please no.......
 

call from the garage this morning

err, somethings gone wrong on your car, worked fine when I took it for test drive after the water pump replaced, parked it in the bay came back to it a couple of hours later and won't go forward, will reverse fine but putting in drive get a thump will creep at ~ 1 mph.


So, I'm calling in on the way home with VAG COM cable and software to see whats reporting as broken..

Please please don't be anything serious and just be a dodgy connector or something..

problem is I'm losing heart with this car, I can't afford to have it dumping its gearbox every 6 months :( at this rate I may just cut my losses and sell up.

well, code 17114 incorrect gear ratio,

Reset it, tried again, same thump and little movement, tried a complete reset, same, read codes again, no faults, could drive it in limp mode a short distance, no tip but dash lights 'normal' i.e. Not inversed.

Just as i was parking up lights went all inveresed on me again,

Guess its a call to the rebuild place... :( followed by a trawl of autotrader for something i can trust.. :((((((

Could really do without the expense right now with wife on stat maternity pay.......

Hopefully having been recently looked at its under some sort of warranty??.. Hassle aside, hopefully you might not be too far out of pocket... ?

Those early 5 speeders are a pain up the butt, they really let down an otherwise remarkable piece of engineering...

Oh, forgot to mention that Vagcom can do little to diagnose gearbox faults.... The Gearbox ECU has almost no diag capabilities on the box itself, it just has basic wires that connect to solenoids to 'do this' and 'do that' - The only time it knows anything is wrong is when the input and output shaft sensors aren't spinning at the right ratios, and then its down to a ZF expert to start ripping it apart really... Sorry, I know it doesn't help, but might stop folks looking for false hope in the depths of Vagcom..

Sounds a bit funny... As Ian says, did you get a warranty on the box? At worst, they may give you a contribution.

yep, should be under warranty but once again it will be a week or so without a car which means i need a hire car = expense.

Great engineering or not i've pretty much had enough of my Audi experience...

:(

In 4 years my volvo needed next to nowt, ditto the saab before that, even my 90s Alfa only went through one stub axle and a new inlet manifold in 3 years and ~80 K miles.

Hey, don't give up. This is what warrenties are for. It shouldn't really be soting you for a hire car either, not if a warrenty repair. That's my opinion anyway....

If you have had repeated gearbox faults you need them to ensure the air mass meter is good, that there's no air leaks on the inlet system and no corrosive damage to the electrical connection for the gearbox ECU. Any of these items can cause premature wear to the 'box as the 'box cannot correctly calculate load signals from the engine. Any failing here will stop the 'box protecting itself, leading to, well, nasty broken bits!
Make sure also that the gearbox ECU itself is OK, I had similar issues when Builder22's car was here.

The cars are wonderful machines, if you get it checked over, repaired and guarnteed it will reward you with a drive that no Volvo or SAAB could dream of delivering!

Spoke to them this morning, got to get teh car to them which means a potential 15 mile drive in limp mode.... is this a bad idea? They are busy they say and it may get to next week before they can look at it. :(

I'm going to get their say so that they are happy for it to be driven so far in this state, luckily its all motorways so I can plod ther at a suitable speed that won't be labouring or over revving.

they have lent me their loaner so at least i'm mobile!

The joy of a chrysler neon :D

You'll appreciate your '8 all the more for that :)

heh, even in limp mode it drove better than the neon :D

strange thing is I thought limp mode was 3rd gear....

whilst trundling up teh motorway at a steady 2Krpm I was doing 65 mph which IIRC is more akin to 4th or 5th?

I also noticed that if I flicked it into TIP the light flicked back and forward between 3rd and 5th? I'm wondering if a solenoid is stuck and its stuck in 5th gear???????????

If this is teh case, then technically we have a car capable of 0-155 in ONE GEAR!!!!! :D now what car was it that Clarkson made a point of it doing IIRC 0-140 in one gear?

UPDATE!
call from teh garage tonight, apparantly its blown the "Front Drum" inside teh box, anyway they have repaired it and were refitting the box tonight/tomorrow so hopefully should have her back tomorrow.....

Now, whats this actually mean? could it just be one of those things? could there be some underlying issue that is a ticking timebomb?

Front drum.... Maybe the torque converter? kind of looks a bit like a drum.

no apparantly the drums sort of hold the plutch packs etc together, he is going to show me when I pick it up so I'll get photos etc

well, here is the damage,


Apparantly the first drum is known as a weak spot such that the supplier won't even guarantee them to the garage, he has had to cover the whole job and his view is that they can and do go regularly on this model of box as it is the main thing he see's A8s in for

The drum actually splits and then the clutch plates come loose. this allows the piston to move and the seal then breaks.

Pictures

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1253216697

http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/attachmen...1&d=1253216697

:(

Went to Blackpool to the caravan for the weekend, came back, got out at the supermarket on teh way home, Wife says " Theres smoke coming from under the car"

a quick bend down and look under and fluid is dripping on the exhaust, far too far back for engine fluids and a quick check when it was cold suggests a "red" liqued so looks like the tranny fluid is leaking so Monday morning is going to be another interesting phone call.........

I am really fed up now.........

That could be the output flange seal. It's about £40 in parts and 2 hours labour. There is a guide on Audipages to change it.

Hope that's all it is. Good luck

box was completely rebuilt so its a warranty claim mate, thanks for the info though

If the box was completely rebuilt they may not have done the central diff (quattro). They may just have done the ZF bit in the middle!

If that's the case then the disconnecting and reconnecting of the propshaft may have finished the seal off.

:mad:

apparantly its leaking from where it goes into the transfer box so sounds like you were right. Over 100 miles it had appanatly emptied all but 2 pints of fluid out. TBH I'm surprised it still drove that low.

Problem is he's on hols now for a week and a bit so I'm slumming it in the Chrysler for another fortnight!!!! ARRGGGHHHH!!!!!!

picking her up tonight.....

was rear seal that had gone and he's done it under warranty..

his words " well it wasn;y leaking when you brought it back to me when the drum went so it must be something I've done"

now to get her cleaned and pictures done ready for the advert.

Still got to get the water pump done and I'll get 12 months ticket on her at the same time( due january )

TBH I can't think of anything actually wrong with her now and she should be a cracking car for whoever buys her, I'm just at that point where I have a sour taste in my mouth so need to change to clear that.

I guess thats just the way it goes sometimes...