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Recently picked up my RS4, all good except have noticed a slow clutch return especially with 'spirited' driving. I found this;

http://rs6.com/showthread.php/9448-Stic ... ch%20Issue

Sounds exactly like the problem, anyone else had this? Is it covered under warranty?

I believe others have had this replaceable under Audi warranty.
IIRC your car is pretty new so if you bought from any car dealer you should be able to get them to fix it under the sale of goods act.
The main point is that the circumstances required for the problem to become apparent are not easily replicated under a normal test drive.

There is also a tech note on the clutch return pipe being affected by heat and causing a blister but this isn't always the fix.

Didn't buy from a dealer, but does have remaining audi warranty which has been transferred to my name. Will book into Audi kindlington tomorrow. Apart from that, what an amazing car, so stable at high speeds, it really instills confidence when being driven fast!

it really instills confidence when being driven fast!

...this can be a problem, be careful bro

vestax32 wrote:Didn't buy from a dealer, but does have remaining audi warranty which has been transferred to my name. Will book into Audi kindlington tomorrow. Apart from that, what an amazing car, so stable at high speeds, it really instills confidence when being driven fast!

The apparent "bad" weather we've been having at the moment should be called something else.
Then we'd have weather forceasts along the lines of: "Today the rain will be very 'quattro' with frequent bursts of V8 leaving RS standing water"

I've never had soo much fun especially when meeting the various M3's, AMG's and Focus RS's that prowl around here.

vestax32 wrote:Didn't buy from a dealer, but does have remaining audi warranty which has been transferred to my name. Will book into Audi kindlington tomorrow. Apart from that, what an amazing car, so stable at high speeds, it really instills confidence when being driven fast!

If push come to shove, they ain't my personal choice.
Whenever dealer was required I went to Aylesbury.

Sure, bit further but the site is much bigger making parking less... stressful and importantly when I had a DRC query I got two replies.
One said after 3 hours of "searching" - "DRC goodwill warranty is an internet myth and rumor."
The other said immediately (in fact as soon as I said "DRC") - "No problem sir, Audi have a procedure with pictures outlining various different defects and which are covered by the goodwill. Coincidentially we just changed 2 DRC units on an rs4 last week under goodwill...".

Guess which one got my business

Hey mate let me no out come of clutch problem av got same problem with rs4 avant its just had new master cylinder and then slave cylinder from audi dealer abt month ago slightly better but still not right only happens when driivin hard pissin me off!

I have done a fair bit of research and it seems that it is the clutch return pipe, and/or the guide sleeve on the input shaft. Nothing to do with master/slave cylinder or the clutch being shot. Car is going in on Friday next week, will let you know the outcome......

vestax32 wrote:I have done a fair bit of research and it seems that it is the clutch return pipe, and/or the guide sleeve on the input shaft. Nothing to do with master/slave cylinder or the clutch being shot. Car is going in on Friday next week, will let you know the outcome......

mines in unit20 now getting a loba clutch and flywheel for this exact same problem (and three new shocks ), i too believe its the guide sleeve that causes the problems i will inspect my old one for any signs of binding or wear.
as for the clutch return pipe there's a few people on here who have had it swapped and it hasn't cured the problem, supposedly only cars manufactured before august 2006 had the dodgy pipe so august 2006 onwards cars should already have the new revised clutch return pipe.

sar, I’ll be interested in how the Loba clutch and flywheel feel once you have it installed. Which one did you go for? 550nm, 600nm or 650nm?

I don’t have a problem with my second clutch yet, but I rather be prepared. The last one didn’t give me much notice that it’s on its way out and only lasted 14K miles!

nij wrote:sar, I’ll be interested in how the Loba clutch and flywheel feel once you have it installed. Which one did you go for? 550nm, 600nm or 650nm?

I don’t have a problem with my second clutch yet, but I rather be prepared. The last one didn’t give me much notice that it’s on its way out and only lasted 14K miles!

Good god man - what are you doing to that poor clutch!

The original clutch from new, often smell of burning after a spirited drive and on a couple of occasion, it was really bad. Took it to my local dealer a few times, but was told nothing was wrong with the clutch. Then one day, it was really hard to engage gears. I left it at the dealers as I was going on holiday the next day, they rang me a few days later to say that the clutch and flywheel need changing. They blamed it on my driving, yet I don’t have the same problem with the new clutch and flywheel.

I had another issue two and a half weeks ago and they told me that they think it’s the flywheel. Luckily, it turned out to be a faulty Oil Breather Valve causing a loud whistle noise. Now I paranoid about the clutch is about to let go again.

I had this problem on mine from time to time, a new clutch and flywheel later and all is well (apart from my bank balance).

The friction plate or something was shot on the old clutch, quite badly according to the garage.

Mine is an 07 so not the clutch return pipe. Looks like guide sleeve is the culprit. Gears are engaging fine and no smell form clutch so I'm sure there is nothing wrong there. Remains to be seen what bullish*t the stealers tries to feed me about why they think it is!

So, got my car back from Kidlington Audi today, and as suspected that are telling me there is nothing wrong! Apparently 3 technicians all test drove it and could get the problem to occur. Obviously this is because they wern't driving it in the 'spirited' manner in which it needs to be driven for the problem to occur. It happened again on the way home. The audi warranty runs out in 2 weeks, it then goes onto an inchcape warranty which means I can take the car anywhere, so looks like a trip to MRC to speak to people who actually know what they are talking about!