Audi A8 D2 Gearbox input for topup or additive?
03-16-2016, 03:22 PM
#1
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Audi A8 D2 Gearbox input for topup or additive?
Hello All,
I am looking to extend the life of my gearbox as I have now completed 162 k miles
Sometimes it plays up slightly, or i think so.
I bought this really good additive reccomended but my mechanic could not find the inlet for thye gearbox fluid, only the outlet... Could you illuminate me where i can find this or how I can input the additive? Thanks a lot in advance, Vasilios
I am looking to extend the life of my gearbox as I have now completed 162 k miles
Sometimes it plays up slightly, or i think so.I bought this really good additive reccomended but my mechanic could not find the inlet for thye gearbox fluid, only the outlet... Could you illuminate me where i can find this or how I can input the additive? Thanks a lot in advance, Vasilios
03-17-2016, 04:59 AM
#2
You fill it from underneath using a pump. The fill tower is the recessed one with the larger hex key. Be aware if you lose any fluid when you open that you'll have to go through the proper re-fill procedure to top it up again.
Personally I wouldn't put anything in these gearboxes which isn't specified by Audi or ZF. They are picky enough as it is, and any problems are almost always mechanical in nature. Additives aren't going to help with broken clutch drums or worn bearings which are the usual failure modes. What is it, out of interest?
Good luck!
Personally I wouldn't put anything in these gearboxes which isn't specified by Audi or ZF. They are picky enough as it is, and any problems are almost always mechanical in nature. Additives aren't going to help with broken clutch drums or worn bearings which are the usual failure modes. What is it, out of interest?
Good luck!
03-17-2016, 11:44 AM
#3
AudiWorld Super User
Yea just use a good synthetic ATF meeting the Audi number. Valvoline Maxlife atf does. Always a good idea to do fluid and filter change. As the poster above said, these things fail rather mechanically, broken drum no reverse or that bearing coming apart and loosing forward gears. But maybe the bearing wouldnt fail if the same fluid wasnt in it 100k+ who knows.
03-31-2016, 12:32 PM
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Yea just use a good synthetic ATF meeting the Audi number. Valvoline Maxlife atf does. Always a good idea to do fluid and filter change. As the poster above said, these things fail rather mechanically, broken drum no reverse or that bearing coming apart and loosing forward gears. But maybe the bearing wouldnt fail if the same fluid wasnt in it 100k+ who knows.
On the last reply above what do you mean that maybe the bearing wouldnt fail if the same fluid was in it after 100k + k? That if it was never changed/never failed until 100 + it will not fail?
I bought the car at 120 and put the 40 k myself on it, dont know if it ever changed fluid although it had full audi history up to 80k.. should i spend the money to change the fluid? is it worth it? quotes i get are quite high...
Thanks again
03-31-2016, 03:19 PM
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Audi consider the transmission fluid (and power steering fluid, and gear oil...) to be 'lifetime' fluids. They're not.
There is no change interval in Audi servicing, so ironically a full Audi service history actually tells you it's never been changed!
There is no change interval in Audi servicing, so ironically a full Audi service history actually tells you it's never been changed!
Last edited by twentysevenlitres; 03-31-2016 at 03:31 PM.
03-31-2016, 07:05 PM
#6
AudiWorld Super User
The manufacture of the transmission, ZF, says they should be serviced every 40-60k miles. If it were mine, I would have the fluid and filter changed as in removing the pan and cleaning the magnets, and then do drain and fills every 20k miles, as in just open the drain plug, and then fill it back up.
04-01-2016, 04:26 PM
#7
AudiWorld Super User
Reality time.
Regardless of any specs written on paper or "logical" opinions, there is no proof anywhere that changing ATF regularly will make your D2 trans last one mile longer.
Anecdotally, there are just as many D2 trans's topping 200K with NO service ever as those that were serviced every 30K miles ... and just as many failing at "expected" mileages, with or without service. ATF changes have never been proven (in the reral world) to add any life to it and definitely has never cured an existing problem. In practically every case I've seen, owners that found burnt ATF with lotsa shavings, found themselves with a failed transmission within a few miles.
