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Transmission thump/shunt
Rather worringly, I had a fairly serious sounding thump from the transmission this evening in my (D2) S8 - this happened first when travelling, when I moved the selector into S to get past some slower vehicles, and since then it's happened three or four times when pulling off from stationary. I've not had any previous transmission/gearbox shunting/thumping issues, and not done anything major to the car recently (other than changing to winter tyres :-()
It's sufficiently serious that I'm a bit concerned to pull off in it again at all at the moment :( - any thoughts, both on cause and how to deal with it? I don't have a Vagcom. |
Vagcom will tell you very little as the gearboxes are hugely mechanical with little intelligence inside the box itself.
If it were me, living where you are, I'd be heading to Chester Tranmissions for their opinion on it as they're a ZF shop that seemed to know their stuff..... |
Thats where my gearbox was rebuilt!
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Sorry to say it sound like same symptoms mine had, box went into limp mode and wouldn't engage 1st or 2nd gear within 20 miles of first symptoms
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I might leave it for a few days, and renew my RAC membership first tho'... |
I think Chester autos have the machine that can do a complete flush of your transmission even the Torque Converter. Something you cant do with just a drain!
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Anyway, I drove off, and within a few miles it was still exhibiting the same shunt (occasionally) from 1st to 2nd - whilst feeling smoother in the higher gears ?? All fine on the 25 mile motorway drive, so I decided to take it into the centre of Manchester, to test it a bit more - the long and the short of this being that it's displaying similar symptoms to those that Sarg quoted - i.e. struggling in 1st and 2nd. Felt just like my old Toyota Corolla (don't ask...:o) when it had a slipping clutch - i.e. over revving with no take up under any load. This got progressively worse on the 7 or 8 mile return home from Manchester, with the dreaded PNRDS Christmas lights display finally coming on 1/2 mile from (limping) home. Spoke to Graham on the 'phone, and it looks like I'll be taking it back for the same rebuild work that Amanda had done - assuming this is feasible. I just need to decide whether to drive it there, or get the RAC to take it to Chester for me. As ever, any opinions and comments very welcome. PS - I'm conscious that there are a number of recent new forum members/8 owners, and that this may sound like an A/S8 reliability/expensive ownership horror story, so I'd like to add that I've had this car for nearly 5 years and 90k miles of trouble-free ownership, so I was probably due a big bill by now...:-( |
I know your pain Stephen, sorry to hear that :(
Hope you get it solved/sorted soon, its a cracking car |
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sorry to hear that Stephen, maybe worth giving Mackies a call as well but would obviously need to factor in getting the car to them, good luck whatever you decide
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As you say if its a standard car and a keeper and you are willing to spend the money I would go with Audi as the 2 yr warranty is well worth it. However as Ian says A8 parts are worth a phone call too as they could have a low milage box on the shelf and that could be a cost effective alternative. Tintin good luck with what ever you decide though. |
Cheers all, ever helpful, as expected.
I'm not going to rush this, the car is definitely with me for keeps (I tend to keep cars for >10 years, and this one certainly falls in that category). The local Audi dealer seem to be keen to be nice to me these days, so Ian's idea is certainly an option, as well as Chester Transmission/Mackies etc. Not sure if Unit 20 would do this sort of thing, and they wouldn't give the two year warranty anyway...time for a bit or research, methinks. |
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I replaced mine with a new VAG box through TPS when it went, managed to get it through the Garage I used at their cost price, so I agree that's a good route to go if its a keeper. it comes in a crate as its an exchange box and you get 2 years unlimited mileage warranty, and of course you can do a proper gearbox flush every 20-30k miles from the start. It comes pre-filled with gearbox oil so you don't need to factor in the extra cost of that, and it comes complete and ready to drop in with TCU, torque converter etc
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Gutted for you mate.
