Fjordski

Hi guys! New member from Norway here!

I recently bought a 2003 A6 2.4 quattro with the infamous automatic gearbox. I got it very cheap, as the previous owner had hit a rock and made a mess of the oil pan on the tranny. The previous owner did NOT drive the car after this, as he got hold of a trailer to pick it up afterwards. Knowing that I took a risk i bought the car and removed the oil pan. Of course the filter was also smashed, but the valveplate seemed unharmed. I changed the oil pan, filter, gasket and filled it up hoping it would work out.

So here is the issue; the gearbox is making a grinding noise in 2. gear. The gearbox behaves perfectly in every other way, even shifts smoothly between all gears. The noise is the only thing indicating that something is wrong!

Im going to get the car running on jacks later today to get a better idea, but does anyone have an idea of what it could be?

Thanks in advance!

Fjordski

Update: Had the car jacked up and started it up, and it seems that some of the noise are coming from the catalytic converter. Obviously the impact has done some internal damage to it!

Still not fully convinced that it is the culprit for the grinding noises in 2. gear, but I can't come up with a way to test this without removing the cat. Any thoughts?

johnkk

With car jacked up, have a helper run car through the gears at various RPM to find any resonance points. Get under the car and use a stethoscope (long screwdriver with handle against ear). Touch tip of screwdriver to trans and cat to differentiate noises. Look for heat shields that may be bent and touching other parts. I have used this method to pinpoint vibrations that are hard to pin down.