I will be studying the hydraulic setup tonight. Next step is the master cylinder, but the behavior is making me think it isn’t that.
Maybe contact JHM and see if they’ve ran into this problem before. They’ve been beating the piss out of their s/c car for a while now. More HP = More problems … and a lot more fun 8)
Did you replace the OEM rubber return line with the braided one? That usually has more to with the clutch pedal rate of return than the slave cylinder assuming the slave is funcitoning properly. I purchased both thinking if I was going to take the time to do the hose replacement I might as well replace the slave while i’m there.
Axel/Speed. If what Horsepower is saying has any correlation, it makes perfect sense (from my understanding) that the slave/hydraulic system isn’t the culprit.
I’m thinking it’s the self adjustment spring that is the problem. After it occurred to me once, I realized my engagement point was a bit higher than before once everything was “back to normal”. Not drastically different, but enough when at stop lights etc, my habitual pattern of moving from a stop has resulted in the clutch engagement point being higher than before as I’ll have too much gas in for the point that the clutch is at.
^This same thing happened to me after 1-2 launches with ESP on accidentally (not the pedal being stuck down, but the change in engagement point for the clutch). When we pulled my clutch, the clutch adjuster spring was as far back as it could go, even though there was a decent bit of life left on the clutch. But I had 80k on the oem one, so it wasn’t too shocking for the spring to be back all the way.
Like mentioned, my slave is only 15k old, so I doubt it failed that fast as it is the updated model and my brake fluid is relatively new and right on the max line.
I have to ask, Speed and Maddog, did this start in the last 2 weeks for you guys? If it did, that’s damn eerie…
^haha, I know right. Yes, it literally happened the night I posted in reply to this thread. Karma probably had a role in it, cause I was thinking, “damn axel, that sucks for you.”
I haven’t really tested it again since that one night, b/c I didn’t want to push anything as I doubt it’s a one time fluke. 1-2 still seems fine, but it was just the 3-4 that did it (and I never got higher than that obviously).
New hose as well, but I just picked a new stock one.
lol - Yeah, it started for me on Monday. I did a quick run through the gears and that was the first time it did it.
Ok, that’s fucked up. It all happened to us within a 24 hour period!!! Have the planets aligned as well?
Just out of curiosity, who did yalls clutch install, and have they done any other JHM Clutch Installs?
Also Axel, I just got off the phone with Jay. He was saying they’ve recently made a lot of progress on the “quirks” of tuning in the B7, so some of your issues (and other B7’s) may be history in not much longer. It sounds like the B7 throws up a lot more issues with emissions and other requirements that cause all sorts of little things. But hopefully that’s all about just ironed out.
The same shop that installed my JHM supercharger. He knows what he’s doing so I’m pretty confident it’s not an installation issue.
That’s great news. JHM was alluding to this in a subtle way but didn’t outright say anything (I guess it was too soon hehe). Nice to see some confirmation.
It’s weird how mechanically everythign is the same on a B7, yet so many issues with tuning. One would think that the same tune on the same engine would work out fine
It’s not the mechanics, its the ECU’s (as you obviously know). The B6 to B7 ECU’s are so different it’s not even funny apparently. And the 05.5 is different from both of them ironically. Apparently even the circuit board and electronics are different in the 05.5 than they are in the B6 or later B7’s. Jay just started talking about the ECU’s on the surface level but instantly had me lost as I don’t know their real setups and circuitry etc.
Moral of the story, there are 3 main ECU types (Hoodlum’s B6, Bastard 05.5, Gentleman’s B7), and then tons of “box codes” that span across all the types. B6 are easy to swap and tune, the rest not so much. The B7’s just have a lot more going with emissions and more stringent/finicky about coding, safeguards, and everything else. It sounds like they’ve come a long way but still have a bit to go. But as most things in the B6/7 market, JHM is forging a path through a dense forest of trees that no one else really bothered dealing with as it’s been a “lost” market.
yeah what he said
go to an XXX tuning dealer (one of the big guys) and ask them for a B7 S4 tune. Watch them cringe as they take your money. Why? They know you’re getting screwed. By the time the 3rd and 4th and 5th type of ECUs came out for these cars, the big guys had given up on them. So the tunes are basically rev limiter, throttle and speed limiter removed. They’re horrendous. I believe one of the big guys will actually warn you about this before they sell it to you. That’s a good thing at least.
I should post the logs of the full milltek + XXXX tune 2007 S4 that I logged right after I logged axel’s bone stock 2006 S4. Virtually identical conditions…and virtually identical performance, It’s pretty incredible.
Some tunes run less timing than stock… ???
Hey Speed and Maddog, I’m going to have my mechanic look at my clutch this week now that he’s back from holidays. I’m going to mention the fact that a new slave cylinder hasn’t cleared the problem and I was just wondering if either one of you discovered anything else I can pass on to him to help him troubleshoot.
Thanks.
Anyone know if this would fit on my B7 S4 with a JHM stage 4 clutch?
Its not the tuning its the actual ECU it self. This is why JHM needs the ECUs back. There is a hardware issue that creates an issue when you make big power. So its a ECU upgrade. We don’t really want anyone to know about this as in the future if some company wants to come along and try to do something they are going to have to lean the hard way.
As for the clutch. Always check the bolts for the pressure plate they can cause this issue that sounds like this.
Update - My clutch is working normally again. I have done a few 1st - 3rd gear pulls without issue. I am going to give it a few weeks before declaring victory, but for now all is good.
In regards to what made the difference, that is hard to say. Pulled the transmission and checked all the bolts and all were torqued down. The pressure plate was removed and the SAC mechanism was reset. In the process of putting it back together a new throw out bearing was installed.
I will report back soon to let you know if all remains good.
^How far in was the SAC system? Your clutch was fairly new correct, I wouldn’t expect much travel at on it yet. I didn’t realize you could reset it actually, but I never really looked at them.
So all PP bolts were fine for you? As in were they all to spec when you pulled the clutch, and you then removed the PP to inspect further?
So just for reference, you’ve replaced:
slave
master
slave hard line
throw out bearing
reset SAC
removed & reinstalled PP & re-torqued
And Speed will correct me if I’m wrong but the problem wasn’t fixed after having replaced the slave and master. It wasn’t fixed until he dove in deep hehe.