kelisko

I'd suggest you leave your transmission alone and go ahead with the spark plugs maintenance first to see what happens.

akingzkid

Thanks for your feedback Kelisko. Maybe the coil packs also? How do I know if any of those are bad? I could start with the plugs and if no improvement, then do the coil packs? Before doing anything I will do the 2 tests using my Xtool VAG401 to look for misfires and transmission slippage. Thanks.

Nurke

Can you post a video of your hiccup? RPM change during hiccup?
I would be careful asking dealer about fluid type. I wanted to top off my tc before i put it back onto trans, when I changed 3.2 engine and went to the dealer with vin# jut to be sure.. they sold me blue color. I asked her if this is for my car...sure.
Did it...everything is fine.. then when I went to buy the whole kit from blau... I realized that there is 3 types... then searching this forum I learned how to look for software version... anyhow my version is 0010 which takes tan color fluid.. so I ended up putting 1qt of blue fluid in it. Now after learning about fluids.. one would assume that since they are the only ones who can update software, that the sheep would check their database and see that this vin # does not have update done so she should know that blue is not compatible with tan.. but hey, lets make $80.00 sale ( 40 each).

Then my 4.2 started pissing coolant from radiator.. bought one from dealer since aftermarket ones list different sizes and thickness..
Anyhow, Im thinking great I can use this blue fluid to top of my 4.2 trans since there will be some fluid loss once I disconnect trans cooler lines from radiator (0040 version). Guess what... the fluid that leaked from trans cooler is RED, smells like typical trans fluid..now I plan to flush it...I did start feeling hiccup just like you mentioned, when changing gears..not always..it feels like really bad trans mounts like trans tail got lifted up few inches. In my case I know I had a spill when removed lines and Im sure some of it stayed in cooler...could be low on fluid. One day in next 5 years when I find time, Ill top it off. It does get smooth when I do trans adaptation but doesnt stay good for long.
It is very hard to guess what can go wrong.. the best thing would be if you can make a video...as they say...picture says 1000 words.

Nurke

You should change or swap coils and plugs when you have misfire.. you might not feel misfire at 2k rpm but your ecm will...and will tell you either by turning check engine light on or you will see it in misfire group if intermittent.

akingzkid

Nurke,
Thanks for the advice on the fluid type. Sounds like you had a fiasco. Yeah, I will press the dealer to make sure they look at my software version before they tell me the fluid type. Can I check that with my Xtoo VAG401? If so, do you know where I go to find it? I thought I saw it the other day as I was messing around with the tool.

When you say you do a Trans Adaptation, what procedure are you referring to? Are you talking about the one that you turn the key on, hold the gas pedal down for a certain period of time (like 30 seconds), remove foot from pedal and then turn key to off? (I have also see this one say to turn the key off and then remove foot from pedal). Or, are you talking about something done with VCDS?

A video won't help because you won't see anything on the video. The RPMs are not affected when it does it and it's very quick. It would be hard to capture on video also because it is so random. Thanks.

akingzkid

ok. Thanks. I hooked up my tool this morning and watched for misfires on all 6 cylinders while driving 30 miles to work. The numbers stayed at zero on all cylinders. But, I also never felt the hiccup. I really wanted to feel it so I could see if the tool would register a misfire. Not sure what may have caused it to NOT do the hiccup this morning but maybe it's because I cleaned my MAP sensor last night. I removed it and sprayed a ton of throttle body cleaner (that's all I had) on it. The little filament down in there looked pretty dirty (but not junked up) when I removed it and it looked pretty much the same after I sprayed it. But oh, well, I at least tried to clean it. Maybe it did help. I also did the silly thing that I mentioned in the post above with turning on the ignition switch and holding down the gas pedal. Still not convinced this works on Audis but I know 100% that it works on my Mercedes. I do it once a month on that car.

So, maybe, just maybe, the combination of the "transmission adaptation" and the MAP cleaning helped. I will run the same test on the way home today.

I did have an "Ah ha" moment yesterday. I have always had a slightly rough idle at startup. I noticed that the same "hiccup" that I am feeling while driving is the "hiccup" that I feel on idle at startup. It does a few of them while at high idle during startup and then does not do it anymore after the RPMs come down to 700 or so. Interesting!! Any thoughts on that and if the two could be related?

No check engine light for misfires. I do have a constant CEL but it's for the dreaded P2404 code. I have given up on that!!

In the next few days I will do the transmission slippage test that you told me about.

Thanks.

Nurke

I dont think I noticed software version on xtool, only part number for tcm and trans I think.. Ill try to find it with my xtool ower the weekend.

