Osmosis

Hello everyone,

I have a 2000 A6 Quattro that has 149K miles on her. I purchased her with 119K miles and she has been an amazing car. When I first purchased her, I put an APR stage 1 ECU upgrade and brakes. It's my daily driver and I commute aprox 45 miles to work, mostly highway. I serviced my transmission 3 years ago when I purchased the car. I have always had a check engine light on because of my EGR's ..have never worked. No big deal. Anyway, last week I checked my codes just to be safe. I pulled an injector Bank 2 code and the dreaded P0741 code I think I had replaced the same injector bank when I first purchased the car a few years ago.

So, I have been searching my fingers off and reading everything about p0741 BS. I can notice no drivability issues other that the CEL light on my dash. The car has great power, but I rarely put my foot into it. I have read and found many people just ignore the CEL and live with the code. I have also read that it can lead to catastrophic transmission failure, which makes sense from everything I've read.

I'm not sure exactly how to trouble shoot this problem. At first, I thought about changing the trans fluid/filter and then cleaning &/or replacing the TCC solenoid as that could be a problem fix. In Torque Pro, I get the p0741 code that reads torque converter performance off/stuck TCC solenoid, I think? I'll confirm that tomorrow. I also read of others taking their car to do a transmission flush and fluid change @ a reputable shop which can resolve the problem. My fear is that the converter is on the outs and I'm not sure how long I should ignore it. I don't drive it hard for the most part & I do like the car a lot. That being said, I'm also considering purchasing a converter and pulling the transmission out, yet, I'm not finding much info on the boards on the process and I don't have a Bentley manual. I've pulled many transmissions before on my old hot rods, but never an Audi. I remember that there is some sort of process regarding the gear selector in the TPI AT transmission, ZF5hp19 transmission. I have found a few converters for the ZF5hp19 transmission on Amazon for 300ish and money is tight @ home these days

Tomorrow, when I drive home from work, I plan to get the car up to 65 on the freeway and watch the speedo and tach, then let off on the gas to watch my RPMS. I can't remember exactly how to watch for torque converter fluctuations this method...anyone remember how???

sorry to ramble, I'm just a bit out of my sorts trying to figure out how to trouble shoot this problem,

Thank you everyone

Osmosis

I did find a converter with the upgraded seal for under 300. Not sure if this will work or not. I says that it is in fact for the A4, A6 ZF5hp19 transmissions.

clancy

To see if the lock up is working just cruise at 65mph or something over 35mph and take your foot off the gas. If the tach holds steady or only 50-100 rpm drop it is locked up. If it drops 200 or more rpms then not working. Mine works when the trans fluid is still cold, maybe 10-15 minutes. Then it no longer locks. Or, it works when I am on a flat or slight decline, but pops off as soon as I give it anything more than mild gas. Been driving it for over 100,000 miles in this condition. I expect I will eventually kill the trans doing this. I just cannot see putting the money into a repair that will only net me maybe 1-2 mpg and a slightly better feeling knowing it is working correctly. I'd rather put the money into maintaining the steering, safety related stuff, and engine. I do drain the trans every 20,000 miles of so.

Osmosis

Thank you Clancy, My converter drops about 400 rpms when I take my foot off the throttle. I'm gonna change it out ASAP.


I first need to find some online instructions on the removal of the ZF5hp19 transmission.....Anyone know where I can find this information??? I've found some info on the fourms and youtube, but nothing too specific. I do remember seeing that I need to do some sort of particular procedure for removing the gear shiftier... I just want to do this right. I've done plenty of transmission removals of my previous hot rods, but Audi's are different animals