. I was sat in D for a few seconds waiting for a gap in the traffic to pull away.

 

[veeeight]

When you are in "P" or "N"

The gearbox does not know if you want to go forwards, or backwards.

So it pre-selects "R" and "2".

This video explains all:

 

[6audi6]

Mine stutters a wee bit in first. I'm kinda of getting used to it along with the excess pedal travel in first before it picks up any pace. This I can live with and dare say get used to.

What is disappointing is the jerky nature when setting off when the handbrake or hill hold releases automatically. However you try to throttle it it jerks somewhat. Reverse is worse. Its been in the garage for recalibration. Which appears to be audi speak for done ****** all. I was told to expect some thump upon release - not to that extent on a 35k car in my opinion. It will be going back for another visit sadly.

I now find pulling back on the lever and flicking into sport mode - in fully auto - gets a sharper and quicker response at a junction when held in first. Once clear you can just flick it back into drive.

 

[cemerson]

What is disappointing is the jerky nature when setting off when the handbrake or hill hold releases automatically.

I found that on the S-Tronic I had on Monday. I found that just tapping the accelerator briefly, waiting for the handbrake to release, then going on the pedal fully solved it, but not ideal.

 

[cemerson]

I wonder who will come up with the first tri-clutch transmission... would solve all these problems!

 

[6audi6]

I found that on the S-Tronic I had on Monday. I found that just tapping the accelerator briefly, waiting for the handbrake to release, then going on the pedal fully solved it, but not ideal.

Yeah, I've tried that too but sadly in my case its not much better.

 

[JohnM100]

OK This thread seems to be going off on a "S-tronic jerkiness" tangent.

In normal use S-Tronic is smooth. Some of the recent posts refer to jerkiness and reference P/N/D/R/2 etc. I did find some jerkiness when I first got mine but learned that the jerkiness was caused by my impatience. Being a bit more fluid in my movements (e.g. you can put it in R when crawling forwards and the clutch will bite gently to halt you and then go backwards; just as a manual does). The difference being it it takes a second or so to do it unlike a manual. If you feel the box slow to respond and give it more throttle as a 'helping hand' then it will jump to attention; hence jerkiness. I did have a scary near-miss moment with our front porch in the first few days of ownership because of this but after that panicky moment I learned that patience and fluid movements/throttle pressure rule here and all has been well since.

Even coming to a stop can be smooth with 3 different brake pedal pressures
extra light: slow to a stop but not enough to engage Hold Assist. Car creeps forward as soon as brake pedal pressure eased.
light-ish: slow to a stop and engage hold assist - can get a slight rock unless you time it so that you become stationary at same time the box goes from 2->1
medium: come to a stop and start/stop kicks in

The only time I have known jerkiness in normal use is reversing up a hill, but this seems to be related to the electronic handbrake more than S-tronic itself. The software update didn't really make much difference.

Now back to the OP topic.
Haven't had this too often but in my case this stutter seems to be after the gear has been engaged for at least a few seconds so is not a R->2->1 thing. OP states similar that car has been in gear for several seconds already.

I hope this gets sorted as it can be really disconcerting; wanting to accelerate and all of a sudden very little happens (as if clutch pulled in) then pop: clutch out and car bolts.

John.

 

[WetFishDB]

Update: it seems the garage weren't able to detect anything which isn't surprising given its intermittent and been very warm. That said, Audi HQ apparently told them to do a clutch re-alignment and then re-test this morning. Not expecting anything to come back.