Audi A4 Clutch Replacement

After doing the timing belt, valve cover gaskets, and couple of other small repairs it is time to tackle the last big thing; the clutch. Along with the clutch I will be replacing the rear main seal (also called the rear crankshaft seal) and the input shaft seal on the transmission. Although this guide is specifically made for the 2.8L engine, a lot of the information can be applied to the whole Audi A4 B5 generation (1994-2001). 

Required Parts & Tools:

1. Torx set, Hex set, and a tripple square socket set.
2. A couple of long socket extensions and some swivels. Also find some kind of bar for leverage.
3. Sachs (or any other) clutch kit. Should come with release bearing, pilot bearing, clutch disk, and pressure plate.
4. Optional: New flywheel.

Car Specs:

• 1998 Audi A4 Quattro
• 2.8L V6
• ~94,000 Miles
• 5 Speed Manual Transmission

Update - 11/22/2011: The Audi now has a little over 126,000 miles on it and the resurfaced flywheel is holding up well. No slipping so far. 

Preparation And Disconnecting The Driveshaft

1. Put the car on jacks. I would not use anything smaller than 6 ton because they provide not only the correct support but also plenty of height.

2. Remove the exhaust by following the Audi A4 Exhaust Removal Guide.

3. Remove the exhaust heat shield ( if there is one).

The drive shaft must be disconnected from the transmission and moved out of the way. Because of the two-piece design and the rubber center bearing, it is crucial that the driveshaft is aligned properly during reinstallation. If you have to completely remove the driveshaft, make several marks so that you will be able to reinstall it correctly.

4. Remove the bolts from the front of the drive-shaft. These are allen bolts. Apply e-brake to keep the drive shaft still. If you are only moving the shaft out of the way, then remove the shield from the transmission and slide the drive shaft out of the way.

I removed the bolts from the rear of the drive-shaft.

And finally removed the center drive-shaft support bolts. Once those are removed, the drive shaft could be taken out of the car.

5. Remove the front axle shields. Start with the driver side. Use the 2' extension and a swivel to reach the shield bolts. These are allen bolts, again. Might have to play around with different extensions to reach these.

6. Do the same thing on the passenger side. I couldn't access the passenger side top shield bolt with the extensions. Instead I got it by feeding a wrench from the bottom. Tricky.

7. Disconnect all the electrical connectors. The nice thing about the 5 speed is that there are only three. All of them are on the driver side of the transmission.