mishar

No. The easiest and the cheapest would be to do nothing. If the blue is in there it was already changed at some point. Most likely not when the car was new. Probably to cure the hoot.

If you insist on changing it than open that big control opening, collect a few drops of the fluid and see what it is. Remember that you can change only 6 liters. Using the same stuff will save you money.

Brozee

+1.
If you already have the expensive new fluid and had it flushed why are you even still. Considering changing it again. Unless your at 250k or something of the like. Just send me the money that your about to waste lol. Overkill man overkill. Any mechanic would love to have you as a customer....

bmwm750

Mine likely has never been changed, and at 100k, I'm going to change it. I just got off the phone again with my contact at ZF, who confirmed, based on my trans code and serial #, that mine was factory filled with the blue stuff. Since I have every record from the car, and it was only ever serviced at one dealer its entire life, the fact that there is no record of it ever being serviced, I'm going to work on the (likely very accurate) assumption that it's never been changed.

Based on ZF's advice, I'm going to use the blue 6+ fluid and that'll be that.

As far as your comment on "Any mechanic would love to have me as a customer," sorry, but I do all my own work on my cars. I don't really have any interest in coughing up the cash for an $8000 gearbox down the road, so yes, I'm pretty big on preventative maintenance. You are aware that ZF doesn't buy the "lifetime fill" thing, and recommends a change between 75k and 100k, yes?

Brozee

Well I'm glad you do your own maintainence. And yes I am aware of that, but they also advise you do that because your buying their fluid to refill it. You just understand the people on the forums here have been through and seen so many posts on exactly what your asking. So as a 1k+ poster as well as all the other knowledge on here you must understand our placement on issues like this after we've seen them over and over. So please don't get jostled or defensive in posts; and welcome to the forums noobie

Just IMO granted I don't track or beat on the car I wouldn't change the fluid before 150k, on any car (chrysler aside lol ), for the price and because of the quality of the transmission and the fluid in it already.

When you do it please do a write-up and take pictures. I'd be surprised if your trans oil was dirty/ needed replacing.

To each their own and good luck!

bmwm750

Haha the noob thing is fine here, since I haven't owned an Audi for a while, as I'm mainly a Porsche/ BMW guy. Living in Denver now, I felt it a pretty good move to swap the 7 for the A8 (on a related note, I swapped the 7's ATF at about 70k and it was black).

Any transmission shop or ZF will tell you that as long as you use the proper fluid, you could change it every week if you wanted to shell out the cash, and there is absolutely nothing negative that a fluid change can cause. Now, if you use the wrong fluid, especially in a complex and sensitive box like we have, well yes, that can open up HUGE problems. This is why I have decided to go with the blue 6+ fluid, even though Audi says I can use the green 8.

All things serious, I am more than happy take whatever knowledge and insight can be given, and I'm more than happy to offer my input- that's why these forums work so well.

When I'm home and tackling this in a few weeks, I'll certainly take some pics and document things. I, myself, am pretty curious how gross this stuff is going to come out. Either way, I'm pretty cool with spending a few hundred bucks to get peace of mind on this one.

bmwm750

OK, so after flushing my old gold LifeGuard 6 fluid yesterday to the new green LifeGuard 8 stuff, I went to the dealer for the software update today, and was told that I don't need it since I already have the new software.

If you reference the TSB that I attached in my first post, you'll note that for an A8 4.2, with a trans code of HKT, the new software would be "0110." I have "0100," which would be the new software for a GCF/GNU trans code.

They referenced this and said "you have the new software."

When I pointed out that the "0100" code didn't line up at all with the HKT trans code, they said "either way, you have the new software, and there has not been another TSB to supersede this one, so there's nothing for us to do."

I re-set the adaptation values and did the adaptation drive with the existing "0100" software after putting the green fluid in, and the transmission feels perfect. Not that it had any issues before, but it's perhaps even a touch smoother and quieter now, and all seems to be just dandy.

So the real question is, even though it would appear that I have the wrong software version, the fact that everything seems happy, is there really a reason to worry or do anything else?

bmwm750

No one??? Was hoping for a little input here folks.....

Brozee

I would not worry about it at all. 1. They said it was fine, (whether they are the most intelligent on the matter or not) 2. It drives good too so I wouldn't have any thoughts about it.

Do you notice any changes in the diff's? I was thinking of flushing the front and rear and skip the center; was going to tackle that this weekend.

bmwm750

Well, I'm back on the road at work at the moment, but in the few days I drove it around since the service, I was actually surprised to see a noticeable improvement in fuel economy. Seeing as the tranny came out super clean, but the diffs were certainly in need of fresh fluid, I would attribute that to the diffs being serviced. Like I said, all 3 had fluid that looked pretty nasty.

As to the software bit, while everything seems all fine and dandy, the fact that the TSB specifically states that "failure to update the software with the new fluid will cause transmission damage" is a bit daunting.

What it really comes down to, is that I have "new" software, but it's not the correct version for my transmission code (per the TSB) and no one can give me an answer whether this something to worry about or not.

As for your car, there's certainly no harm in doing the front/ rear now, but I would certainly make it a point to do the center sooner than later.

A8CT

Somewhat off topic. Mine was a straight "gold" fluid flush and I had the occassional "hoot" which appears to be eliminated. ZF convinced me to leave it alone if it didn't bother me, now I'm wondering if changing the filter is "really" the cure and not quite the fluid itself.

How would you know? I would think almost all blue/green fluid and SW updates were done with a filter change.

I say that because the 5 speed transmissions also make a noise when the filters are getting clogged and the pressure rises. The noise is longer in duration but it's a different transmission.

I'll post again when I've gone thousands of miles.