RS6 Transmission issues?

[hahnmgh63]

From the RS6 Technical guide, mods for the RS6 5HP-24A:
The following modifications have been
made to the previous transmission:
• Reinforced transfer gear and
transmission housings
• Increased clutch pressure
• Brake “D” reinforced (one additional
coated disc)
• Reinforced spur gear drive splines
(modified material)

[hoam skooled]

those are factory mod differences ? ..wonder what mods 517 does with yours?..i am still interested BTW..if it's available ...just a few bux too poor for yours at the moment..which is the best trans option i see out there ..tax and plates was 800 bux , i had forgot about that ..lol ..ughh ..i needed my new car to break down in june when i start working again..lol... (i own a pest control biz) jun-november

[Bigglezworth]

you mean though in regards to the item being converting to a manual or finding a newer 6-7 spd auto to work for it?

Yes & yes. Also with regards to repairs w/ OEM & aftermarket kits, shops, $$, etc. Everything Transmission has been discussed on this forum ad nauseam... Aside from the Gen1 DRC suspension, this item is the leading cause for heavy depreciation of the 2002-2004 RS6 model IMO.

[hoam skooled]

yeah , i had known of this cars weaknesses way before buying it and i knew what to look for and questions to ask ..i was straight up lied to though ...but good news is EVERYTHING else on the car is new and verified..and i have read all sorts of transmission conversations on here and they seem to go in circles of mind numbing redundancies , as i am aware..lol..seen many just replace and rebuild and swap with my symptoms ..also seen people with similar symptoms being fixed with anything from new filter n fluid to "new filter n fluid caused the issue"..lol..to being fixed with a TCU upgrade ..or new tcu or new valve body rebuild/replace ..or as i read it could be a torn seal or something internal..just not sure how to guess for free ..so best option is to replace it with an honest transmission and just enjoy the car as is as i put money aside to swap..i try and read as much as possible b4 asking old questions..lol..none of my friends are into cars and no one near me knows what an audi is..lol , so i tend to scour the net asking dumb questions ..lol

[LaserSVT]

Yeah these transmissions are not the strongest. On the 8th mine comes out to see what happened. Its one of two things. I either snapped the input shaft or its from the fluid. I trusted my "Audi" pro to do the trans fluid and filter change. He used OEM filter and gasket but used Valvoline fluid that his shop uses in all other Audis without issue. It may be fine for lower power Audis but I think its not right for the RS6. We will know for sure when it gets yanked.
I suspect input shaft as I lost all gears after a hard shift to second (3rd time car has done it although other times were 2nd to 3rd). Could be too thin of fluid and too high pressure. Dunno yet. At any rate I wont even risk it with the new trans and getting all BND stuff for it as BND has proven itself for my oil and fuel treatment.

FWI the car was making 443hp and 476tq on 93 octane but it had the power turned up to a 100 octane tune with the appropriate fuel so I would imagine it was making well over 450 at the wheels and 500+ TQ.

[lswing]

Yeah these transmissions are not the strongest. On the 8th mine comes out to see what happened. Its one of two things. I either snapped the input shaft or its from the fluid. I trusted my "Audi" pro to do the trans fluid and filter change. He used OEM filter and gasket but used Valvoline fluid that his shop uses in all other Audis without issue. It may be fine for lower power Audis but I think its not right for the RS6. We will know for sure when it gets yanked.
I suspect input shaft as I lost all gears after a hard shift to second (3rd time car has done it although other times were 2nd to 3rd). Could be too thin of fluid and too high pressure. Dunno yet. At any rate I wont even risk it with the new trans and getting all BND stuff for it as BND has proven itself for my oil and fuel treatment.

FWI the car was making 443hp and 476tq on 93 octane but it had the power turned up to a 100 octane tune with the appropriate fuel so I would imagine it was making well over 450 at the wheels and 500+ TQ.

No, it was not the fluid. It was because you are driving a highly tuned RS6, hard, on an old trans, that is inherently weak. Even with a new trans, and BND or the like, you will get the same result after "X" 0-120 takeoffs.

