Gingerbread man

I can't find anything. Pelican Parts seems to imply that the stock fill is Fuchs Titan Sintopoid 75W-90. I'm thinking of using Shell SPIRAX S5 ATE 75W-90 which is the stock fluid on Ferrari and Porsche (I can get it in pails) on my 2002 5 speed manual (A4 TQMS).

The Shell has a lower viscosity at low temperatures than the Fuchs (577 cSt vs 733 cSt) which is good for Canada but again, I'm not 100% sure what the stock fluid is. Anybody know?

lyleswk

If I were you, I would the couple extra bucks and go to the dealer and get their fluid. I had a bad experience years ago where I believed what someone said about aftermarket fluid, and ruined a tranny. On the manual, there is one fluid for the tranny / torsen and another for the rear diff if you are replacing that.

Gingerbread man

Hey Lyle, long time, no see. Glad to see you're still around. Did you get another A4? People think I'm lying to them when I tell them my A4 is 14 years old, not kidding. It's uncomfortable so I avoid talking about its age, lol.

It's not about the price. I'm getting a pail of that Shell anyway for my and a friend's 911. I was curious whether anybody used it on an A4. It's GL4/GL5 so it's safe for the rear diff.

My local mechanic recommends Motul 300 gear oil and lots of people are running that. He didn't have any complaints.

I'll try the Shell. If I see any kind of problem, I'll dump it. I doubt there will be any problems. I was mostly curious about cold weather performance versus the stock fluid as I'm in Canada.

edit: I see you still have an 03.

lyleswk

I bought 03 A4 after the first one was totaled. Both were actually my sons car.

Be interesting to know how that fluid works. Have you posted on Audizine to get any feedback?

Gingerbread man

I did, no feedback. No surprise, it's Porsche/Ferrari specific (but with good low temperature characteristics and is GL4/GL5). It's not expensive but it only comes in 19L pails.

I'll post as soon as I've changed the oil (should be Labour Day weekend).

Gingerbread man

I got around to changing the oil. The old oil looked pretty nasty and dark brown, I'm glad I did this.

The Shell oil is better than whatever the stock was, smoother shifting, seems better at both cold starts and once fully heated up. I'll reply again in a couple of months when it gets really cold here but so far, it feels better than stock.

replayrnaudia4

Can you post some pic of were the drain and fill plugs are and any other tricks of the trade about changing the manual trans fluid. thanks

lyleswk

I used the following even though it is a B5. Locations are the same.

AudiWorld Tech Articles

replayrnaudia4

thanks