[s-cars] Fw: Clutch, Tranny, or Operator?

[Matt Blyth]

Hi,

I'm forwarding a posting that I had sent out last week, and had gotten one excellent, but non-technical, reply.  Am I sending to the wrong place?

Thanks,

Matt
York, PA

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Matt Blyth 
To: s-car-list at audifans.com 
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2004 10:00 AM
Subject: Clutch, Tranny, or Operator?


About three months ago, I had trouble getting my 95.5 S6 wagon (86M miles / I'm the 2nd owner / bought in 6/00 @ 54M miles / no known mod's) into gear.  Full stop, clutch depressed fully, but the shifter would barely budge into first.  A few clutch pumps in neutral fixed things temporarily, but after a couple of days, I took the car to my local VW/Audi independent garage, who diagnosed a bad clutch master cylinder and slave cylinder and replaced them both.  

The problem seemed to go away (although there have been a couple of hints of its return), but there's now a more grating problem.  Upon quick acceleration, shifting between first and second (and sometimes from second to third) w/ clutch foot fully in, there's a medium-pitched whirring / grinding noise from the gearbox and a grinding feel through the shifter.  Sometimes it's a quick scratch, sometimes a lengthier grind.  Besides the embarrassment (kids, wife, boss, customers, etc. think I'm losing my shifting touch), I'm wondering what it could be.  The clutch itself seems to have full grabbing power (I've owned a Mazda whose turbo spool-up was enough to spin right through a worn clutch in higher gears).  My VW/Audi garage says it could be throwout bearings and/or clutch, but possibly synchro's.  Another local import repair garage (Alfas, Audis, etc.) initially said something about "bleeding the system", but now says to let it ride and see if the clutch goes.  

Does anyone have suggestions?  I'm not itching to spend money, but I don't want these symptoms to cause major damage.  Plus, this could offer an excuse to have the Apikol Short Shifter installed.

Thanks in advance,

Matt
York, PA (home of Maple Donuts and Apple Hill Medical Center snow-covered-parking-lot donuts -- ostensibly teaching my 14 and 15 year olds about car control ...)