Audi A6 Judder costing me £1800
Discussion
Well, my 2011 ('61) A6 Saloon which I love has had judder most of it's life (1st gear). It was my brother in-laws car before I had it (he did tell me about the judder but I bought it anyway!).
It feels worse now, and especially when hot - so I booked a complaint in with Audi-UK and they said 'book it in for an inspection and we can go from there'. So I booked it in with Southampton Audi. I took a technician out for a drive and he felt the 'judder' straight away.
Long story short I told them to go ahead with the gearbox removal.
I now get a call saying that uneven clutch plate wear has caused the DMF to be worn - Audi will not pay good will as the friction plate is a consumable - so that's £1800 please (which is a saving over the full price of £2700!).
My brother mentioned the judder a year or so back to Southampton Audi during a service, but he was told no fault - also as he buys the cars for the company he didn't push it or request an inspection at that time - so no record on the system.
Car has FASH and has done 42000.
I read the LUK tech manuals and it states that uneven friction plate wear is caused by possibly incorrect assembly!
I have had a long discussion with the dealer and they said that as the friction plate has wear Audi-UK will not offer goodwill - they will need to send the part back, and it will be rejected.
I'm wondering if it's worth pushing Audi UK any more for goodwill - has anyone had any luck with this?
Thanks
Martin
It feels worse now, and especially when hot - so I booked a complaint in with Audi-UK and they said 'book it in for an inspection and we can go from there'. So I booked it in with Southampton Audi. I took a technician out for a drive and he felt the 'judder' straight away.
Long story short I told them to go ahead with the gearbox removal.
I now get a call saying that uneven clutch plate wear has caused the DMF to be worn - Audi will not pay good will as the friction plate is a consumable - so that's £1800 please (which is a saving over the full price of £2700!).
My brother mentioned the judder a year or so back to Southampton Audi during a service, but he was told no fault - also as he buys the cars for the company he didn't push it or request an inspection at that time - so no record on the system.
Car has FASH and has done 42000.
I read the LUK tech manuals and it states that uneven friction plate wear is caused by possibly incorrect assembly!
I have had a long discussion with the dealer and they said that as the friction plate has wear Audi-UK will not offer goodwill - they will need to send the part back, and it will be rejected.
I'm wondering if it's worth pushing Audi UK any more for goodwill - has anyone had any luck with this?
Thanks
Martin
My 2012 A6 avant is at 55k miles and on its third clutch/dmf combo.
When it went the second time it was outside standard warranty and Audi UK offered 50% goodwill. It was then discovered to have extended manufacturers warranty so was done for free.
It's a well know thing and I'm anxious about what might break after warranty really expires.
Good luck, it's worth a go
When it went the second time it was outside standard warranty and Audi UK offered 50% goodwill. It was then discovered to have extended manufacturers warranty so was done for free.
It's a well know thing and I'm anxious about what might break after warranty really expires.
Good luck, it's worth a go
My Dad's A4 has been doing it for ages as well.
Incorrect clutch assembly, lol. Defective part more like. A case of double slopey shoulders here. LUK blaming Audi and Audi saying it's a consumable part, so not covered. UK consumers getting royally stitched up as ever. I bet if this happened in America, Audi would be all over it.....and laying out the red carpet, flowers for the missus and free servicing for life.
Incorrect clutch assembly, lol. Defective part more like. A case of double slopey shoulders here. LUK blaming Audi and Audi saying it's a consumable part, so not covered. UK consumers getting royally stitched up as ever. I bet if this happened in America, Audi would be all over it.....and laying out the red carpet, flowers for the missus and free servicing for life.
jsh712p said:
Well, my 2011 ('61) A6 Saloon which I love has had judder most of it's life (1st gear). It was my brother in-laws car before I had it (he did tell me about the judder but I bought it anyway!).
It feels worse now, and especially when hot - so I booked a complaint in with Audi-UK and they said 'book it in for an inspection and we can go from there'. So I booked it in with Southampton Audi. I took a technician out for a drive and he felt the 'judder' straight away.
Long story short I told them to go ahead with the gearbox removal.
I now get a call saying that uneven clutch plate wear has caused the DMF to be worn - Audi will not pay good will as the friction plate is a consumable - so that's £1800 please (which is a saving over the full price of £2700!).
