Re: Burning clutch on brand new A4

A Bad Thing.

Probably. The car is just a car and has no need to release anything. What you're feeling is revving the engine too high for your shifts. What is *best* for the clutch is quick, smooth, *full* engagement when the engine and gearbox are turning at about the same speeds. If you start to engage it and then rev the engine before it's fully engaged, you abuse the clutch.

OK; I know you mean *lower* gears, not *reverse* ... so we'll move on:

For this, you get the standard lawyer answer: It depends.

For shifting, if you do not rev the engine between gears to (approximately) match the gearbox speed, you will feel a lurch *and* you will slip the clutch. Those are Bad Things. If you know how to rev match and downshift well, it won't hurt a thing - except:

If you downshift and the engine revs to or beyond its redline, you

Except for the last paragraph, which applies primarily to 'interference engines' (BMWs, Audis, pretty much everything that's really fun to drive), all of this information applies to *all* cars with manually actuated clutches.

-- C.R. Krieger (Been there; done that)

Correct.

Actually, no. That is not a Bad Thing at all. It's just engine braking. Just don't go doing it at much over 3-4000 rpm or so.

-- C.R. Krieger

I was told there that, indeed, it was the clutch and they implied that maybe I was "too heavy on the clutch" and they also implied very politely that maybe I don't know how to drive a car with a stick :-[ For the record - this is my 4th consequitive car with a stick; on my old Maxima SE I did have clutch trouble, but not untill

Even 85K is quite early for a clutch failure, IME. I'm guessing the service department is correct, but is using the wrong term for your clutch use. It's not "heavy", but rather "tentative". IOW, you spend too much time with the clutch *partly* engaged. That is when the clutch (by design) slips and wears (and gets hot). When you have the pedal to the floor, it's fully disengaged and when you aren't on the pedal, it's fully engaged. Anywhere in between is a Bad Thing (TM).

What to do? I don't want to drive a car where clutch burned like a bush just because I got stuck in traffic;

One hot clutch incident won't necessarily hurt it very much, but you need to learn how to prevent it in the future. I've been stuck in traffic lots of times (Chicago, NYC, Cleveland, Rome, Munich, etc.), but I've never fried a clutch.

I live near NYC where one spends more time in traffic than actually driving around :-( Any suggestions and recommendations are appreciated!

You need to learn how to get *on* and *off* the clutch as quickly as possible. That means quickly all the way to the *floor* when you step on it and quickly all the way to the *top* when you get off of it. This doesn't have to be harsh and jerky, but it may take some time to break your old habits. This also doesn't mean you have to drive your car like some old 'Granny'. I'm a driving instructor for both BMW and Audi clubs and I'm not known for 'babying' my cars nor for going slowly, but I *am* known for being very nice to my clutch and brakes. You *can* be fast and smooth, but it takes some concentration and practice until it becomes second nature (it will).

A clutch can burn on a car with 10 miles on it, if it is mistreated!

Unless the clutch slips when the pedal is fully realeased, I would be inclined to agree with your dealer. The clutch will only burn when it is allowed to slip - if you were creeping along in traffic by holding revs and 'riding' the clutch then it would be no surprise if it burnt.

As for replacing the clutch - is there any problem now when driving normally? If not, why should it be replaced?

Ummm, Peter? You're replying to a long-dead year-and-a-half old thread.

-- C.R. Krieger (Thought I'd been here before)

Argh - I wonder how that happened. My newsreader expires newsgroup postings 14 days after they are received, so it would seem that something had caused that post to be delivered to me on 3 November.