Shakthagreat

I have a 1999 Audi A8 Quattro.I have had if or about 5 years and it has 200K miles it starts up on a dime and runs great especially on the hightway. lately I am getting a little delay when changing gears when she first starts up. Is there a way to check the fluid level. I have been told it is a closed system, but there should be a way to see if it need to be topped off.

Thank you

Samilcar

Checking the fluid level involves getting the car up on jack stands, making sure the car is level, then opening the 17mm hex socket fill plug while the car is running (do not open the fill plug with the car off, you will lose at least a quart of fluid). Pump fluid up through the fill hole with the transmission warmed up (pan temperature around 120°F), and once fluid runs out of the fill hole, the fluid level should be correct.

audipages A8 Automatic Transmission Servicing

hillpc

As Samilcar explains, there is no easy way, with the original setup, to measure the actual level, only to see if it is too high (runs out) or too low (takes pumping in more to make it run out), though if you measure how much you pump in to make it run out, you'll know how low you were. Temperature makes a difference.

I have started thinking about a way to plumb steel tubing into the drain plug (the small one) and up into the engine compartment, where one could very slowly apply increasing very, very low air pressure. The pressure will build till it's high enough to equal the height of liquid above the drain plug, then start bubbling air into the pan and stop increasing. It's similar to one way that people measure water depth in a well. (I do it this way with a 1/4" tube I installed last time I had my submersible well pump out of the hole.) But there a lot of details here that would need to be worked out. We're talking tenths of a psi. And we wouldn't want to have a rock rip the tube off the pan and drain the trans.