My brother mentioned the judder a year or so back to Southampton Audi during a service, but he was told no fault - also as he buys the cars for the company he didn't push it or request an inspection at that time - so no record on the system.
Car has FASH and has done 42000.
I read the LUK tech manuals and it states that uneven friction plate wear is caused by possibly incorrect assembly!
I have had a long discussion with the dealer and they said that as the friction plate has wear Audi-UK will not offer goodwill - they will need to send the part back, and it will be rejected.
I'm wondering if it's worth pushing Audi UK any more for goodwill - has anyone had any luck with this?
Thanks
Martin
This kind of thing makes my blood boil. How the hell do you get uneven clutch wear: absolute utter nonsense??!!!It feels worse now, and especially when hot - so I booked a complaint in with Audi-UK and they said 'book it in for an inspection and we can go from there'. So I booked it in with Southampton Audi. I took a technician out for a drive and he felt the 'judder' straight away.
Long story short I told them to go ahead with the gearbox removal.
I now get a call saying that uneven clutch plate wear has caused the DMF to be worn - Audi will not pay good will as the friction plate is a consumable - so that's £1800 please (which is a saving over the full price of £2700!).
My brother mentioned the judder a year or so back to Southampton Audi during a service, but he was told no fault - also as he buys the cars for the company he didn't push it or request an inspection at that time - so no record on the system.
Car has FASH and has done 42000.
I read the LUK tech manuals and it states that uneven friction plate wear is caused by possibly incorrect assembly!
I have had a long discussion with the dealer and they said that as the friction plate has wear Audi-UK will not offer goodwill - they will need to send the part back, and it will be rejected.
I'm wondering if it's worth pushing Audi UK any more for goodwill - has anyone had any luck with this?
Thanks
Martin
Audi need their balls chewed for this kind of appallingly awful build quality. I did the DMF and the clutch in my A6 last year: at 16 years old and 142K!! The DMF should last at least 10 years and 100K or it has either been badly assembled or poorly manufactured.
I've been working on Audis since the late 70s and the build quality recently has deteriorated to the point of unacceptability. The problems with "known faults" should have been ironed out during development, not after the customer has purchased the vehicle.
OP, did you ask them where the hell they get £2700 from!! The LUK clutch kit can be bought anywhere for less than 200 quid and the DMF, also made by LUK for around £350. Changing it only involves pulling the transmission and replacing the parts. It only becomes a serious job if it is an RS6 or similar.
Insist that they contribute to this or get someone bad tempered enough like me to do a technical report for you.
J
Cheers guys,
Well I called Audi-UK and they said its out of warranty, and im not the original owner so basically not interested.
The dealership said that they always look for goodwill, but can only offer if a defective part is found. I tried to argue that my Mk1 MX5 has 140k, is 23 years old and on original clutch
The tech did say to me that the 'inline' engine suffer more from judder than the tranverse cars. I wonder if a known issue has been corrected in the clutch kit / flywheel combo?
I had no choice but to pay as I need the car for a trip on Saturday. Overall service was excellent from them - but just gutted that I couldn't get the goodwill.
The labour rate wasn't actually too bad - about £500 for all the work. They also said that my brother-in-law should have asked for an inspection under warranty. The price was only a few hundred more than a local independant - and I at least get a wannty on the non-consumable parts.
I am gutted, and it will make me reconsider keeping the car - especially as it could happen again!
If only the mx5 had four seats!
Cheers guys
Well I called Audi-UK and they said its out of warranty, and im not the original owner so basically not interested.
The dealership said that they always look for goodwill, but can only offer if a defective part is found. I tried to argue that my Mk1 MX5 has 140k, is 23 years old and on original clutch
The tech did say to me that the 'inline' engine suffer more from judder than the tranverse cars. I wonder if a known issue has been corrected in the clutch kit / flywheel combo?
I had no choice but to pay as I need the car for a trip on Saturday. Overall service was excellent from them - but just gutted that I couldn't get the goodwill.
The labour rate wasn't actually too bad - about £500 for all the work. They also said that my brother-in-law should have asked for an inspection under warranty. The price was only a few hundred more than a local independant - and I at least get a wannty on the non-consumable parts.
I am gutted, and it will make me reconsider keeping the car - especially as it could happen again!
If only the mx5 had four seats!