[hoam skooled]

yeah i'm hoping an "honest" used trans and an upgraded TC i should be ok if i stay stock and drive it kindly .. till i get the manual swap someday..lol ..i think my only mod i would do is gut my cats and play with the mufflers / exhaust until i get a manual ..we dont have inspections or emissions in michigan so i de-cat most things anyways, but i see it's a decent gain with just that alone on these ..i too am thinking of going with BND fluid and filter kit ...seen a few people that appear sold on them

[Bigglezworth]

Yeah these transmissions are not the strongest. On the 8th mine comes out to see what happened. Its one of two things. I either snapped the input shaft or its from the fluid. I trusted my "Audi" pro to do the trans fluid and filter change. He used OEM filter and gasket but used Valvoline fluid that his shop uses in all other Audis without issue. It may be fine for lower power Audis but I think its not right for the RS6. We will know for sure when it gets yanked.
I suspect input shaft as I lost all gears after a hard shift to second (3rd time car has done it although other times were 2nd to 3rd). Could be too thin of fluid and too high pressure. Dunno yet. At any rate I wont even risk it with the new trans and getting all BND stuff for it as BND has proven itself for my oil and fuel treatment.

FWI the car was making 443hp and 476tq on 93 octane but it had the power turned up to a 100 octane tune with the appropriate fuel so I would imagine it was making well over 450 at the wheels and 500+ TQ.

Your power numbers are more than factory, but still nothing extra ordinary. As a reference, I lost all the gears on the tranny in my one ride a couple of years ago, and the input shaft was just fine. I had an F-Clutch failure coupled with a bad O-ring. Will be intersting to know what has failed on yours.

[TozoM8]

$2K is a reasonable price for the R&R. Thats what I charge.

[hoam skooled]

$2K is a reasonable price for the R&R. Thats what I charge.

have any openings?..lol ..trying to decide which shop i'm the most comfy with..already gambling with a used trans i am hoping is honest and a used 8k mile 517 TC i picked up to add to new trans..someone had a used trans you built with low miles here for a good price but was scooped up before i could get it ..lol.. grrr ..i'm still driving it but it slips , does better if i come to a stop downshifting with paddles and taking off with paddles ...not sure the actual diagnosis , but i just want to stop guessing and get a trans slapped in so i can enjoy without , stressing every time i come to a stop light ..

[sweatnblood]

I know I'm late to this but...after reading I was hoping there would of been a few places mentioned that actually build stronger transmissions...maybe I missed it...if not is there a company that builds something to handle the extra hp that you get from tuning/exhaust...and then give you some confidence if you start thinking upgraded turbos/DP's...

[hoam skooled]

I know I'm late to this but...after reading I was hoping there would of been a few places mentioned that actually build stronger transmissions...maybe I missed it...if not is there a company that builds something to handle the extra hp that you get from tuning/exhaust...and then give you some confidence if you start thinking upgraded turbos/DP's...

yup TOZO on here can fix you up..there are after markey drums that are stronger and better aftermarket clutch n other parts in there that cam be improved over OEM ..and make sure you get a good torque converter after market as well .. there are also a couple other companies that "strengthen" these trannies but i'd rather have tozo get the business , has a good rep on here ..he's the one that posted a couple just above my last post here..i'd msg him if he doesnt reply

[lswing]

I know I'm late to this but...after reading I was hoping there would of been a few places mentioned that actually build stronger transmissions...maybe I missed it...if not is there a company that builds something to handle the extra hp that you get from tuning/exhaust...and then give you some confidence if you start thinking upgraded turbos/DP's...

Results seem to be mixed with the upgrade companies. They can make it stronger, how strong is in question. The transmission is inherently weak by design. Most of it comes down to how hard you drive the car and just how much power you are making...anything will break over time.

