Alex has an RS4 Avant. Different.
Different what? Different boot space maybe. Same clutch/flywheel/slave/lines etc.
Iirc, the RS4 has a vacuum booster line.
The RS4 AVANT does? But not the sedan? That is strange.
From Alex
"my clutch is a Sachs.
When I had the original clutch I had the same problem. There is an upgraded vacuum line that solves 90% of the problem. It was really a pain and very worrying, not to mention frustrating, seeing that pedal stick to the floor…
Order a clutch vacuum line and make sure it comes new and it’s not sitting at the dealership’s stock, so it’s surely the new version. It’s a quick job, so don’t let anyone stiff you for that."
I think it applies to all RS4’s, not just the Avant.
I’ve been wrong before, but, as I said iirc.
Guarantee he is talking about the line folks replace. I think he is confusing vacuum line here. Actually sounds like a tech or someone else told him what was wrong with his car and perhaps he misinterpreted.
If it is the lines then I guess it’s not the core issue. I’ve had my sticky clutch both before (while completely stock) and after upgrading my lines to stainless steel and getting the metal slave cylinder too. I think Axel is the same.
If it is indeed the pressure plate we’ll find out in the next few weeks I guess…
My thoughts as well. I think he’s talking about the pressure hose between the slave and master cylinders which I’ve replaced with an SS line to no avail. Was one of my first attempts as it was quite cheap relative to the rest of the parts I’ve changed.
Other than tony has anyone else replaced the fork and “that little plastic bit” on the fork? And the input shaft sleeve?
What “little plastic bit” are you referring to?
Not sure exactly but I recall reading about some little plastic bit on the fork that apparently wears out prematurely. I’ll see if I can dig up those posts. I just figured if the tranny will be dropped again might as well refresh those relatively cheap parts as peace of mind.
But at the same time I wonder if its the same part on the s4 and rs4 though, and even if it were, I wonder why then the s4’s with their own pressure plate don’t have the same sticky issue then. I doubt its the cause of the problem, but maybe something related to those parts in conjunction with the pressure plate is causing issues?
It seems like the clutch still grips when the pedal gets stuck, so I wonder if the issue is the pressure plate not releasing or whether its upstream of that (that fork, slave, lines, master, pedal). I think slave lines and master can be rules out since people have replaced them with no luck. I don’t see how it could be the pedal since its rpm dependant.
If it is the pressure plate not coming back up fully though (maybe just enough to give it a bit of grip?) I wonder what could be strong enough that could be preventing it from doing so. Seems like its getting stuck right at the friction point. The sac mechanism maybe? Also noticed the r series pp doesn’t have the sac mechanism anymore…
Anyways just my diarrhea of thoughts there. Should be interesting to see if the r series system solves not only this but all the random oem pp failures (rivets, springs etc).
But the clutch breakin is going to be a pain lol
Here’re the part #s for the fork lever thing and sleeve.
I love the official technical description of the part. “Piece” lol
I don’t have an RS4, but I pretty much replaced everything in my clutch assembly sans the shaft sleeve (a new one is sitting in my garage). The only thing that solved my issue (albeit temporarily) was resetting the SAC on the PP.
Does the S4 kit use the RS4 input shaft sleeve and/or release bearing?
The input shaft and bearing are the same. I recently had it apart to work on another item and replaced the shaft while in there. The old one was pretty beat up.
Did they get you with the huge price markup for the updated input shaft too? Mine was originally like $175 and the updated part jumped up to like $861.
I was in my car with Dan from JHM this Saturday and we got to talking about the sticky clutch.
He feels that it iis 100% the pressure plate and the SAC mechanism that cause the issue. Can’t avoid it without replacing the pressure plate and eliminating the SAC. He also thinks it is related to the massive RPMs the RS4 reaches. This can be seen with the B5/6/7 guys having virtuallly no problems with this B7 RS4 pressure plate on their cars, whereas the RS4 guys ALL run into the problem.
I asked him if JHM thought about making a R pressure plate option for people who don’t want to deal with sticky clutch, but also don’t want to go aftermarket clutch (lots ofthe RS246 guys for example say they will never go with anythign other than the stock clutch). He said yes but problem is you would still have that SAC mechanism potentially causing issues.
The input shaft and bearing are the same. I recently had it apart to work on another item and replaced the shaft while in there. The old one was pretty beat up.
Did they get you with the huge price markup for the updated input shaft too? Mine was originally like $175 and the updated part jumped up to like $861.