TFT

Last month I took the car to the dealership and had them go through the transmission, check solenoids, change transmission oil and filter, etc. There was also a program update to the transmission. The slamming only happened in "sport" mode.
Anyway, got the car back, been driving it for about a month now with no issues.
The work was not cheap. Fluid alone was around $47/qt for 12 qts

RobertV

I had a new 05 X5 4.2 sport that the dealer reprogrammed the trans module bc there was an uodate available and then the shifting issues started.
I'd duplicate the issues with the tech in the car, request they speak to their dealer Audi tech line on the proper way to perform a re-flash on the trans module AND check everything listed thus far.

Panelhead

Time will tell. If hydraulic controls it will reappear. If fluid level it is either fixed or you will see the fluid keaking out.
The dealer skinned you good. I get the fluid from California from 17.00/qt. the Mercon SP and Pentosin AFT are even less.
I have had two GM turbo 400 transmissiona due the same thing. It was fixed by replacing the torque converter and basic rebuild. But leakage in the control solenoids was the real issue.

MP4.2+6.0

What the recent poster had done sounds correct to me. He also says the problems were apparently fixed. The reflash takes Blue fluid if done by the book, which the dealer will generally do. Either Blue or Green can cost 2x Gold, though poster's price quoted sounds more like dealer retail than discounted--and what you kind of expect if you have to go to dealer service post warranty. Given poster's report of 12L, that sounds like it was changed twice, which gets it to the 80 or 85% change level cumulatively if one involved opening pan and filter change.

If not cured, his next steps are likely internal--likely fully fixable--including things neither dealer nor tech support are probably very familiar with. BTDT. Audi--like many--go down the path of R&R with replacement units in general rather than becoming ZF experts. Not defending it; just the reality of it. And if in a smaller market, that much less experience alongside.

TFT

When I went to pick up the car and saw the bill, it was much higher than they originally estimated, they discounted it by 20%.
Like you guys said, time will tell. But so far no problems.
When I researched the problem I found that it was a somewhat common issue on the BMW sites. They use the same transmission.

richard-tx

If I recall correctly that $47 is Audi's list price for the expensive trans oil. There is a cheaper oil that was used in later A8s. Of course my car requires the expensive oil. My dealer does not stock the expensive oil.

dvs_dave

Trans reflash is just smoke and mirrors. It was the fluid and filter change that fixed it. Not saying it's not an updated software version, but the changes are incremental at best and not a miracle cure. Think about it...why would a perfectly smooth transmission start to behave badly because of the original software? Software doesn't wear out, ATF does.

I'm glad it was fixed, but that dealer must have real big windows as they saw you coming from miles away. ATF for these trans like Redline D6 is an equivalent and is what's in mine at $11 a quart and is super smooth after it got lumpy on the original ATF

MP4.2+6.0

Sorry guys, I don't get these posts about fluid and cost and all. You keep raking a board member for getting his car fixed. I would back off some. Let's also remember these are like $5K or 6K jobs to get rebuilt and installed if something blows up because of some choice or compromise someone said "just as good as..."

Be practical, most folks don't have the experience or confidence to do tranny work, and especially get inside it in some way. Dropping the pan on an S8 (or W12) is no picnic either. Even after an exhaust pull it can be tricky how the pan clears--because of the plastic fill port. Net 95% who would even do a fluid/filter type change are at the mercy of the shop who does it, again assuming they have the experience on a relatively late model Audi with a big drivetrain shoehorned in.

For me, celebrate a bit someone who gets his car fixed and tells us about it. Peeing in the punchbowl takes the fun out of it by me.

dvs_dave

Fair point, but literally 2 minutes with Google will pull up all this info from previous posts and he'd have saved $$$. Makes it seem pointless us posting our fixes if they're not going to be looked for.

Jack88

Lesson learned. Yes, he overpaid. It's not a big deal, an extra 200 bucks or so in fluid is not that much considering what he had done.