You can use your xtool to do trans adaptation.. do throttle body adaptation FIRST.. there is a section saying "special features" it is listed there. When you choose that you will hear TB moving and see readings from pedal and tb sensors changing values.. you will see message adaptation run... then adaptation OK... leave it like that for at lease 30 sec ( do not touch gas pedal doing this part), then press exit button several times until you get out from ecm module..turn ignition off... then you may need to start the engine.. then turn it off and go back to ecm module section again( turn ignition on before that). When you connect to ECM ( not TCM !!!) go to Basic settings(04) .. then go to group 063..press enter then press your gas pedal all the way to the floor for 3 seconds..then press exit, once out of that group you can release gas pedal. 063 is for trans adaptation.
In case you cant find built in feature for TB adaptation, you can go to ECM then Basic settings then group 060 and wait for at least 30 sec.
Do TB adaptation first then Trans adaptation..
OH yeah, make sure you erase ecm and tcm error codes if any before adaptations.

akingzkid

I looked just now for the software version using my Xtool and you are right, I didn't see it. I was seeing something else. Not to say there is not a way to do it. If you are able to find out how to find it this weekend using the Xtool I would love to know.
As far as the adaptation, I did that just now also. I did the throttle body adaptation via the "special functions" menu. I heard a few clicks and it said "run" and then "ok". I then waited 30 seconds like you said.
I then hit escape several times, turned the ignition off, then started the car, turned the car off and then turned the ignition on again. I then went to "Diagnose", then to “common system” then to “engine” and then to “04 basic settings” and then entered “063”. I'm assuming that puts me in the ECM module??When you first get in there it shows kick down adaptation “operating” at the bottom but then it changes to kick down adaptation “error” after about 5 seconds. Is this the right group? Should it show the info about the pedal position sensor and kick down switch? Or am I in the wrong group? You said to go to 063 and then to 04. But I had to go to 04 “basic settings” before I got to the 000 to be able to change it to 063. Even though I was not sure if I was in the right place I went ahead and did it but I think the first time I did it I waited too long and did it after it already said "error". I held the pedal to the floor for 3 seconds and then hit escape to get out of the module and then turned the ignition off and removed the key (not sure if after turning off the ignition if I was supposed to remove the key or go ahead and start the car). Since I was skeptical because I did it when it said "error", I redid it. I did the Throttle body adaptation again just to be sure. This time as soon as I got into the 063 module, I pressed the gas pedal and it showed kick down adaptation run, followed by kick down adaptation ok. After a few seconds I then hit escape a few times, removed my foot from the pedal and turned the ignition off. Again, I was not sure if I was I supposed to remove the key or immediately start the car? Or does that matter?
Did I perform this correctly or did I botch it? LOL. Thanks for all of your help.

Nurke

The only difference between 2 times you did.. you didnt mention holding gas pedal down to the floor for 3 seconds... maybe thats why you had error message. The second try sounds right.
Now you may have stored a trouble code like kick-down error or something like that.. since you had that message. Both adaptations take about 3 minutes to do, I would just to make sure, scan both modules, trans and engine and clear any codes and redo adaptations. If there were some error code stored after 1st try then kick-down woudnt be right.
In your scanner when you chose "engine" or Transmission or abs or any listed section.. you just entered that module. So yes once you have chosen engine... you wwre in engine control module (ECM).
Turn ignition off would mean move the key from ON to ACC position... I dont see if it would mater pulling the key out.
Please note that doing all of this may and may not correct your issues.. but you need to start eliminating anything possible..

akingzkid

I held the pedal down to the floor on the first try but I just didn't do it fast enough. I was reading the info on the screen and realized that it had changed to "error". So I went ahead and did the throttle body adapt again and did the trans adapt again. But I did not go back and scan the trans and engine to clear any codes. So, I need to do it again. When you say scan and clear any codes are you referring to DTC codes like the P2404 that I mentioned or are you referring to the faults that individual modules can have?

Ok. Good to know that even though I was in the kick down area, that was the correct area to do the trans adapt.

I didn't feel any difference on the drive home from work so I don't think it was done correctly. So like I said, I will try it again.

Thanks for helping me try to eliminate issues.

With that being said, I went into module 015 and 016 on the way home today and it was a whole different story than this morning. This morning I felt zero hiccups and the Xtool didn't report any misfires. On the way home I felt several of them in several different gears. The tool shows 1.0 misfire on a particular cylinder but it only stays there for a short period of time and then it goes away. I want to say that I think when I came to a stop they would clear themselves also. Are they supposed to stay so they can tally the total or is it supposed to clear back to zero after like a minute?

So far I have captured them in cylinders 1, 2, 4 and 6. I think I could feel the hiccup when they occurred in 1, 2 and 4 but I didn't notice it for cylinder 6. I was surprised to look down and see that one. I'm sure if I tested it long enough that I would have them in 3 and 5 also (I'm totally guessing).

Here are a few pics.

So what does this mean? Should I try to clean my spark plugs and get any oil off of them that's there? Should I just get new plugs, even if they look good? I pulled 2 of them a month or so ago and posted pics and Kelisko said they looked ok. I also didn't think they looked too bad except he did point out that there was quite a bit of oil on the threads.

Do I need to get all new coil packs? Not sure how much that costs. Ugh. Is there a way to test those prior to just buying new ones?

Thanks. You are being really helpful. I appreciate it.