[CBeau]

There isn't much that can be done. I researched a lot and spoke to lots of in the know trans people including Tozo and he said himself he can do a few small strengthening upgrades but he still wouldn't go throwing any more power at it.... like as in he can strengthen some to make it less insufficient than it already was but its still on the limit with power #s as they came. And no - no other trans will fit excepting the manual swap which I know little about other than it is doable and to have found out enuf to know its more involved than anything I'd want to get involved in with this particular car and seems 90%+ of people who do it part with the car soon after. I think you're wasting your time if you think you might find some way to reliably push 100hp thru the trans.... which doesn't mean you might not be able to find someone who will take your $$ saying they can.

[CBeau]

There isn't much that can be done. I researched a lot and spoke to lots of in the know trans people including Tozo and he said himself he can do a few small strengthening upgrades but he still wouldn't go throwing any more power at it.... like as in he can strengthen some to make it less insufficient than it already was but its still on the limit with power #s as they came. And no - no other trans will fit excepting the manual swap which I know little about other than it is doable and to have found out enuf to know its more involved than anything I'd want to get involved in with this particular car and seems 90%+ of people who do it part with the car soon after. I think you're wasting your time if you think you might find some way to reliably push 100hp thru the trans.... which doesn't mean you might not be able to find someone who will take your $$ saying they can.

.... 100 extra hp that is.... or any more hp/tq reliably.... or the hp/tq it came with reliably!!

[kismetcapitan]

ok, something odd is happening with my transmission. If I manually select each gear and then pound the throttle, it pulls as it should (mightily!).

but if I have the car in D or S, from a standing start, if I drive away normally....no problems. Half-throttle....no problems. But starting in 1st gear and if I really give it the beans, it won't shift into 2nd very easily, and I get that dreaded RPMs climbing but little acceleration happening. It's like it's stuck or slipping between 1st and 2nd. Again, manually selecting 2nd before hitting the gas doesn't display any problems. It goes without saying that I don't keep the car in that state for very long - I lift off the throttle posthaste, and the transmission shifts happily.

what's really beginning to get my goat is that before I gave my car to a mechanic to fix the ABS module (yank it, send it out for a rebuild) and valve cover gaskets....I never really had transmission problems, as long as I didn't try to give it full power when the transmission was cold.

I ran my Rosstech software - zero transmission codes. A few general random codes (passenger seat reclining switch intermittent...?? but it works all the time!), but absolutely no codes from the transmission.

Torque converter dying? I'm hoping (praying) that my upcoming transmission fluid change w/filter will sort this out. Mostly praying :/

[s8prtotype]

Last time I had weird issues it was because of the cracked tranny filter, replaced it, fixed the issues for awhile (With new Redline D4 fluid) but then tranny just randomly started slipping when i was making a turn one day...

I now own the stevenken kit lol

Gathering all the other parts I need to swap to 6 speed now, bought a supercharged range rover for a daily and the RS6 has just been sitting pretty until I get time to do it. Business is crazy right now.

Won't risk another auto tranny failing.... sooo because racecar

Wife won't let me sell it... That's my recent update on my project

[kismetcapitan]

thanks, I'm hoping my car is suffering from the same problem....because I've got the parts and swapping the transmission fluid isn't exactly the most labor-intensive job. I also like to solve weak points on cars with permanent solutions; it wasn't cheap, but it was how I got 700 reliable horsepower out of my old Skyline (it's long dead - the next owner totaled it within a week), which means going 6-speed manual.

with the effort (and MONEY) I've poured into the car to get it in perfect running order to sell........I'm now thinking I'll just keep it. The problem is that I just never drive it. It's very fast, I can hustle my car around some pretty improbably corners, but I think it's just slightly too far removed from the raw driving experience that makes a car make me want to drive it. It could very well be that simply putting in a manual transmission, and maybe bumping up power a bit by gutting the cats would be enough. I did notice that the final 5 feet or so of exhaust are slip-ons. A close friend of mine builds custom exhaust pipes - it would be simple to fabricate straight pipes (but keep the center resonators - drone on a highway will drive one insane) so I can hear just how mean the V-8 motor is....but be able to swap the stock mufflers back on easily at home.

But even then, it still wouldn't collect a lot of mileage. I work from home, so I don't commute. And unless it's a hurricane, snowstorm, or tornado, I ride a motorcycle. At least my bikes are still Audi products :P