New clutch slipping in 5000 turbo quattro

[urq]

... sure, probably most people who have owned older manual transmission
equipped cars have had practice driving home with no clutch.  I'm not so
sure I'd want to deliberately drive a car that way out to some place where I
could test a 5th gear slipping clutch!

In the end it seems pretty clear that my suspicion was likely to be the
correct diagnosis ... some bone-headed mechanic somehow figured that
adjusting the length of the push rod [yes, it is quite adjustable] would
somehow make the piston displace more fluid ... I find it amusing to note
that in so doing the mechanic exaggerated the problem, as the equalization
port was covered there was no way for addition fluid to be drawn into the
lines that carry the pressure.  A lot of times I've been able to "pump up" a
clutch that needs to be bled ... not happening here!

Steve B
San José, CA (USA)

-----Original Message-----

- I am sure Ben knows that any car can be easily driven without the use 
of clutch just on revs. Stops and starts are particular. Warmed up car 
must be started in first gear (and clear road in front), and then 
accelerated and shifted up and down regarding engine revs, rather than 
syncros'. Braking and stop should be done in neutral, but no big deal 
since the engine would stall at stop, and then it needs to be started in 
gear anyway. In traffic its a pain but doable. On clear road and for 
testing, quite easy.

- The E/port problem can be ruled out by three facts:

1) The piston movement is on the MC is not adjustable.
2) No work was done on MC.
3) Been able to insert SC (with the rod fully extended) into its 
position in the bellhousing, and bench bleed it doing same rod and SC 
piston movement. If anything was blocking the the line on SC, MC or 
line, that would not been possible.

- The rod didn't change in length, but something inside changed the 
travelling distance. One can be reversed fork, which I don't think is 
possible, the other the thickness of the f/wheel (confirmed this isn't 
the case), pressure plate height (that was confirmed to be slightly 
bigger than on the old PP, which when assembled would give more distance 
from the SC, not less, as the case is), and the disc thickness (which 
was established to be thicker), and the third is the rod been outside 
its location, which I don't think is the case, because the rod would 
slip in or out of the fork location within first few operations. 
- Another possibility that can keep the p/plate at constant pressure is 
the thrust bearing resting on the guide sleeve, but that can only happen 
on cars with plastic sleeve that has deformed from the heat, like on Urq 
(on 5000 I believe this sleeve guide is metal), and in this case the 
problem would manifest itself differently.

- Further possibility that could manifest itself with same result is if 
the SC was pushed to far in and pin locked after its groove. (can't 
remember if is physically possible to push the pin through in any other 
location but in the groove)

Anyway, the only way to establish where the problem lies is to take out 
SC and test the car without it in place. Unfortunately for Ben, the car 
is far away, and that must be done at the owners location. That however 
is more viable than risking to burn the clutch on the trip back to Ben. 
Audi Gods never seize to surprise, don't they.