ex-quattro PETE

I've posted about this before, but I thought I'd try to poll the owners this time to see just how common this is. And if it is not common, I guess I need to have my service dept take a look at it. The problem is, the engine needs to be completely cold - not driven for many hours or overnight.

When I first start driving (again, on a completely cold engine/trans), regardless if summer of winter, the trans seems to hold onto that 1st gear unusually long, and then somewhat violently (or should we say, abruptly) dumps it into 2nd gear. It only does it this one time. All the subsequent shifts are smooth. I could come to a stop in 5 seconds and then start moving again, and that next 1st --> 2nd shift will now be smooth.

None of the other automatic trans I've ever driven did anything like it, but my experience with automatics is rather limited in general, so I don't want to use this as a benchmark.

Please respond to the poll above. Feel free to chime in with any add'l detail as well if you were able to do something in order to fix it.

Thanks!

Hardwired

My 2012 2.0T does this every time I pull out of the driveway in the morning and drive to work, then again when I pull out of the parking lot at work to come home. It happens during the first shift the transmission makes moving forward and never again until everything cools down completely. I have noticed if I accelerate hard (as hard as the 2.0T can accelerate) it doesn't lurch, but there are times you can't or don't want to do that.

My 2015 3.0 TFSI does not have the problem.

I wonder if the year model might make a difference.

The service department has "taken a look at it" but can't find anything.

ex-quattro PETE

For what it's worth, our 3.0T is a 2015, and it does have this issue. And yes, if you gun it, you won't notice the issue, but I feel bad about flooring it on a cold engine. Besides, it would not be appropriate/possible in the small community where we live.

Yeah, that's my worry, too, but I'm now kicking myself for not even mentioning it to the SA when the car went it for its 5K service a few weeks ago. Granted, they would have had to keep the car overnight to be able to reproduce the issue.

I've heard some people having some luck installing the aftermarket transmission mount. I have one sitting here, just didn't have the opportunity to install it yet...

Transfer

My SQ5 does this exactly. Other VAG vehicles that I've had with autos also did this: 2008 Rabbit, 2009 Tiguan. This is my first Audi. Transmission mount insert improved some areas but did not noticeably change this behavior for me. I just live with it as a normal operating quirk.

Coolieman1220

I feel as if this is normal. The engine is cold, the transmission is cold, the fluids are cold. Once they warm up it doesn't do this. The engine holds gears longer to help warm up and first gear is tall so a slower shift due to the coldness will make it feel abrupt.

ex-quattro PETE

As I mentioned in my case, it'll only do this the first time, but not right after that, 5 seconds later. I'm sure the trans and all the fluids are still cold 5 seconds later.

Possibly the trans just needs some movement of the parts to get the fluid circulated.

Interesting results so far, without any apparent pattern. About half the people are reporting the issue, and it is not specific to any engine.

ex-quattro PETE

Does anyone know if Audi issued any TSBs re: updated trans programming?

Not saying this is necessarily a programming issue, but having the latest software version should probably be the starting point of any troubleshooting here.

ex-quattro PETE

Thanks for the responses so far. Here is a quick summary:

Approx half of all the responders indicated they have noticed this issue. Most of the 3.0T owners did not notice this issue. Most of the 2.0T owners did notice this issue. The 3.0TDI and SQ5 were about half and half.

I did hear that on other models that use this ZF trans and had this issue, replacing valve body helped make this issue go away. I will bring it up to the service advisor next time, but I'm kind of expecting him to say "They all do it," which is only about half true based on the results of this unscientific poll.

ND40oz

Mine does it, also takes a bit to shift into drive on a cold start, as in move the shifter and wait a second for it to physically shift the transmission into drive.

swilds79

Did you ever figure out what was going on with the transmission between first and second gear? I just bought a 2014 Q5 and its doing the same thing. Thanks!