Hello everyone...

its been a long wait... took my time in doing a flywheel and clutch install on a 98 audi 1.8t. its been a very long two weeks.

But finally its done and its off the ramps... and OH NO!! its not going into gears! llol NOW WHAT!

Whats been done: removed the trans, removed stock flywheel and clutch... its all good.
Then , i installed a SPEC flywheel (single mass)... and a Southbend stage 4 flywheel (sprung) for a single mass flywheel.

This is my situation now... (engine off) it goes into gears without a problem. The clutch pedal is stiffer then stock but it feels good.
(engine on) ... clutch down.. it wont go into gear.
Now if i place the clutch pedal halfway down... it will go into gear and it will act normal when its released.
If the car is in gear, and the clutch is pressed all the way down.. it will start making noise.. but not like gears grinding, its more of some type of metal rubbing on metal.

Does anyone know of this situation?
i really dont want to pull this trans out, AGAIN!

thanks guys,

JOHN

 

well thats unfortunate because it sounds like something was installed incorrectly.

 

I imagine the clutch is not disengaging fully at the point where the pedal has reached it's greatest point of travel. Did you use an alignment tool when reassembling the rotating assembly (plate, clutch, flywheel)? Did you torque down the bolts in a circular method? Is the throw out bearing contacting the flywheel correctly?

Sorry, but thinking you might have to take the tranny back out again.

 

It actually sounds more like the throw is TOO much. Sounds to me like the correct amount of travel for the throw-out bearing is achieved at mid pedal, and that by putting the pedal to the floor, you are over-extending to throw-out bearing, and that is where your noise is coming from. If these are the right parts (IE - for THIS car) then that trans is coming back out tonight. Hey, it's Friday, good time to drink, and this is a good reason to drink - put them together.

Beer and power tools. My kind of night?

 

thanks guys,

the only way i am able to shift is to place a half inch spacer at the floor , so that the pedal stops at that point... the car will shift with no problem and drives great.

Now, i was told to remove the slave , which i did and noticed it was in pieces.. so now i have to order one.

I was able to feel inside , and i do feel the arm (fork) and the dimple where the slave pistons sits in. it doesnt feel out of place...

there is very little bit of play in the arm

Is there any adjustment i can make to the master cylinder... perhaps thats all i need?>

i did use the aligntment tool... everything was checked, double checked, tripled checked.
everything was torqued in a criss cross pattern.
the pressure plate fingers were straight according to the directions given by Southbend.

I'm running out of ideas!!!

JOHN

 

And then there was only 7 fingers...

 

You want that play in the arm, once the slave is installed, on a hydraulic slave cyl, once the fluid pressure is burped, that will remove the slack.

Know that you want some slack in there without the slave installed.

When the slave is back, and you have certainty you have purged it fully (do it with vacuum or a pressure bleeder for best success, slave cyls are notorious for retaining air) you might have a fix.

 

i installed the new "used" slave... it was given to me by killa (boostfactory.net) in working order....

i tried to just simply use gravity to bleed it out.. i guess u mentioned using vacuum ... need to buy a vacuum pump.

with just gravity... now the pedal feels light for the first two inches.. and gets stiffer towards the middle to the end.

iS that how a stage 4 should feel like?
It does feel different then before, where it felt like the pedal was going to kick back and break my leg.

i havent test driven it yet... want to make sure its correct before dropping down the car.

JOHN

 

UPDATE!!!!

Last night i installed a used slave.. in working condition..
i bleed it out using a manual vacuum pump this morning... bleed over 20oz.

Tighten everything up, and now the pedal goes all the way down... no strange noises and it goes into gears.... GREAT!!!

Took it for a 2 mile run , nice and easy.. went through first, second, third a few times..

brought it home, and as soon as i got in front of the garage.. i tried to reverse it.. and it wont go in anymore..

and NOW if i put the pedal all the way down again... it start to make noise again. lol this is TO MUCH!

the car will shift with the pedal half an inch off the floor... i dont know what else it can be.

What would make it work at the beginning and now it doesn work...
another thing i noticed was when i first installed the slave... the pedal felt very loose for the first two inches.

then after a mile or so... the pedal became stiffer on top end and felt good over all.
but as soon as i stopped it in the driveway... i needed to install the spacer i made again!


Could it be the flywheel causing this... or clutch/pressure plate? could it be out of spec?
maybe its sitting forwarded out causing less pedal travel...


loL i will never touch a manual trans ever again!!!!
lol


JOHN

 

Bleed all four brakes and then the clutch slave again.