Coloradogrant

Hi, I am looking at buying a 1999 A8. It seems to have a tranny issue. At slow speeds it feels like it slips from gear to gear "hunting" trying to find the correct one. At highway speeds it seems perfect. The "hunting" is less when using tiptronic . Does it sound like a tranny rebiuld is needed, or is this some electrical gremlin. The car has 110,000 on it, and owner has no kinowledge of any prior tranny service.
Thanks for any advice.
Grant in Colorado Springs

icsamerica

I'd bet heavily you're going to need a new transmission. If you buy the car at a low enough price then it's worth it becasue you'll have a good car with a new transmission. Expect to pay $3500 - $5000 for a factory Zf unit installed. If it were me I'd purchase a transmission directly from ZF and have some one you trust install it.

ohbw

..."transmission", "hunt", "hunting", "thump" "drop out", "valve body", and combinations thereof. Use the account ID filters 22012 and 80919 (you'll see what I mean on the search page).

That will give you posts from PaulW and TozoM8, two of the most knowledgeable people on the forum. Reading through those will give you an idea of what the potential issues and solutions are with an A8 transmission.

And Tozo can rebuild a tranny very well and very cost effectively compared to most other sources.

JimR

2nd

ryoung

3rd

roughyear

skip it... unless it's selling for $4k... then do the rebuild for $3k, now u have a nice $7k A8!!

roughyear

i agree $7 is a lot of money for a 10yr car w/100k miles, minus the tranny the car IS a TANK!!

JimR

Even if I buy another car to have something more shiny / spiffy, I figure I'll keep this as a 3rd car for when another car is in the shop, parking at the airport, and such.

A8CT

deduct about $100 worth of sawzall blades...

Telecomj

MY 98 A8 did the same thing when holding steady at 40mph. I topped off the trans with fresh fluid and the gear hunting went away.