My one wasted service at about 100K found good ATF with good color, feel and no stink and only a tiny amount of fine "dust" on the magnets ... exactly as it should be if working properly.
By design and inadequate material in the wrong places, the 5HP24a is just a flawed component doomed to fail in most cases ... some are lucky and some are not. I believe that ALONE determines the life of anyone's D2 transmission (and some arguably bad habits on the drivers part)...NOT how often or even if the ATF was serviced.
By the way, a simple drain and refill is a STUPID idea ANY time ... it will likely ("logically") do more harm than good .... the detergents in new ATF will likely only break loose more HARMLESS debris to further restrict the filter.
End of TRUTH rant
Regardless of any specs written on paper or "logical" opinions, there is no proof anywhere that changing ATF regularly will make your D2 trans last one mile longer.
Anecdotally, there are just as many D2 trans's topping 200K with NO service ever as those that were serviced every 30K miles ... and just as many failing at "expected" mileages, with or without service. ATF changes have never been proven (in the reral world) to add any life to it and definitely has never cured an existing problem. In practically every case I've seen, owners that found burnt ATF with lotsa shavings, found themselves with a failed transmission within a few miles.
My one wasted service at about 100K found good ATF with good color, feel and no stink and only a tiny amount of fine "dust" on the magnets ... exactly as it should be if working properly.
By design and inadequate material in the wrong places, the 5HP24a is just a flawed component doomed to fail in most cases ... some are lucky and some are not. I believe that ALONE determines the life of anyone's D2 transmission (and some arguably bad habits on the drivers part)...NOT how often or even if the ATF was serviced.
By the way, a simple drain and refill is a STUPID idea ANY time ... it will likely ("logically") do more harm than good .... the detergents in new ATF will likely only break loose more HARMLESS debris to further restrict the filter.
End of TRUTH rant
Last edited by silverd2; 04-01-2016 at 04:30 PM.
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04-05-2016, 08:54 AM
#8
I disagree about the drain/refill, I have done it and when I had my trans pan off at 165K miles to do the TransGo vale kit my trans pan was quite clean and had a small amount of paste (no fuzz) on the magnets. I feel that the ATF is like coolant in that it has some consumable buffer additives that can stand to be refreshed, but IMO full change to fresh fluid may be too great a shift in viscosity or makeup of the fluid, which obviously has a lot of stuff suspended in it after many miles.
The filter should not clog with debris until the amount of missing material from the trans hard parts that is now caught in the filter means the trans is worn out but the filter is probably still flowing OK.
A full fluid change should be an OK thing to do, certainly when you are not draining the converter of old fluid, but IMO dropping and replacing a gallon every 30K to 50K is better than doing nothing. Changing all the fluid, I dunno, the clutch material suspended in the old fluid might act as friction modifier and have other properties that the trans is better off with than without (suddenly). It'd be like me giving up bacon and cream cheese cold turkey, my heart would probably seize up due to lack of lube.
I could be wrong but my trans still works.
The filter should not clog with debris until the amount of missing material from the trans hard parts that is now caught in the filter means the trans is worn out but the filter is probably still flowing OK.
A full fluid change should be an OK thing to do, certainly when you are not draining the converter of old fluid, but IMO dropping and replacing a gallon every 30K to 50K is better than doing nothing. Changing all the fluid, I dunno, the clutch material suspended in the old fluid might act as friction modifier and have other properties that the trans is better off with than without (suddenly). It'd be like me giving up bacon and cream cheese cold turkey, my heart would probably seize up due to lack of lube.
I could be wrong but my trans still works.
04-05-2016, 11:29 AM
#9
AudiWorld Super User
I disagree about the drain/refill, I have done it and when I had my trans pan off at 165K miles to do the TransGo vale kit my trans pan was quite clean and had a small amount of paste (no fuzz) on the magnets. I feel that the ATF is like coolant in that it has some consumable buffer additives that can stand to be refreshed, but IMO full change to fresh fluid may be too great a shift in viscosity or makeup of the fluid, which obviously has a lot of stuff suspended in it after many miles.
