culaslucas

Hey all,

I was driving up to the mountains today and out of nowhere my transmission went into limp mode - shows PRNDS in solid red and is obviously having issues.

This happened at the top of Loveland Pass in Colorado - kind of in the middle of nowhere - and I was able to coast down to Keystone.

Regardless of the location, I need some assistance. I left my Vag-com cable in my A4 at home and have tried finding someone local with a cable to no avail.

I guess I'm curious, is there anything I can do at this point? Any chance I can make it the ~85 miles home over mountainous terrain on a highway in this situation or do I need to have it towed back?

Thanks in advance!

EDIT - I found a Bluetooth OBDII sensor and got the following codes:
P0730 - Incorrect Gear Ratio
P0441 - Evaporative Emission Control System Incorrect
P0118 - Engine Coolant Temperature Circuit High Input
P0491 - Secondary Air Injection System (Bank 1)
P0492 - Secondary Air Injection System (Bank 2)

MP4.2+6.0

Just visiting, but maybe some help from my prior C5 ownership days.

What you really want to do it try to clear that tranny code to get it out of safe mode. I don't know if your temporary reader was capable of that or not. Otherwise, maybe find parts place that advertises free code reading, or a tranny or similar shop that also does. Short of VCDS though and it may not do much beyond the ECU. You need TCU capability of course, which a tranny shop should have. I've seen code reading ads for a few of them locally too, though probably mostly promoting their tune up type business.

Failing all that or if it won't clear, in safe mode you basically have a car stuck in fourth gear. Hence why it seems so sluggish. One you get it rolling (hopefully not up steep grades to start), you could probably make the drive even if the code stays and you are stuck in safe mode, unless the issue is in 4th itself. As in, with a torquey motor, 4th can still take some grades and can handle decent speeds. Said another way, when I had to give the last rites to mine down to the tranny shop, it was blown except for fourth gear safe mode. Had to baby it from stops but once rolling I had no issues, including the 25 miles of (rolling hills) freeway. The stop lights were my worst problem, so I tried hard to figure out a route that reduced the chances of stop lights or at least red ones and especially any stops on upgrades, to as few as possible.

Unfortunately as soon as I see the combo of safe mode, any C5 or D2 4.2 tranny, and "incorrect gear ratio" I think the worst. 100K miles and often done. BTDT on my prior 2000 4.2. There are some other scenarios to set the code off, but it could be headed (or already gone) south.

SloopJohnB@mac.com

If it's a 4.2, swap to a 2.7T manual.

culaslucas

Okay, got it home, trying to diagnose. Cleared codes, started it up, put in gear - THUNK - limp mode immediately.

New codes:

VCDS-Lite Version: Release 1.2
Saturday, 07 March 2015, 13:42:28.


Chassis Type: 4B - Audi A6 C5
Scan: 01,02,03,06,08,15,16,17,18,22,34,35,36,37,45,55,56 ,57,65,67,75,76,77

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 01: Engine Labels: None
Controller: 4D0 907 559 B
Component: 4.2L V8/5V G 0001
Coding: 06752
Shop #: WSC 02325
VCID: 2D2D8AB7F409
WAUXU64BX2N085644 AUZ7Z0A1971538
2 Faults Found:
18032 - MIL Request Signal Active (Check TCM for errors too!)
P1624 - 35-00 - -
16502 - Shareware Version. To Decode all DTCs
P0118 - 35-00 - Please Register/Activate
Readiness: 0110 1101

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 02: Auto Trans Labels: 01V-927-156.LBL
Controller: 4B0 927 156 EQ
Component: AG5 01L 4.2l5V USA 1010
Coding: 01002
Shop #: WSC 02325
VCID: 7A8771EB75C7
1 Fault Found:
17114 - Gear Ratio Monitoring: Incorrect Gear Ratio
P0730 - 35-00 - -

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Address 03: ABS Brakes Labels: 4B0-614-517.LBL
Controller: 4B0 614 517 E
Component: ABS/ESP allrad 1728
Coding: 06397
Shop #: WSC 00000
VCID: 23396C8FA2CD
1 Fault Found:
01119 - Gear Recognition Signal
35-10 - - - Intermittent

Common issues for these codes I've found are:

*Wet TCM (Checked, looked fine)
* Low ATF (Can't get the damn nut off to save my life)
* Clutch slipping or solenoid valves soiled or bad.
* Vehicle Speed Sensor (VSS) faulty.
* Sensor for transmission RPM faulty.

Anything else I'm missing?

MP4.2+6.0

Blown tranny?

How many miles? If 100K, pretty good chance on these. In my case, it was one acceleration move out of a driveway to get up to speed and SLAM! All over. Clutch basket had ripped. Known issue on these along with a bunch of other elements of a sub par design reliability wise; hence why now I call them craptastic. Having run a 2000 4.2 from new to 145K when family picked it up (still on road), tranny was the weakest part of it reliability and problem wise. Both ZF and Audi never came clean on the issues with these. At least if you have an S8, it supposedly had some parts revs made (quietly) sometime in 2000--as in, before the S6 launch.

Just go back some years and find many a post about the tranny that often lead to the guru of them, TozoM8. Best info used to be on the D2 (A8) board rather than here; was a good amount there by 2010 when I delved into it and cars had more value and money spent maintaining them. All D2's had the same tranny since they always had the bigger (higher torque) motors.

culaslucas

Yeah, I'm pretty much hoping that's not the case. Lots of guys with similar symptoms have had success by full ATF drain though. 153k miles.

Thanks for the intel on the D2 forums - I'll check them out and see what I can find.

If it is indeed blown, I'm very much looking forward to a 6 speed!!

MP4.2+6.0

Yes, you can try a full drain. That was my last hope when I called of the day and shop quickly found same thing I did. It will cost you the fluid, filter and gasket if it is blown in the end to try to get to the bottom of the issue. I had drained it previously so knew the drill.

When you drain it and pull the pan and filter, as I recall you can just barely see some of the drum/basket and clutches when you look up into it. Although I don't recall finding parts in the pan, I could see how the basket was messed up.I put it back together hoping somehow the fluid would somehow do it even though my eyes knew something wasn't like it had been when I saw it in the past. Shop--who both does internal ZF work and installs factory rebuilt--said it was pretty common as a full failure for them, and of course requires a pull and rebuild.

culaslucas

Just a quick update - got it to a shop and looks like 1st gear is all torn up. A clutch basket was fine actually.

Having them do a full rebuild. While it's out I'm having them fix the rear main seal that was leaking a little bit. Threw in a timing belt/water pump change just for good measure (it's due, 153k miles). Grand total: $6111.66.

Fun stuff.

BrianFaulkner

You can do a 6 spd for $1,000 less!

culaslucas

No way. I talked to Tozo who suggested it'd be significantly more than just a simple rebuild and I'm inclined to trust his opinion given his track record.