Probably a silly question, but did your tech use new bolts? Or reuse the old ones that were probably blowtorched off…
What your describing sounds like the pressure plate backed off or something.
Feel is a bit tough to explain. I’ll see if I can get a quick video or something for the engagement point.
JHM supplied new pressure plate bolts used with red loctite
Sorry I can’t edit posts? But great video. I have the same feel it seems, just engagement is about an inch off the firewall.
When I broke in my first R pressure plate last week I took second gear to 7k rpm shifted to 3rd and had trouble getting out of 2nd until I jammed it out and forced it into 3rd which shouldn’t be like that and what my friends tell me is that it’s dragging, And I’m pretty sure that would happen now if I tried it on this second pressure plate because of the super low engagement point and how at a stop light it’s hard to get into first with the car on, pedal to the floor as if it’s 20 degrees out and the tranny oil is cold lol.
Well I just started the car after it sat outside for 12 hours and it seems the clutch isn’t dragging anymore because I can shift 1-2nd gear with the car idling nice and smooth with no force to jam it into gear. Now the car is cold*
Engagement point feels the same as when I left my shop yesterday when the car was cold, at a stock level, higher 2 inches from the firewall.
Here’s a vid you can see it it rolling on the bottom left corner and the pedal in where it engages. This is how I believe it should be. I’m going to drive her around town normal driving and see if the problem returns when it’s heated up.
???
You do realize you’re suppose to drive the car easy during break-in? Lots of stop and go, not shifting at 7k RPMs!..no hard shifts. Don’t screw up the simple shit.
If your installer is actually competent, he should be figuring this out, not you.
…and by figuring it out I mean more than convincing you that your brand new parts are faulty. Sure, faulty parts happen, but not back to back brand new parts…so you might want to think about the common denominator. I know you’re a young dude, but don’t be gullible…no matter how much this guy wants to throw experience in your face…plenty of know-it-all pros have been found to be dead wrong about many things, not just installing car parts.
Dude I told you with the first R pressure plate that was broken in, I did a 7k shift. And since both have the same symptoms I FEEL Like This would do the same thing. Who knows.
Never said I did a 7k shift with the new pressure plate. I haven’t passed 3k with this pressure plate yet and don’t plan to till 300 miles like Jake @ JHM said.
Hey Rs4 Tony, I got your PM so I’ll chime in.
When my mechanic first installed my 5R, the engagement point was quite low like what you’re describing. It got worse to the point where I was having difficulty shifting at times. I asked him to run a test. Lift the car, put it into first and don’t let go off the clutch. Did the wheels turn ever so slightly? In my case, they did. In other words, the engagement point was so low that even with the clutch pedal all the way down, it wasn’t fully disengaging the clutch. I asked him to re-install it properly (kindly) with some new parts (new throw out bearing, bolts and fork I believe in case the first install had damaged them. I.e. better be safe than sorry) and he did (the test made it obvious in my case there was a problem with installation).
After re-installing it, the engagement point became way higher than the first install and everything was perfect and has been perfect ever since.
Point of the story? Most likely a bad install (it happens, even my own mechanic must have made a tiny screw up even though he had installed the clutch before) and corrected it by re-installing it properly.
Engagement point should NOT be close to the floor and you should NOT have problems shifting. At this point, I’m not sure whether you want to go back to the same guy and have him do it again with a couple new supporting parts to be safe or to go to a brand new guy. The current guy might have better luck a second time to get it right since he’s already done it once whereas a new guy might botch it again as a first attempt or whether the current guy just can’t get it done right and whether it’s worth trying him again. Tough call. In my case, I gave my own mechanic another chance and he got it right.
Good luck.
this is the guy who couldn’t install a crank pulley, right? And insisted it was ‘faulty’…a round fucking disc that a belt wraps onto and spins.
I believe JHM took the ‘faulty’ crank pulley your guy deemed ‘faulty’ and tested it on their RS4, found it was fine, and then sold it for half price to someone else. They’re quite happy with it a year later, the person who bought it.
Your guy convinced you JHM is bad. Now he fucks up the clutch…and JHM is bad again I bet.
As euroswagr said, there’s one common problem here with your various fuckups. So…you ahve three choices
find a new shop and pay a proper wage. Audi techs are generally not JHM techs or aftermarket techs. They are Audi techs. We all make jokes about taking our cars to the dealership and how we wouldn’t do it. You’re doing it…but without the safety of the dealership warranting the work…and without the resources of other more senior people in the shop to help him. Couldn’t be worse I don’t think.
continue with this guy, continue fighting the car, continue blaming JHM and end up with another random clutch/stock crank pulley etc. on your car, making it slower
stick with this guy but have him figure this shit out. Maybe he can go apprentice at Prime Motoring or something.
Engagement is still low. Cold it’s a bit higher but when the car warms up the engagement gets low. Doesn’t seem the car rolls at a stand still in first gear either?
All internal parts are new or have about 600 miles on them now including the T.O.B.
Maybe it’s the slave needing to be bled again. We’ll see how it goes Tuesday when I see him for that
lolol hasn’t listened to anything posted
There is obviously something wrong here if temperature is impacting the engagement point. Try having the system r
Bleed again.
Firstly, the roll test has to be done with the car raised on a lift. If it is barely touching, it won’t have enough friction to actually move the car on the ground. The wheels need to be completely free from any resistance (i.e. pavement).
Secondly, as I wrote in my post, the only time what you’re describing happened to me was a faulty installation.
When I had the clutch re-installed properly, I also threw in: new bolts, new release bearing, new fork.
I don’t know if I needed to have those parts replaced and it might have been overkill but those parts aren’t all that expensive and it was for peace of mind.
The engagement point SHOULD NOT be that low. The only thing (that I can think of) that would cause such a low engagement point is an improper installation.
Is there no mechanic within 30-40 miles of you that has installed a JHM clutch before (other than the one you used)?
If not, try to get some referrals of mechanics that don’t consider themselves super duper (pardon my tech speak). A good but humble mechanic is what you need. Someone that will follow instructions to the letter but still have the skills and attitude to do a good job.
That’s the only advice I can give at this point. It seems you had the same problem I had so take this advice however you want.
And again, good luck. It’s a great clutch once it’s installed properly.
Well I put the car in the lift today and in first gear clutch to the floor, the wheels did not move… I think I was so stressed from the car being messed up the first time where we found the fingers to be bent on the first pressure plate that it made me go crazy about this one as well.
And I guess I forgot where the stock pedal engagement was because my clutch on the OEM pressure plate was all over the map lol. Thanks for the help from everyone here, axel, euroswag, saki, justin, and mistro. Appreciate it. The break in process will continue!
Check back in after a week or so. Let us know how it feels.
roger that.
alright so i have about 900 - 1000 miles put on the car, half city/half highway. clutch feels awesome, engagement is good, only problem i see is when the car warms up to 200 oil temps and up, its super hard to get out and into gear, or downshift at high rpm’s, and banging gears from a roll in first gear.
when the car is warm before getting into the hot oil temps, (cold clutch lets say) i can bang gears awesomely. and it feels great. any idea’s guys?