Cheers guys
Hi, ask for the old parts and speak to LUK uk and see if they can give an appraisal view on it, only way you can then have any redress against Audi, and obviously everyone knows consumables or wearable parts cannot be warranty but this clutch is not being replaced because it's worn it's FAULTY! and you have history of a defect being present for some time.
jsh712p said:
Cheers guys,
Well I called Audi-UK and they said its out of warranty, and im not the original owner so basically not interested.
The dealership said that they always look for goodwill, but can only offer if a defective part is found. I tried to argue that my Mk1 MX5 has 140k, is 23 years old and on original clutch
The tech did say to me that the 'inline' engine suffer more from judder than the tranverse cars. I wonder if a known issue has been corrected in the clutch kit / flywheel combo?
I had no choice but to pay as I need the car for a trip on Saturday. Overall service was excellent from them - but just gutted that I couldn't get the goodwill.
The labour rate wasn't actually too bad - about £500 for all the work. They also said that my brother-in-law should have asked for an inspection under warranty. The price was only a few hundred more than a local independant - and I at least get a wannty on the non-consumable parts.
I am gutted, and it will make me reconsider keeping the car - especially as it could happen again!
If only the mx5 had four seats!
Cheers guys
For your info OP. There are basically 3 sources of clutch judder. The first is not actually from the clutch plate, but from the DMF itself. A clutch plate when used with a DMF has no suppression springs fitted to the driven plate as the suppression is carried out by the DMF. This is spring loaded and, as the name suggests, is in two halves. When either the springs inside it start to fail, or the bearing surfaces between the two halves wear you get judder.Well I called Audi-UK and they said its out of warranty, and im not the original owner so basically not interested.
The dealership said that they always look for goodwill, but can only offer if a defective part is found. I tried to argue that my Mk1 MX5 has 140k, is 23 years old and on original clutch
The tech did say to me that the 'inline' engine suffer more from judder than the tranverse cars. I wonder if a known issue has been corrected in the clutch kit / flywheel combo?
I had no choice but to pay as I need the car for a trip on Saturday. Overall service was excellent from them - but just gutted that I couldn't get the goodwill.
The labour rate wasn't actually too bad - about £500 for all the work. They also said that my brother-in-law should have asked for an inspection under warranty. The price was only a few hundred more than a local independant - and I at least get a wannty on the non-consumable parts.
I am gutted, and it will make me reconsider keeping the car - especially as it could happen again!
If only the mx5 had four seats!
Cheers guys
The second cause can be contamination of the clutch driven plate linings, usually from a failed rear crankseal or first motion shaft seal on the gearbox. The oil creeps onto the driven plate and causes a sticky effect when engaging the clutch, in turn causing juddering.
The third cause can be worn engine mountings. The inline Audis are fitted with hydraulic mountings; one reason they are so smooth. If wear creeps in or, more importantly on the newer cars, they start to fail prematurely, the judder can be utterly horrendous.
The most common failure on modern stuff is the DMF. This is a known fault. You should not be paying for it, particularly when you know the previous owner had it from new. Don't let Audi off lightly. Go back to Audi.co.uk and tell them if they don't offer you something you'll take the complaint to Ingolstadt: they hate that.
Incidentally, the earliest Audis with DMFs are the 80 B4 saloons and coupes with the V6 engine from 1992 on. My daughter's has done over 160K, still has the original DMF, and it's perfect. They should have learned from that kind of build quality, but sadly it appears to have disappeared.
J
To be fair you bought a used car as a private sale with a known fault and only when it got worse did you seek to do something about it. Audi shouldn't offer you goodwill - you didn't spend the money with them. If they did then they'd offer anyone goodwill for anything.
Sorry to hear it but it seems like the right outcome to me - otherwise we should all buy cheaply from auction and complain to Audi if there is a fault even if the car is 5 years old!
Sorry to hear it but it seems like the right outcome to me - otherwise we should all buy cheaply from auction and complain to Audi if there is a fault even if the car is 5 years old!
jonah35 said:
To be fair you bought a used car as a private sale with a known fault and only when it got worse did you seek to do something about it. Audi shouldn't offer you goodwill - you didn't spend the money with them. If they did then they'd offer anyone goodwill for anything.
Sorry to hear it but it seems like the right outcome to me - otherwise we should all buy cheaply from auction and complain to Audi if there is a fault even if the car is 5 years old!
