Having some strange transmission problems.

[V8weight]

First off, I had a my TC replaced about 2k miles ago, and payed $700 out of pocket to have my trans flushed and filled as it was not an included operation and I wasn't comfortable driving the car home with the old fluid in there after a TC failure. That was at 62k for the record. Since then my trans has progressively gone down hill, but with different symptoms than most RS6's display when the trans has failed. It wants to shift at 1400 rpms, and maintain about 1200 rpm's at all times. It hits 3rd gear at about 20mph, 4th at 30mph, and 5th at about 40. If I use the paddle to try to downshift back down a gear it will inevitably just shift right back up. All the while it seems to be slipping. If I get angry and try to mash the throttle to try and coax a downshift, I just get a long delay, then it sits in limbo and tries to downshift only to up shift back to the wrong gear, leaving me at 1200rpm. Oddly enough, sport mode seems to still hold shifts to a higher rpm, but only if I start out in S mode, If I click it into S while driving, I no longer get that immediate downshift that I'm used to. My first thought was that the trans was under filled, but the dealership was confident that this was not the issue. I have an appointment for Wednesday morning, but am just trying to get a better idea of the cause of this or the possible outcome before I get their response. I'm thinking perhaps a clogged up valve body, who knows. I'm just afraid they are going to find a simple electrical problem without giving any thought to the damage done to the trans while being driven like this. I'm praying that it needs a whole replacement gearbox.

[hahnmgh63]

Was it an Audi dealer that did the gearbox fluid? There is a ZF procedure for doing the gearbox that needs to be followed, it isn't difficult, you just need to hook up Vagcom while doing it to get it to the right temp while filling.
Are there any codes being thrown? If so, what are they? There may be codes without the CEL on.

[V8weight]

Was it an Audi dealer that did the gearbox fluid? There is a ZF procedure for doing the gearbox that needs to be followed, it isn't difficult, you just need to hook up Vagcom while doing it to get it to the right temp while filling.
Are there any codes being thrown? If so, what are they? There may be codes without the CEL on.
Yeah, it was an Audi dealership that did the fluid change. I actually quizzed them on the filling procedure before they did it and they were spot on. That's the problem though, there aren't any stored codes for the transmission or tcu.

[DHall1]

Pat,

PM Mark in Chicago. He is the resident expert on trans failures and symptoms.

It does sound like the unit is going south. What does the VAG say when you try S mode and go WOT? Boost level normal?

[V8weight]

Pat,

PM Mark in Chicago. He is the resident expert on trans failures and symptoms.

It does sound like the unit is going south. What does the VAG say when you try S mode and go WOT? Boost level normal?
I haven't had time to check, I'm going to try to get some logs tomorrow, but I'm reasonably sure what I'm going to find is slippage leading to a reduction in boost.

[DHall1]

We are on the same page here. Time for a new trans.


I haven't had time to check, I'm going to try to get some logs tomorrow, but I'm reasonably sure what I'm going to find is slippage leading to a reduction in boost.

[mmaturo]

Pat,

PM Mark in Chicago. He is the resident expert on trans failures and symptoms.

It does sound like the unit is going south. What does the VAG say when you try S mode and go WOT? Boost level normal?

Ummm wow that sounds bad, well when the original transmission went on my car it just so happens it went one month after i had my first TC replaced after it threw a code so there's the only real similarity on one of my three failures. I was on a road trip when i first noticed it really delayed finding first gear rolling off from a start. To get it to keep me moving i kinda eased into the throttle and got the sorta response you are which was low speed shifts. Anything else i did resulted in a delay and rough shift into gear. I do not remember it pegging to one rpm though and i sure as heck didn't drop it into sport as i was worried about making it back home. But mainly as it completely went it would not find a gear for two or three seconds as i rolled off and i had slipping in other gears.

As my TC problems corresponded directly with my overboost and shut down issues (tranny telling engine to f'off for too much torque) it may be the engine getting shut down like mine did but maybe into a deeper limp mode ?? (I have never experienced full limp mode to comment on that).

You have something massively wrong so i think a new tranny is in your future period. In my case it took out the TC with it and i think as they put it, that it burned out...not sure what they meant exactly as i didn't think at the time to dig into why it went. Honestly i thought they may have screwed something up putting it back together off the TC change.

This last time they no question replaced the tranny and i only had relatively slight problems when rolling to a stop and it not finding first then clunking abruptly into gear and some slipping under hard acceleration. So yours is way the heck worse.

[V8weight]

Well, I got the call that I pretty much expected. "no fault codes, no problem". I told them to have the tech drive it home tonight, or as long and as he has to for that matter. I wish I would've had the time to do some logs myself but I just couldn't swing it. Oh well, I put my faith in the tech rather than the service writer anyways, hopefully he'll get a mile down the road and find out for himself how disgusting this car is to drive.

[freebase]

V8, use a VAG and look at what the transmission is coded at. I think it should be 000002. I know that when I was playing with the settings (set to 0000032), my trans did the same thing. It was shifting below 2000RPM and was hunting real bad. I coded it back to 000002 and all was fine.

[V8weight]

V8, use a VAG and look at what the transmission is coded at. I think it should be 000002. I know that when I was playing with the settings (set to 0000032), my trans did the same thing. It was shifting below 2000RPM and was hunting real bad. I coded it back to 000002 and all was fine.
I did just recode my tcu to 0032. Shit, my dealer is not going to be happy with me.:eye:

[V8weight]

Well, the car is fixed. Here are a few tips for future reference:
A: Do not recode your RS6 tcu to 0032. It doesn't like it and will respond with the symptoms from my original post.
B: Do not recode your RS6 tcu tp 0032 then completely forget about it and then take the car to the dealer and send them on a wild goose chase to find a problem that they will eminently never find. The dealer called me and told me that they could not find anything wrong with the car after checking the fluid, removing the pan and filter, and road testing for 150 miles. So I went and picked the car up and after seeing Freebase's post it clicked. I recoded the TCU back to 0002 and everything is back to normal. I can't express how embarrased I am and how bad I feel for the technician for wasting his time on something that I easily could have fixed myself.

[Bigglezworth]

Thumbs up to Freebase!!:0:

[audiprotn]

TQ started slipping couple of days ago, immediately after that transmission started having the exact same symptoms as OP.
Fluid has never been replaced (as i believe so), no TCU chip and etc.

No CEL.

I was preparing myself for the tranny rebuild until i saw this thread.
Any could suggest anything?
Whats the worst thing could happen if i drive it for another 100 miles?

[lswing]

Clogged up valve body from crap in yours trans fluid, probably from clutch discs wearing, not sure if the TC releases any junk. First step would be check fluid, flush and new plus filter....

Before my trans failed and slipped all the time, lots of silver crap in the fluid, shifts were getting less predictable, symptom of clogged VB. Oh yea, never a code even with a few massive trans slips!

[audiprotn]

I'm sure it's just a coincidence but it started happening a day after I took it to Audi for the gas tank valve recall.