New A3.. juddering clutch pedal

Ray, Sounds to me like a warped pressure plate or malfunctioning/damaged clutch. It might also be an oil leak onto the clutch plate - and the oil is burning off after the clutch slips for a while. It's still covered by warranty - what does the dealer say...."they're all like that"? BTW, I think by "bite" you are referring to "point of engagement" Cheers! Steve Sears

Warranty should cover that, it's not normal behaviour.

- Yak

Thanks Steve, much appreciated. I have it booked in at the dealer for this Monday, so I'll print out your reply and show it to them.. hope they can get it sorted out. Just drove back from the city and each time I had to move off from a stand still the thing would be juddering like crazy. I'll let you know what the dealer says.

Yes, I think "point of engagement" would be what I was trying to say. :)

Thanks again.

..Ray ekoSheren inc. awaits..

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Thanks Yak. I do believe any repair should be covered by the warranty here. Have an appointment with the dealer on Monday, so will see how it goes.

Thanks again.

..Ray ekoSheren inc. awaits..

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Well, visited the dealer and had one of the guys take a quick look at it. First he mentioned that I shouldn't have the clutch on the "point of engagement" so much, as it'll wear down the clutch parts themselves. That's true I guess, though I did point out that I only have the clutch in this position when preparing to move off from a red light, for example, and for no more than perhaps 10 seconds. Do you guys drive like this?

Maybe I'm just a terrible driver, but this is how I drove my Peugeot 206 for

Anyway, he continued to say that the clutch was absolutely fine and I had nothing to worry about. So now I just leave her in neutral when at a stop, then only engage first when it's time to move off. This way, I never even get near the "point of engagement" as I'm applying power when moving anyway, so I guess it "eliminates" the juddering issue.. :|

But is this guy missing the point? Or am I mistaken?

..Ray ekoSheren inc. awaits..

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No way! This will cause the clutch to overheat and wear out. The clutch should only ever be fully engaged or fully disengaged other than for the second, or so, that it takes to get the car from stationary, up to a road speed that matches a low sutainable engine speed in your lowest gear. Even on a hill start, it shouldn't be necessary to have the clutch slipping for more than a second.

In my view, you have been driving incorrectly. Have you ever been taught how to drive properly with manual gearbox?

Thanks for the advice Peter, I guess I've been driving badly in this sense then. Last couple of trips, I've done exactly what you said and only everything seems to be fine.

This isn't a forum to ask about driving techniques (basics?), so I'll apologise to all now for my next question. In a traffic jam, would you normally hit neutral every time the car needs to stop? I used to hold the clutch on the "point of engagement" with no power and holding the brake waiting for the car in front to move.

Yeah, my bad. It's embarrassing, but I'd rather be told now than have a smoking clutch. I guess I got lucky with my previous car then.

Thanks!

..Ray ekoSheren inc. awaits..

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Personally I prefer the term "biting point" to describe the moment when the clutch kicks in. :-)

In my A3, you wouldn't be able to hold it at the biting point without power. If you do, it will engage the anti-stall mechanism and apply a small amount of power to prevent a stall.

When I was taught how to drive, I was taught that when you arrive at a red light, you selected first gear and waited. While I dont do that now, I usually arrive at a red light and select neutral and engage the handbrake if necessary. However, if the lights are about to change I'll keep it in first.

HTH

Thanks Graham. I called it the "bite" myself on my first post.. I guess there's no "offiicial" phrase for this, so this will do all the same. :)

Actually, I wasn't aware of such a mechanism on my A3, though I have yet to stall it since getting it, even with my "unorthodox clutching" technique.

Yeah, my original instructor said the same thing. When the lights were red, engage first and wait. He told me to have the "bite" on the clutch in first gear, ready when it was time to go, and then apply power while lifting the clutch up slowly. I guess I was still following this now.. having the bite on while holding the brake, and when the lights go green, brake comes up, power goes down as clutch comes up. As Peter suggested in his post, this is probably poor driving skill and will likely get my clutch damaged.

When you say you keep it in first when the lights are about to change, is the clutch fully in or are you getting the bite on it also?

Thanks.

..Ray ekoSheren inc. awaits..

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Uhm, right. Having first one on, or neutral makes no difference if you have clutch in the neutral mode. So that's just a prefer or different drives, do you have gear 'on' all the time, or do you use neutral. If your leg doesn't get tired, who cares.

You shouldn't keep it on the 'biting point' for a long time. When starting uphill, you might need to do this, or in the winter, when you can't push too much power to the road at once. But even so, these are just few seconds.

I've heard of this 'keep in on the bite, when starting from lights'. However I believe even your driver teacher meant, that you should just keep it that way to prevent car from sliding backwards, after taking off the brake, not keeping it there ;)

So, try to learn the 'right way' of using clutch and manual gears, it'll save money for you in the long run. Or buy automatic gears.. ;)

- Yak

Just to say, regardless of correct driving procedures, there is no way the clutch should be juddering like you describe at the biting point, and if the dealer says otherwise I'd take serious issue with it.

In article , eko writes

Here in the UK, our lights go from red alone, to red and amber together, then to green. I was always taught that when you arrive at a red light you should put the car in neutral and engage the handbrake.

When the amber light comes on, you should slot it into first, bring the clutch to the biting point and put your hand on the handbrake ready to release and move off on green.

There are probably as many different methods of teaching as there are driving instructors :-)

I was taught that, even when sitting at a red light, you have first gear engaged with the clutch pedal fully pressed down, *not* at the biting point. I personally keep the car in neutral as I prefer that to sitting in first, unless there is a good chance that the lights will change within about 5-10 seconds.

Give it a go, its a bit weird but quite handy. Keep your foot over the accelerator but not pressing on it, then slowly release the clutch. You'll feel the accelerator being pulled away from you and the anti-stall kick in. It takes a lot *not* to press the accelerator as a natural reflex :-)

Of course it can only help so much, so if you release the clutch too quickly it will stall.

Fully in.

Thanks Toby, I think this is a fair point to make too.

Needless to say, I've been taught a lesson in driving by the kind folk here.. :) ..but I guess it still doesn't answer the question about why the clutch does judder when I do get to the bite on the clutch, even when I have it there for a few seconds.

I think I'll have to bring it back to the dealer and leave it with them to get it checked out.

Thanks!

..Ray ekoSheren inc. awaits..

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Yeah.. maybe I should have gone with the automatic indeed.. ;) If only I could afford the 3.2 DSG version..

..Ray ekoSheren inc. awaits..

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Yeah, will give it a try later. I don't think this is documented in the manual, is it? The new A3 does seem to have some nice bits and pieces on there. I was quite surprised to find the wipers go to intermittent when the car is stopped, then goes back to the previous full setting when you move away. Handy! :D

..Ray ekoSheren inc. awaits..

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Where we are, the lights just go to green, so you kind of have to look at the lights facing other directions to try to pre-empt the lights. If at this point that I bring the clutch up, it would judder and a knocking noise comes from the engine, just prior to my applying power. So, I can't get the bite and push the clutch in a little more, which eliminates the juddering (and noise). With the clutch in further, I apply more power and release the clutch more to move off.

At first I thought that it was the car about to stall (juddering) but I'm wondering why it happens sometimes only at the same biting point, and only when there's a bit of heat in the engine?

..Ray ekoSheren inc. awaits..

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True, unless keeping in the biting point means that revs get too low and it starts shaking because of that. Someone said A3 had something to prevent this, I haven't noticed yet, but then again it doesn't shake for me.

- Yak