Wrong take on this completely. Firstly, the responsibility to build the car correctly is 100% Audi's. When the car has a known fault it should have been recalled and repaired at no expense to any owner. It matters not whether it is the 1st, 2nd or 3rd owner, the problem is built into the car due to poor development and lack of quality control.Sorry to hear it but it seems like the right outcome to me - otherwise we should all buy cheaply from auction and complain to Audi if there is a fault even if the car is 5 years old!
Car manufacturers are getting away with murder on a lot of these brutally expensive cars and it's simply not on.
J
Good luck in getting anywhere with Audi Executive office which is where this will inevitably end up when and if you pursue it
My engine on the RS4 has just been replaced with a known fault at a rather frightening £18k, that was not long after the DRC also a known fault packed in. I did however get a goodwill gesture towards the replacement but they wouldn't let me have the old one back. I have owned the car for a while but had to get solicitors involved first before it was all settled. I would love to have pursued them right to court but as the small man it just wasn't worth the sheer cost involved
To quote one of the emails from them "We cannot take in to account any unsolicited information found on the Internet" even when I offered to show them the 30 odd other cases of the same thing happening.
They must be close to the worst company I have ever dealt with for customer service. Just have a look at their headquarters website complaints page to get an idea, all unsolicited info of course.
Rebecca Cook is PA to the UK boss Andre Konsbruck if that is the way you go with things.
Hope you get it sorted out OK
My engine on the RS4 has just been replaced with a known fault at a rather frightening £18k, that was not long after the DRC also a known fault packed in. I did however get a goodwill gesture towards the replacement but they wouldn't let me have the old one back. I have owned the car for a while but had to get solicitors involved first before it was all settled. I would love to have pursued them right to court but as the small man it just wasn't worth the sheer cost involved
To quote one of the emails from them "We cannot take in to account any unsolicited information found on the Internet" even when I offered to show them the 30 odd other cases of the same thing happening.
They must be close to the worst company I have ever dealt with for customer service. Just have a look at their headquarters website complaints page to get an idea, all unsolicited info of course.
Rebecca Cook is PA to the UK boss Andre Konsbruck if that is the way you go with things.
Hope you get it sorted out OK
It makes wonder about the mounts - but the car has been 100% smooth since the work.
They told me the flywheel wasn't defective it was damaged by he pressure plate - so no goodwill.
I agree that I bought it with a known fault - and because of that I'm not pursuing it any further - but it has made me think how long to keep it.
Regarding the cost when I looked online the parts for the 2012 C7 model A6 car aren't available anywhere other than main dealer 😢
Thanks for all the advice - and you are right it simply isn't good enough that basic component reliability is going down as car cost and complexity goes up!
Bring back the mk2 golf!
They told me the flywheel wasn't defective it was damaged by he pressure plate - so no goodwill.
I agree that I bought it with a known fault - and because of that I'm not pursuing it any further - but it has made me think how long to keep it.
Regarding the cost when I looked online the parts for the 2012 C7 model A6 car aren't available anywhere other than main dealer 😢
Thanks for all the advice - and you are right it simply isn't good enough that basic component reliability is going down as car cost and complexity goes up!
Bring back the mk2 golf!
I have a 39k 12 Plate A6. Has had a clutch / flywheel replaced at 19k with previous owner at Audi under warranty. Clutch now juddering once again intermittently after long journeys. Nearest Audi garage 80 miles away. What is the chances of goodwill here? Car has FSH but not bought within dealer network.
This is why I won't buy a VAG diesel. Had a similar thing with a Passat that threw away its diff bearings at 51k. VAG refused to pay, warranty expired at 50k, company car. Lease company sorted it after much haggling. Not having anything VAG with my money after that episode, unless it's a shed.
battered said:
This is why I won't buy a VAG diesel. Had a similar thing with a Passat that threw away its diff bearings at 51k. VAG refused to pay, warranty expired at 50k, company car. Lease company sorted it after much haggling. Not having anything VAG with my money after that episode, unless it's a shed.
I wouldn't run any turbo diesel without some kind of warranty - got one on my Merc and will get one for wife's Tiguan if we keep it beyond 3yrs.Having said that, I don't know if it would cover DMF issues anyway. I imagine it would always be a battle. Need to find out as I became aware recently that even though our Tiguan is DSG it still has a DMF.
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