Clutch fail after Cambelt replacement and MOT at Audi garage

[clivethegadget]

A4 1.9TDI Sport (130bhp), 121,000 miles

Last week my local Audi dealer replaced my A4's cambelt for the second time in its life, and carried out its MOT.
Two days afterwards, my wife found that the car struggled to find power when going up a hill. She says the car refused to accelerate and the speed of the engine did not appear to increase ( I have quizzed her on this, and she is adamant that the engine note didn't appear to rise .. so I assume the RPM wasn't increasing).
My wife didn't tell me there was any problem until 2 days later, when she also noticed the acrid smell of burning clutch.
I guess by then the clutch was pretty well burnt out .. but it had done 121000 miles anyway.
I did wonder if ther could have been any connection with the failure of the clutch and the cambelt change work and MOT ... simply because they happened so close together... but I thought not.
However, today i went to collect my car (£930 lighter) after its clutch/ Dual Mass Flywheel replacement and I noticed there was still a strong burning clutch smell as I left the forecourt.
I went a couple of hundred yards and decided to go back and ask if this smell was normal or if I should be worried.
Howeer, after I turned the car around and headed back, the car suddenly lost power and wouldn't accelerate at all... even in 2nd gear on the flat.
I limped back to the garage and handed it back to them to check over.
They dismissed the burning smell as "the residual smell left over from the previous burnt clutch".... but rthey did agree that there was a problem in that the car lacked all power.
I left the car with them and 1 hour later they informed me that the car was now OK and that the problem had been that they had left a pipe off when they did the clutch replacement. They would not be more specific exactly which pipe had caused this problem.
The car now drives as normal once again... and there is still a smell of burning clutch (although, arguably not as strong as I had thougt when I had collected the car after its clutch replacement).
It does still smell pretty strong though, so i am hoping that this is due to the residual smell that will only wear off in time.

But, my question is this... I have wondered if there could have been something that the garage had done or forgotten during the cambelt replacement/MOT that could have caused the clutch to burn out ?
Can someone more knowledgeable about these cars than myself give me their opinions? There is no doubt that the clutch did burn out, and it was old... but could its death have been caused by something which caused the loss of power .. possibly juddering the transmission and wrecking the friction plate/flywheel ? Have I forked out for the Audi garage mistake ?
Any ideas wecome .. although now probably too late to do much about it .. or to prove !
Thanks
Clive

[mikeybutch]

Who replaced the clutch?Should they have road tested the car before handing over with a major problem?It seems that you were unlucky that the clutch gave up just after the belt was done because there should be no connection unless audi gave it a hard time and some how overdid slipping the clutch in checking the car afterwards but theres no way of knowing.Thats always going to be the case when we trust them to do a good job but we cannot check most of what they do.The burning smell should go soon if not something may still be wrong and you need to voice youre concern

[clivethegadget]

Audi garage replaced the clutch and they say they road tested it too... the car just wouldn't go for me when I picked it up !
If there is nothing that they could have done whilst carrying out the cambelt change or MOT that could have caused this, then I can rest easy... except fretting over the ;oss of cash !
There was no indictations of any clutch problems beforehand, and it was the sudden failure immediately after cambelt replacement that made me wonder if there was anything that could have indirectly affected the clutch.
Thanks

[zollaf]

there is no way of making a clutch fail whilst working on a car. i suspect your clutch was on its last legs anyway, and i suspect you and your wife are both fairly easy on it anyway. an enthusiastic test drive could have signalled the end for it though. an enthusiastic test drive is required after work of that nature to ensure the car runs perfectly, right up to the redline. the mechanic probably didnt experience any slippage, but this could have been the final nail in the coffin. i suspect you would have been replacing the clutch this year anyway.

[clivethegadget]

OK .. thanks for that. Lets hope this clutch lasts for the rest of the lifetime of the car.
Cheers.

[fourringsrus]

One would have to agree 100% with zollaf,but one may also wonder how a 'pipe' left off during works, allowed the car to drive well on a test run but not so well when driven away.

[Crasher]

That smell seems to get into the metal; even if the box and everything to do with the clutch is washed clean, it will linger for weeks. Pity the poor bloody mechanic who spent five hours under your car chocking on that stink.