ATF - Change or not? Confused!
 

Lads,

Mine has 120k miles and goes OK. No problems. I'm going to hang onto it for a little bit longer (actually i really like it and it's in excellent condition). So, im OK with spending some cash on it now in some routine maintenance and preventative maintenance. That brings me to the gearbox oil

i've been reading posts on here and other forums. I'm a bit confused as i'm seeing some conflicting advice as to whether a gear oil change is a good idea..

Does anyone know what's involved exactly, parts needed etc? Also is there work do be done on VAGcom?

Realise I can't outsource the decision but wondering what the consensus might be: Leave well enough alone or change?

I saw this page, would be great if anyone knows a similar for our D3?

http://www.audipages.com/Tech_Articl...servicing.html

Don't confuse D3 with D2, VERY different gearboxes. :tuttut:

My 2p worth would say have it changed if you intend keeping the car indefinitely. I had the ATF changed at least 3 times on my old D3. The box was as smooth at 240K when I sold it as it was when I bought it with 60K.

Thanks Joe. May i ask, what was your experience of the change? Did you do it yourself or your dealer or indy?

Any idea of costs etc? And i read that you need to use the Audi gearbox oil.

I just saw on my local Audi site they change multi tronic oil for fixed price of 240 which seems like a good price?

I used a Dealer each time as knowledgeable Indys are scarce in Cork/Tipperary. The first ATF change was free as part of the deal when I bought the car.
The other times, it cost maybe €400 ish from memory. I think the OEM oil & pan filter cost maybe €250 of it as the oil is crazy money.
The temperature of the pan needs to me monitored to ensure the level is correct when it's being changed.

A multitronic change is much simpler, hence the cheaper price.

If you look in the Service book, you'll see the gearbox oil change is NOT a service item; the 6 speed Tip box is 'sealed for life' in Audi's [late 2004] view.

There's lots of conflicting views, even between Audi and ZF but all I can tell you is my experience, which is of a Nov 2004 build D3 3.0TDI with 238,000 miles on the clock which I've had for 10 years and the gearbox oil has never been touched.

Julian

Personally I would go with ZF who actually make the gearbox and are kot after you buggering it up so you buy another car etc.
They recommend a gearbox service fluid and filter changed every 40k approx.
To my mind, anything that has a filter will get clogged. Change it.

My 2004 D3 with 164K miles is still running the original ATF with no issues to report. I have read on somewhere that I cannot remember that getting the filter for inside the transmission is difficult or even no longer available as it is designed to last the life of the vehicle.

Thanks Lads...

I was onto Audi and they'll do a multi-tronic gear oil change for around 250. The service guy wasn't able to tell me if they change the filter or not.

Stupid question but is there a difference between multi-tronic oil change and any other type of ATF oil change?

(No slagging pls : )

Multi-tronic is Audi's brand name for a CVT gearbox they developed. I guess the oil used will be slightly different from a regular Auto gear box.

Stay away, €250 is too cheap to have it done properly. If you price the ATF Fluid and Pan Filter from their parts dept, you'll know what I mean.
You're better to leave it if you can't get somebody to do it correctly.
It could be catastrophic otherwise.

Thanks Joe...

Here's the fixed price servicing from Audi North Dublin:

http://www.audinorthdublin.ie/conten...servicing.html

€270, not €250 as I mentioned.

I'll check with them if they include the filter change etc

A multitronic gearbox is a totally different animal, its a cvt/stepless type of gearbox. If your A8 is a multitronic, it's not a bad price I'd say.
I never used Audi North Dublin so can't comment on their sevice.

If your A8 has a ZF manufactured 6 speed Torque Convertor Autobox. It needs about 9 litres of ATF at €25 each approx and I think the Pan Filter was about €75. When you add vat and a few hours labour, It will be €400 - €500.

Went through all this a few years ago with my D3, I wouldn't trust anybody in Ireland to do it properly, there is a ZF dealer in Meath, they would sell me the stuff but wouldnt do the job. Audi were worse than useless, even trying to ascertain which fluid to use and if a tcm software update was required was a major pain, it needs a machine to do a proper flush of the TC, and many many litres of expensive fluid, dropping the pan and just changing a few litres is no good (for me anyway). There was 3 types of fluid iirc, and the latest fluid required a software update if you didnt already have it.

I contemplated a road trip around Germany stopping in Dusseldorf to get ZF to do it, but never bothered, the ZF price was quite good by the way, they spoke good english and were happy to do it. I remember one or two places in UK/Scotland being recommended also by folks on here. It was such a pain trying to figure out locally/DIY I just left it alone and sold the car with a perfect gearbox @ 220000 miles.

I spoke to Audi when booking in for a service and the Service Advisor said they don't need doing. I then said well I'm sure it has been done previously with evidence in my folder but he said no chance, they must have just ticked it as you can't get into these boxes.

Now, we know this isn't true but I guess Audi won't touch it

"Germany stopping in Dusseldorf to get ZF to do it," - I hope to do that one day - they take out the mechatronic and change all kinds of small seals and parts too, many of them revised parts to suppress issues. Their price doesn't seem much more than a fluid and filter change here.

I believe ZF have stopped doing this service now - Vera mentioned it the other day.

On the D2, if you do the job yourself (or get a non-expert to do it) you won’t get all the old fluid out and there are a a few reports of things going wrong after a DIY gearbox fluid change. I’ve had my fluid changed at least 3 or 4 times by Mackies in Glasgow, who are ZF ‘box specialists. They have a special machine which reverse flushes the box via the oil cooler and filters the oil through a very fine mesh filter to make an assessment of the health of the box (no bits in the filter is good, brass bits suggests bearings on their way out and so on). They also rebuild ZF boxes and insist on a regular oil service to maintain the guarantee. The cost is a bit under £200 IIRC and, if you get there early morning, they’ll be done by earlt afternoon.

im in the same boat (no pun intended)
 

the 11 year old beaut has now done 48,000 miles
so
ive spoke to Makie Automatic Transmissions in Glasgow..
they empty / flush / refill with the latest oil
(very expensive about 9 litres i think)
takes about 4-6 hours cost around £550 ish..inc parts and vat..
so
my mate john's D3 180,000 miles No oil change still perfect..

ben's D3 car did 350,000 miles no oil change felt a bit weird when i drove it but changed fine..

ive no idea what to do....