Minimoke8394

Right, delayed reply, but thought I'd update it nonetheless.

Bit the bullet and took the car to Audi. They did the same thing I did and diagnosed it as an internal gearbox problem....I wasn't convinced. So I got home, took the filter out and compared it to the old one. The filter itself was identical, but the O ring wasn't....It was around 2mm thinner overall! Which meant it didn't make a seal on the box. It's something I should have noticed but just thought "It's all from Audi, of course it'll be right". Well, it fixed the issue I was having so that's good.

But....

Now, when the car warms up, the shifts get a bit more noticeable if that makes sense. You can feel it go into gear more, no more seamless changes. When I dropped the sump the last time there was a little bit of muck on the magnets but nothing compared to when I initially dropped the sump and the fluid was still clean and smelled like new fluid, so hopefully I can rule out physical damage. Has anyone got any ideas as to what could be causing this? I've spoken to an auto place who have said it could be anything from clutch fracture to the pressure solenoids playing up. The car shifts smoother in tiptronic if that makes any difference. Has anyone got any ideas? Thanks in advance for any help you can give, it's very appreciated.

Ta,
Chris.

dreamhope

Man, this is a **** box. I suggest driving as it is until it breaks. Then, you can decide whether to replace with a factory refurbished unit or junk the car.

No more ZF. Even Porsche uses Aisin in its automatic applications. Maybe in a couple of years those 8HPs will start to fail in record numbers and prove irreparable.

Anyway, maybe you could replace at least the torque converter. At least in my case the noticeable gearshifts are caused by the failing TC lockup clutch. It becomes noticeable after a few minutes.

Minimoke8394

Thanks for the reply dude. To be honest I am going to try and see what I can get out of Audi as the transmission was fine before this, and it's only had these issues since they fitted the wrong O ring. I can only assume that the pump starvation and clutch compensation has upset it internally. It doesn't feel like it's going to break to be honest, and it doesn't mind a thrashing. I'll see how I get on and report back. I just can't help feeling it would probably have been fine if I never touched it....Ah well.

deezell

Don't give up. We need brave souls like us to give it a go, nothing ventured etc. I'm about to change fluid in a multitronic (CVT) auto, and I came across a thing called an adaptation procedure after transmission oil change, work on the box etc. Here'a bulletin about transmissionsi in various audi, including A8. Ignoring the first part, there is an adaptation procedure at the end which involves starting, stopping, shifting up down etc. I'ts here at
http://uberlame.com/a6_tsb/Transmiss...2037-06-13.pdf

JoePGT5S

Looks like this only covers the D3 not the D2. Mind you, the guy that just rebuilt my transmission did talk about "resetting the adaptions" after he rebuilt the transmission.

Minimoke8394

Hey chaps. Sorry for the (very) delayed reply. Well....

After all that heartache, I took it to Audi as I wanted the 'professional's' to do the procedure so I could rule out my own incompetence. They did it and got the same results as me. Told me I had an internal fault. Which I refused to believe.

Took the car home, dropped the sump, and found that the o ring they had supplied me was the wrong size. Was noticeably smaller than the original one off of the original filter. Put the original o ring on the new filter, put it back in and the fault was gone. Told them and eventually got a begrudged refund. Oh, and they damaged my car while they had it and tried to (badly) polish it out. Never, ever going to a dealership again. That was my first time and it bit me.

The box still wasn't as good as it was though. So I tried a tube of Dr Tranny's Instant Shudder Stop, and the box was instantly better. Smooth changes. And it also turned out it'd had TC shudder since I'd had it! The effects of that soon wore off though, and I've since added a few more tubes. I've now got the recommended amount in there and although the box is okay, it's not as good as it was before the service. I'm going to swap a litre of ATF next year with a litre of the Dr Tranny ATF Protectant, and see where that gets me. Thanks for the advice guys, is very appreciated. If only I paid more attention when fitting it all. You just don't expect Audi to give you the wrong parts, especially with how much they cost....


Deezell and Joe, cheers for that chaps. I did do a DSP reset which made the shifting points nicer, I'll look into all this more and see where it gets me. I've finally got the car lowered and sitting on some nice wheels, something I would have done months ago if it weren't for the gearbox episode....Happy motoring from here hopefully.

Chris.