sonoma-sunshine

Hey everyone. I just purchased a '01 A6 Allroad that the previous owner said the torque converter was failing. I drove it home - Noticed that when cold, the engine would high-rev before "bang!" it would engage first gear, then seemed to shift well, but at stop when accelerating to go forward the engine would rev high, and no power to wheels. Letting off throttle to lower speed would sometime engage transmission again, and once past 1st gear it would work fine. Eventually there was NO forward (or backward) movement once transmission was hot. I was advised to remove the pan, change filter and renew oil (per Audi procedure). Same symptoms albeit engaging a bit stronger but first time is with a BANG!.

I noticed a lot of fine metal "glitter" in pan both on magnets and in fluid. but worst yet was 4 larger metal parts that look suspiciously like a gear tooth! The transmission badge was removed and was very clean - most likely replaced / repaired at some point. 140K miles. Trans fluid was dark. Here are the photos of the metal bits. I have another transmission and torque converter but I am suspicious about the extra transmission.

I'm hopeful someone here may have experienced the same symptoms so I can budget for the scope of the repair. I've checked several North Bay (Northern San Francisco Bay) transmission shops and they are very proud of the service just to remove and replace ($2k labor) So I will be pulling the engine and transmission myself most likely. I have a (manual) A4 and really need the Allroad capability as I do disaster assessment and in the recent floods my A4 was way too low. so I plan on fixing this... but would like thoughts on torque converter vs transmission issues. Because of these gear parts in the transmission pan I'm pretty sure its transmission. Also it seems to go fine in reverse (without a BANG!) when it failed to engage forward.

dingus

I just rebuilt my 5hp19fla and replaced torque converter. theres no way I would have been able to afford paying a shop to rebuild and I couldn't bring myself to trust a used tranny especially at the price they go for. If I were you and had a different car to drive to a couple weeks or however long youre planning on taking with it, tear her apart and see what failed. a good rebuild kit with disks and seals can run from 300-500$ from what ive seen. deffinetly replace that torque converter too I got mine for like 175$ through WIT

allroad2k

I just found similar chips in my pan. first and second gear almost non-existent but once in 3rd you can use 3, 4 and 5 which I did and drove 2 hours at 70 mph on the highway. I have many more chips in my pan and the are aluminum so they can't be gears. Does anyone know what they are.

transman

Ya they are the lugs from the drum. Common problem. Pressure regulator in the VB is worn out and should be replaced with the trans-go kit. If you have the lugs in your pan, its too late. It will need the "D" drum replaced. Good news, very simple unit to rebuild, and tons of info on line.

sonoma-sunshine

Well it is now set for a year and they pulled a manual transmission and all the bits and pieces coming out of the A6 but I doubt I'll actually execute that some very interested in finding more about this ddrum pulling the transmission doing the work myself.