P0809: Clutch Position Sensor A Circuit Intermittent
What to do
An occasional kick or harsh take-up that then goes away for days is this fault rather than driving technique. Note whether it happens when the car is hot, since that is the common pattern.
What this code means
The clutch position signal drops out briefly and returns. Because the module is using that signal to control engagement in real time, even a momentary loss lands as a jolt through the driveline — the actuator is mid-movement and suddenly blind.
The experience is a car that occasionally takes up harshly or kicks when setting off, then behaves normally for days. That intermittency makes it easy to dismiss, and the harness inside the transmission is the usual cause: hot fluid, constant movement, and a sealed pass-through where fluid can wick into the wire strands.
Likely causes
Start here
- Damaged transmission wiring harness · moderate
- Corroded transmission connector · moderate
- Faulty clutch position sensor · specialist
Less common
Symptoms
Components involved
Information, not instruction
CarGeek is a reference, not a service manual. Its pages are written from public sources and from what other people have found, never from a manufacturer's own service information, so they can be wrong or incomplete for your particular vehicle. Some of what they describe carries real risk: high voltage, fuel under pressure, stored energy, hot and moving parts.
Have anything you intend to act on checked by a trained person against the manufacturer's own procedure for your vehicle. Nothing here replaces that procedure.
Community experience
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What makes one worth reading:
- The car — make, model, year and engine. The same fault behaves differently on each.
- What you measured, not only what you replaced.
- What actually fixed it — or that nothing did, which is worth knowing too.
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