2 year old Audi A3 / 33k miles = clutch gone :(

gettothechopper

gettothechopper

gettothechopper

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Had this car about 3 months - its been perfect the whole time - went to drive to work this morning and clutch has gone

Just got it dropped to the Audi garage, they say car is still in warranty and are going to take a look at it today

reading horror stories online now about dual mass flywheels and clutches and Audi not covering things and worried that it could be up to £1600! to fix

crappy warranty (that was probably worthless anyway) with place I bought if from ran out last week :p

its a 1.6tdi a3 2013, with the start stop thing

anyone any got experience of this stuff ? costs / time etc

it was fine on my drive home last night, when parking up clutch felt a bit light - i thought maybe it was the heat :rolleyes:

drove round a few corners this morning and it went from working to completely gone within half a mile
 
While it is probably not what you want to hear, a clutch will be considered as a serviceable item and it will unlikely be covered by any warranty (That is unless the clutch has broken in such a way that is not conducive to normal wear and tear).

No idea on cost, sorry. Maybe someone who has run an A3 in here will be able to help you with this?
 
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If the car was changing gear fine / no slip the night before, then the clutch won't just 'die' overnight with no use.

Odds are your slave cylinder has gone, should be sub £200 to fit a new one and bleed the system.
 
It's perhaps more likely that some part of the hydraulic system has failed, meaning you can't operate the clutch... Or is there no bite at all if you put it in gear and try to move off?

I'd be very surprised if you've managed to totally wear through a clutch in 33k miles.


Edit: Beaten
 
started off this morning "light" feeling
within about two corners it was juddering
as I stopped it was almost impossible to put into first (really heavy gear leaver)
tried it one last time from stopped when waiting for AA bloke and you could select any gear (light gear lever) you liked without touching the clutch pedal and it didn't effect the engine

does it share the brake fluid res? it still had fluid in if that matters

its worked with no juddering sticking or slipping until last night when i parked up if felt different than normal (lower bite point maybe?)
 
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As it is a 2 year old car, you should be covered partly by Audi's own manufacturer's warranty if anything has broken/failed. Did the original owner adhere to the servicing schedule to maintain the warranty status on the car or did they rather stupidly let it lapse by skimping on the servicing?
 
gettothechopper said:
reading horror stories online now about dual mass flywheels and clutches and Audi not covering things and worried that it could be up to £1600! to fix
...
anyone any got experience of this stuff ? costs / time etc
Click to expand...

Wizardskills said:
No idea on cost, sorry. Maybe someone who has run an A3 in here will be able to help you with this?
Click to expand...


Clutch is £799 under Audi Fixed Priced servicing, although no idea if that includes DMF as well.

https://www.audi.co.uk/content/audi...-mot/fixed-price-services/under-2-litres.html


Wait and see what Audi have to say, pointless jumping to conclusions
 
If the pedal goes straight to the floor and you cannot engage gear then it is likely to be the hydraulics rather than the clutch itself (Unless fluid has leaked all over the clutch plate)

And probably the slave cylinder.

If you have a traditional external slave cylinder, it is a relatively quick easy and inexpensive job. If you unfortunate enough to have one of the increasingly common concentric type then it is likley to hurt if you cant get it done under warrenty
 
Sounds more like the Dual Mass flywheel or failed release bearing not the clutch.
 
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Clutches / DMF's do not 'wear' out after 33k and two years unless you spend all your time riding it like a cheap ho - be quite clear on that with them
 
You would have to give the car constant abuse for it to wear out the clutch and flywheel in that sort of time surely. I cant see them giving you a £2000 bill as the car is so new and low mileage.
 
im still in car honeymoon so driving it nice :)

no idea about previous

Had clutch go before years ago and it took a good few days of getting worse before it went
this was good to broke in less than half a mile of city driving (although early so not many other cars about)
 
gettothechopper said:
she said clutch and DMF are "wear items" depending on how it broke and why
Click to expand...

If they do come back with a bill, then you need to argue for a goodwill gesture by playing the "I wouldn't expect this to happen (at this mileage) with a premium brand like Audi.", although depending on whether it has been serviced by Audi can affect whether they are open to Goodwill payouts - given the bad press they had recently regarding "oil usage", then they may likely be more open to haggling/fixing problems with less fuss.

Wait and see though - may be a manufacturing defect or an issue that they know about.
 
Surely has to be a manufacturing defect, depending on what happens and the size of the bill it might be worth paying for a independent report.
 
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