Dead clutch pedal?

[KfabR8]

Has anyone experienced a clutch pedal that's gone dead?

This morning I got in the car, pushed on the pedal and there was no resistance until the last quarter of the throw - and then it was a very soft, feelingless resistance. The pedal was more or less hanging straight down and I could pull it back with my foot to it's usual position.

I was able to get the car in reverse and select first when I needed it, but it definitely wasn't fully disengaging the clutch.

After about 30 seconds, the system seems to have pumped itself back up (like a brake pedal would feel after being bled) and it functioning normally again.

I'll be making a call to Audi this morning - I was already planning on this, as the car wants service in 600 miles.

41,459 miles in two weeks shy of two years of ownership - the only thing I've had to replace thus far has been tires. My brakes and pads (probably due) and the clutch are still the original pieces. I've seen some of the R-tronic owners having clutch issues at 10K - so I can't complain. And, as a bonus, the car's still under warranty!!!

[harrison]

I am at the dealer now , having my sprint-booster re-installed. I asked the "Stand-in Service manager if the computer shows remaining clutch life,he said no. My REAL service manager will be back in a week and I'll ask again. I will hit 20K miles on Friday at Buttonwillow raceway . Your 42K car might just be the highest mileage R8 in the world ?!?!?! \"/ Oh yeah,I purchased new rubber scoops for the bottom rear as I destroyed one of them. I think they are beneficial to cooling.They probably slow us down too! What do you think?

[KfabR8]

Yup - almost 42K WOO HOO! That mark should fall next week. I get the feeling this will be a 100K+ mile car before I'm done with it.

Dealer update:
Hood latch - lubed, adjusted and now works (for a while....)

Clutch pedal - couldn't repeat the issue this morning - I'm guessing that I pumped up the system and now it'll slow leak over the night. At least that's what my tech and I are thinking. We'll see in the morning.

Who knows - may be some sort of oddity that never shows up again. Machines do that on occasion. I didn't abuse the car at all yesterday - just drove it normally and never did anything that would have heated up anything in the drive train.

I was told the same thing on my clutch - no indication on the manual. The R-tronic has some sort of wear indication, but it's not a real world indicator of just how much has worn away. Tech said that it's more of a "hey, keep an eye on this" type indication. - and for you R-tronic guys, did you know that your car will keep registry of the launch sequence thing? It makes a note of each time you do a launch control start.

My rotors are fairly worn, but still just fine and viable. My brake pads - both front and rear - are at about 50%. Must be all the down shifting I do instead of using the brakes to slow the car in general driving. I have new rotors and pads sitting on a shelf, so when they're due, that's a no-brainer to change out. May as well keep using what's on the car until they NEED changing.

Knock on wood - I've not "removed" one of my little ducts in a while now.

I do believe they bring quite a bit of air into the back end of the car and help keep the area around the muffler cool. It's probably quite beneficial to keep them in place.

[James Knight]

Much cheaper to replace pads and discs rather than clutches and gearboxes!... having said that, I'm a "downshifter" too - perfectly heal-and-toed downshifts are part of the tactile experience of owning a manual

[OEMplus.com]

Kfab, we had that same problem here when we were installing a V10 clutch in the TT car. The manual transmission taps into your brake reservoir and uses fluid just like the brake system. There is a port on the top of the transmission that you can bleed off air.

There are likely some bubbles in the system, which will cause this to be firm after some driving but soft at system start. About 3' of tubing and a catch will be enough to access the opening, but make sure you cover the clutch disc access hole next to it before doing the bleed!

[KfabR8]

It must have been pissed at me for some reason.

Picked up the car this afternoon and it's just fine. Who knows! - but I'll keep that little nugget of info at hand - thanks Rich.

I had to cell-phone stalkerazi myself...

My buddy and I went to pick up his Porsche 996 (anyone have a good used engine for a '99?) from the dealership and then went by Audi and picked up my R8. Since he can't drive my truck/trailer, he drove the R8 home and I went on a cell phone attack. Unfortunately he wouldn't slow down enough for me to come up along side him and do the highway cell shot.



And a shot in the parking lot, just for grins:

[Europrice]

Kfab-

If the clutch pedal issue came on it's own it may come back, likely unfortunately. Those systems are sealed and for air to get into the system causing a softer pedal means there is a leak in the pressure side of things. A gravity feed line runs from the reservoir down to the master cylinder, if air gets into that line generally no problem because as mentioned the system is sealed, not like it runs through fluid ever.

The biggest thing to check, did the fluid level change in the brake reservoir to any massive degree? If it has dramatically or it had to be topped off there is a leak somewhere in the clutch system. May be tiny, but enough to let air in slowly. Also the possibility of a bad master or slave, generally with those the clutch likes to sink to the floor and just sit there. Then you have to toe it back up, get progressively worse as one of the cylinders fails.

Hope it gets solved for you. In some cases I've just replaced the master, slave and pressure hose just to be safe because no leaks could be found. However I wouldn't want to have to replace the slave on one of these, it's nestled behind clutch assembly, ugh. A good bleed will of course make it fresh, but an unidentified leak will keep coming back, same with a dying pressure component.

Good Luck!

[KfabR8]

Got in it about 20 minutes ago and it's doing it again. The system pumps up easily and continues to work well, but it's going back to Audi. I agree with you guys. It's similar to a brake setup, plumbing wise, so if it's going dead, there's a leak or a seal going bad. That's not good!

I'll call my Audi tech and give him a bunch of grief about it after he's off work. (:

[Europrice]

Dang sounds like a leak somewhere or a failing master or slave. Cross your fingers that it's not a slave cylinder, looks like a PITA the replace. At least you can get around and it didn't strand you somewhere.

The tech should be happy it's coming back. He gets to work on an R8 again

Cheers,

[KfabR8]

I had a good time in it this evening - everything's fine again. Like I said earlier, who knows?

My tech said he'd get everything on order and plans to install on Tuesday or Wednesday.

I'm gonna drive it until it either goes to the shop or leaves me stranded! What the heck, right?