Wake96c4

Ok, a search didn't give me much so I thought I'd ask.

Do the 6 speed automatics in our vehicles have a hard time in the cold?

The last two mornings we've seen temps in the single digits here in the D.C. area (not garaged) and both mornings I had to switch the trans to sport mode and make the first shift or two out of first gear manually or it won't shift.

This morning I rode it out to about 4000 RPM before I pushed the stick over and bumped it into second gear. It was behaving normally again within the first couple minutes, less than half a mile of driving in a 25 mph residential area.

The last two nights, I get in the car at work where it is garaged (~50 degF) and the trans shifted normally right from the get-go.

My GM vehicles hold the gears longer when cold but nothing this extreme.

The Audi I've had since September this year, I don't know the history of it, and I haven't had it to the Audi dealer yet although I will soon for the oil leak that developed.

D's Avant

Mine holds a gear a bit longer in extreme cold, so temps at or below zero here as of late in the Mid-West. I think this is normal and is maybe the way the car is trying to get everything up to operating temp.

LLskier23

Mine also holds 1st gear longer than usual in the cold, perhaps up to 3,000 rpm or so before shifting. However after the initial shift to 2nd (usually requiring that I let off the gas a lot), everything seems normal again. My two previous Audis (B6 A4 and C5 Allroad) both also did this in the cold, so I have always suspected it was a normal adjustment to the ambient temps.

However, the cars have always shifted on their own eventually; they never needed coaxing from the sport or tiptronic modes. So I'm not sure if that's a bad sign on your end or not. Will the transmission shift in D at all initially, or does it just hold 1st longer then normal and then eventually shift?

canucks6

Coldest I have started my car is -12C (approx 10F).

Parked outside.

Didn't notice any difference in transmission shifts.

Car was warming up for at least 10 minutes before I drove off as I had a lot of snow and frozen windows to clear.

Does not seem normal for the transmission to not shift unless in sport mode.

enoch861

It's completely normal.
The cars hold the gear longer than normal to get things to operating temps quicker.
The quickest way to make it go away is to drive around your block or around half a mile going about 20-25MPH. After that initial mile or whenever it finally shifts to 3rd gear, you should be good to go.
It's been constantly below 0F here in MN for the past week or so and morning starts being around -20F while Monday morning it was around -35F or so and it did the same thing except shifts were super slow (as if shifts were happening in slow motion). I don't know if thats of concern because after 2-3 minutes of driving it was back to normal again but it hasn't done it since Monday when it was extremely cold. Any ideas?

Wake96c4

Well at just about 4000 RPM I pushed the stick over and bumped it as I didn't feel it was going to do it on it's own. I was taking off with very light throttle to see if it would shift on its own, 4000 seems pretty high to me.

This morning though we were at 30 degrees and she shifted normally from the first take off. It must be something directly related to the cold. It sits overnight in my driveway about the same time it sits in underground parking at work. Every startup from a warmer work garage temp was normal, only the starts from my ~10 degree driveway were odd.

I know modern vehicles have temp sensors in the transmission, maybe I have a flaky one when it gets that cold out?

Midwestuser1

Its normal! My 08 A6 3.2 Q does the exact same thing in Milwaukee, WI. with the below zero temps. Ones it finally shifts it does do much better after that initial gear hold in 1st gear.

John's MTM Allroad

I worked for 5 years at Prudhoe Bay in Alaska and one thing we learned when leaving our pick-ups idling for long periods when it was -40°C or F, you never leave the transmission in Park but leave it in Neutral so that the transmission fluid was able to circulate properly. Following on the same thread for warming up your Audi, if you put it in neutral while warming up the engine, that may help get the transmission fluid circulating which would in turn help you shift once you got on the road. Just a thought.
John.

Prospeeder

.....you realize neutral and park do the exact same thing, but a pawl is engaged to keep the insides locked, fluid if still circulating and being pumped through the trans exactly the same, park or neutral. What your doing doesnt do ANYTHING. I think it was/is all in your head thinking it made some difference.

John's MTM Allroad

That may be the case now in which case, I stand corrected. However, back in the mid 1980s driving a Ford F150 pick-up, if you left it idling in park overnight at -40°F instead of in neutral, it would not shift out of park when you tried to drive it in the morning. Maybe it was wishful thinking but we learnt our lessons the hard way.
John.