The filter should not clog with debris until the amount of missing material from the trans hard parts that is now caught in the filter means the trans is worn out but the filter is probably still flowing OK.
A full fluid change should be an OK thing to do, certainly when you are not draining the converter of old fluid, but IMO dropping and replacing a gallon every 30K to 50K is better than doing nothing. Changing all the fluid, I dunno, the clutch material suspended in the old fluid might act as friction modifier and have other properties that the trans is better off with than without (suddenly). It'd be like me giving up bacon and cream cheese cold turkey, my heart would probably seize up due to lack of lube.
I could be wrong but my trans still works.
The filter should not clog with debris until the amount of missing material from the trans hard parts that is now caught in the filter means the trans is worn out but the filter is probably still flowing OK.
A full fluid change should be an OK thing to do, certainly when you are not draining the converter of old fluid, but IMO dropping and replacing a gallon every 30K to 50K is better than doing nothing. Changing all the fluid, I dunno, the clutch material suspended in the old fluid might act as friction modifier and have other properties that the trans is better off with than without (suddenly). It'd be like me giving up bacon and cream cheese cold turkey, my heart would probably seize up due to lack of lube.
I could be wrong but my trans still works.
This whole myth about removing wear material from the oil, or debris coming loose and clogging things is pretty farfetched, and in real life doesnt seem to happen. If the thing is seriously worn out to the point wear material in the oil is all thats keeping it working, it wouldnt have lasted much longer anyway. Its not coincidence that most manufactures are ditching the lifetime fluid claim and going as low as 40k miles, as high was 150k miles like Porsche Cayenne. VW even states just drain and fills every 40k miles on Jetta Golf Beetle Passat 6 speed Autos. I take the pan off myself to get more fluid out, but the filter is just a screen, not even a real filter.
Last edited by Prospeeder; 04-05-2016 at 11:35 AM.
04-05-2016, 02:48 PM
#10
AudiWorld Super User
I disagree about the drain/refill, I have done it and when I had my trans pan off at 165K miles to do the TransGo vale kit my trans pan was quite clean and had a small amount of paste (no fuzz) on the magnets. I feel that the ATF is like coolant in that it has some consumable buffer additives that can stand to be refreshed, but IMO full change to fresh fluid may be too great a shift in viscosity or makeup of the fluid, which obviously has a lot of stuff suspended in it after many miles.
The filter should not clog with debris until the amount of missing material from the trans hard parts that is now caught in the filter means the trans is worn out but the filter is probably still flowing OK.
A full fluid change should be an OK thing to do, certainly when you are not draining the converter of old fluid, but IMO dropping and replacing a gallon every 30K to 50K is better than doing nothing. Changing all the fluid, I dunno, the clutch material suspended in the old fluid might act as friction modifier and have other properties that the trans is better off with than without (suddenly). It'd be like me giving up bacon and cream cheese cold turkey, my heart would probably seize up due to lack of lube.
I could be wrong but my trans still works.
The filter should not clog with debris until the amount of missing material from the trans hard parts that is now caught in the filter means the trans is worn out but the filter is probably still flowing OK.
A full fluid change should be an OK thing to do, certainly when you are not draining the converter of old fluid, but IMO dropping and replacing a gallon every 30K to 50K is better than doing nothing. Changing all the fluid, I dunno, the clutch material suspended in the old fluid might act as friction modifier and have other properties that the trans is better off with than without (suddenly). It'd be like me giving up bacon and cream cheese cold turkey, my heart would probably seize up due to lack of lube.
I could be wrong but my trans still works.
I've seen em at 180-225K miles with no service ever and shifting fine ... I've also seen em fail at 130K miles, when serviced every 30K miles.
On my cars I fix what needs fixing and, after keeping up with other's posted results with trans's for my over 11 yrs of D2 ownership (same car), I don't even think about my trans. I'll spend useless trans service $$ on golf
Cheers