lcunni10

hello I just bought a 2003 Audi A6 twin turbo. I bought this car knowing that it does not move! (hey it was only $300) you can start the car and move the gear shifter and put the car in gear. when you do this the rpms drop a little bit but the car wont move. The car supposedly went to the alignment shop and when they went to pull it out of the shop the car would not move.(hence why it was so cheap). Drained the trans fluid got about 2qts out of it, there were no metal shavings to indicate that the gears were grinding. just trying to figure out if i should try a few thing before getting a new trans. i was thinking maybe its just way to low on trans fluid?!

meternerd

Of course you should try stuff. But try the obvious first, instead of thinking new tranny. Any codes? Fluid level correct? The procedure for filling the tranny is kinda unusual for most folks....drain the old, put the filler adapter into the drain hole, pump 'till it overflows (don't remember if it should be in gear or neutral) and then install the plug. A major pain, in my opinion, but level is critical. The fact that RPM drops says the torque converter is probably working. Any noises as you change gears? No difference between auto shift and manual gear selection? If you put it up on jack stands, do any wheels turn? Tranny change would be a last ditch option unless you have access to a cheap replacement. But then again, if you take it to a tranny shop and get it fixed, you'll have a nice car for a fair price, even with the tranny repair. My 01 2.7T is still a really nice car. 180K miles. Had the tranny rebuilt due to a failed converter clutch (MIL light caused an automatic smog test fail in California). Worth it to me.

rocketman4321

Agree. Given that the shop was able to pull it in, and it failed pulling out, seems abrupt for a complete tranny failure. How about something as simple as the parking brake sticking? Or a brake caliper not releasing?

clancy

Or maybe they did damage when they lifted it? You will need to lift the entire car on jacks or something in order to properly drain and fill the trans and change the trans filter. So take a thorough tour underneath and see if anything looks damaged. If it drove onto the alignment rack and then would not drive off it I would suspect what happened while it was on the rack. It's not always the other guy's fault but this one is suspicious.

lcunni10

OK over the weekend I drained the transmission fluid and changed the filter, filled the transmission with almost 6 qts of fluid. Nothing has changed. There is no difference in auto or manual shift. There are no noises at all even to suggest that the transmission is trying to engage. The tires do not move at all on jacks. The car isn't throwing any codes. The only thing it does is when put in reverse the dash says " service".

rocketman4321

If you have all four wheels up can you not turn any wheel, even a little? Or does it rock a little and clunk against the Park stop? If the brakes are off, there should be some play in the driveshaft and differential. And then I'd try the same in neutral. I'm not trying to be stubborn about the brakes, but it'd be good to rule out the easy, cheap stuff first.

I'm pretty sure the service light/word on the dash is just based on mileage from when it was last reset, and therefore has nothing to do with this issue.

lcunni10

I agree with ruling out the easy/cheap things first! I will get it up on some jack stands tonight and try to turn the wheels while its up in the air.

Airbag

well you might have totally made your issue more complex plying with the tranny fluid . has to be filled while monitoring temperature to get the correct fill...

but back to the original problem .. how do you know you don't have a broken axle or cv joint ? if one while is wide open the car will not more regardless if it is a quarto or not.

problem may be now it won t move because of original problem PLUS incorrect fill procedure of tranmision.

Alpine1769

I know this was posted a few years ago, but I'm experiencing the same issue with my audi. Mine was driving perfect and it all happened within 15 minutes it started kicking into gear hard as I was driving, I put it in park, got back in and it wouldn't move. The gearshift moves, the car turns on, just won't register its going into gear, did you find out what was wrong?

georgeb944

Pull the codes with VCDS and report back.