Juddering/Vibration in 1st and reverse

[Mark05]

Hello all,

My car has some kind of juddering when moving away in first or reverse gear, I thought it might be the clutch at first but now I'm not so sure.
It seems to do it pretty randomly but mostly when the engine is warmer.
I'd like to get it sorted because if it happens when I'm pulling out of a junction things can get a little scary!
Have any of you got any ideas??

Thanks,

Mark

[Danandtrace]

Hi Mark,

It sounds like a problem we are having with our A4. What age/model have you got?

If it's an automatic, have you had an ATF(automatic transmission fluid)service? (This is due at 4 years or 40,000 and we have been told it is supposed to be really important).

We have posted a new thread ("A4 2.0 SE shuddering"). We'll update you if anyone gives us any helpful tips or advice and will keep an eye on your posting too.

Tracey and Dan

[Mark05]

Hi Tracey and Dan,

My car is a manual, took it to a mechanic the other day - he said it needs a new clutch, which he said is a 5 hour job on my car (2.5 TDI) so that would cost around £500 including the parts. So he is either making a nice bit of work for himself or it's an expensive problem to fix!
Hopefully your car wont need so much spending on it!

Mark

[evilscotsman]

this is also commonly caused by "lumps" on the flywheel, or cracks - caused by overheating at times in traffic etc (when holding it on the clutch) and when the clutch gets low, the bumps and cracks cause a judder when you take up the drive in a low gear. The clutch is only let in slowly in 1st or reverse, the rest of the time (2nd to 5th) the engagement time is short as you shift through the box so you dont notice it.

[a8 tech]

Sounds like the dual mass flywheel may be upset and requires attention as well as the clutch

[evilscotsman]

Yup ;)

[Mark05]

hmm, dual mass flywheel was mentioned by the mechanic too... sounding more expensive by the minute!

[matt_gsxr]

I have exactly the symptoms described. A4 manual TDi 1998

Only when warm, judders on take-up of drive in 1st, especially when starting on an incline.

For what it is worth I have had this problem for maybe the last 50,000 miles of ownership. This ruled it out as a clutch problem (to my mind) as I had guessed it would have got worse.

The car has done 198,000 miles and is on its original clutch, so maybe I owe it one?

It sounds like anything to fix this would be pricey, so I guess it isn't going to happen.

Matt

[Rich1972]

Hello all,

My car has some kind of juddering when moving away in first or reverse gear, I thought it might be the clutch at first but now I'm not so sure.
It seems to do it pretty randomly but mostly when the engine is warmer.
I'd like to get it sorted because if it happens when I'm pulling out of a junction things can get a little scary!
Have any of you got any ideas??

Thanks,

Mark

Hi Mark,

Im curious, did you ever get to the bottom of the problem, as Ive just bought a A4 1.6 SE (2000) and it does the same as you described !

Thanks,

Rich

[Danandtrace]

Hi everyone,

Well, the juddering became so bad we thought we were going to break down. Took the car to a volkswagen /audi specialist in Dartford and described the problem. Straight away he said it sounded like the coil pack, so he took it out for a drive. 4 new coil packs and 4 new spark plugs later - she runs like a dream. It's like a brand new car again!!! Total cost of job £290 incl VAT.

Tracey and Dan

[Rich1972]

Hi everyone,

Well, the juddering became so bad we thought we were going to break down. Took the car to a volkswagen /audi specialist in Dartford and described the problem. Straight away he said it sounded like the coil pack, so he took it out for a drive. 4 new coil packs and 4 new spark plugs later - she runs like a dream. It's like a brand new car again!!! Total cost of job £290 incl VAT.

Tracey and Dan


Tracey & Dan,

Glad you got a result there !!! So, that narrows my problem down to the coil packs/plugs or the MAF thingy I keep reading about (...I know next to nothing about cars :D)

Rich