I'm fairly economical (ok tight) and I mean no offence at all by this but I don’t think I’d be taking a chance on a second hand box as there is just no way of telling how long it’ll last with everything being listed as “used category 3” no way of telling how many miles the car has done, and with the labour coasts of swapping it out (unless you have somewhere you can do it yourself) and the time I think even I would be looking at an exchange / recon box. Did TPS want the old box Neil as an exchange? |
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I ask because, although mine has been a LOT better since a fluid and filter change it's not perfect; I have had the odd judder - and in the same (or similar) places and conditions as some previous ones. :-( One of the really odd ones is near(ish) Ranj's place and I've mentioned it before - coming South down the A46 and going round the big traffic-light roundabout onto the A45 West. This involves a right-left and accelerating uphill off the roundabout. Definitely "hunts around" every time I go round there (which isn't very often TBH) and judders for a second or 2. :Confused: |
Well the box itself was £2,600 :eek2: with discount from TPS (list price was like £4,200 :eek: I'm not sure what the labour time was but I'm in at Audi tomorrow so I'll ask what the official time is on their system. My final bill to remove the old gearbox and supply and fit the new one was £4,100 but that included VAT, a new MAF sensor and fitting plus a new MOT
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Thanks for that info. At least if you know in advance you're mentally prepared and it's not a shock. +++
I have good trade contacts so if I need one should get a good discount. (got a pair of genuine Brembo front discs for my Focus for £25 recently and fitting was a just good bottle of wine!) Anyway, put it in context. That £4K is only about 1 months first-year depreciation on a new A8. :ROFL: |
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Think I'll think, then think again, before I do anything hasty, at least I'm not reliant on the S8 on a day to day basis. And HP's point about 1 month's depreciation is going to be my "logical" (ahem..) argument to my wife, should I choose to take the plunge. To be fair, the car has cost me nothing other than fuel (oh, and a solar sunroof..) for the last six months, so that's another plus.. |
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If they know what they're doing that's a bargain; well worth getting the car shipped to them to work on. And from their point of view, good business. They do all the work, charging for their time, and just buy in the essential parts. Win-win. +++ (I've spent that much just getting the car through an MOT with worn suspension parts and the like, nothing really major just wear and tear) |
If either of you want to post your gearbox codes I'll have a look in Etka for a current price - although I seem to recall Mr HP you've lost all your labels, unless I'm mixing your car with another?! Age is getting to me ahead of my mid-life crisis next year......
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Yes they do as they have done mine :p |
Yes, Adrian, I've lost all my labels. :tuttut:
I guess there's still one on the box itself though. My ECU is a 4D0927156BL if that helps.... Quote:
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I then bought the Boxster for 8k ish, have spent around £2k on repairs and servicing in 18 months, and now worth about 5.5k I wish I'd just spent the money on the box and tidying up and kept the A8. Get it repaired, you'll regret it if you don't. |
I note that the ZF website talks about a "swing" replacement - A ZF swing unit constitutes a fast, low-cost, and ecological alternative to conventional repairs. ZF remanufactures manual, automated, and automatic transmissions for passenger cars, commercial vehicles, and construction machinery at central remanufacturing locations.
ZF offers the same quality standards for all swing units as you find with volume production transmissions. Additionally, customers benefit from technical further development, as this is integrated into the remanufacturing process. ZF offers a swing unit warranty of up to 2 years. No idea of costs. but there's plenty of general info on the website. ZF Services have bases at Crick in Northamptonshire and Nottingham. |
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Same goes for many other parts. |
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Regardless of that the point I was making was that I would rather have a box where everything has been renewed rather than a box where just whatever is wrong has been fixed and the rest left as it is with pre-existing wear. . . |
Of course I do not know for the fact but that's generally how it happens unless it's a new old stock that has been sitting somewhere in warehouse for years.
But like you say buying from dealer gives you piece of mind and you don't need to wait while your box is being rebuilt. Either way it should be as good as new if a full rebuild is done. Parts like casings shafts and gears are not usually replaced unless damaged. On the full rebuild they normally replace any wear parts like clutches, bearings, seals even if they are still good and any damaged parts. If You go straight to rebuilder you may agree to replace only faulty parts for less cost at your own risk or shorter warranty period. Alot lot of parts from dealers are rebuild parts dealers it's just that they do not advertise them as rebuilds. This include things like complete engines, cylinder heads, HP diesel pumps, turbos, MAFs, ECUs, brake calipers and many others. Basically anything that dealer wants to keep your old part as exchange will be rebuild and resold as new unless damaged beyond repair. I am cheap so if my box fails it's either DIY rebuild, manual conversion or scrap. |
The local Audi dealer specifically told me yesterday that all of the internals are new, just the external casing is recycled. She's also confirmed that I need to pay up front on order :(. She implied that they are factory order items, but I'll check this.
I'm still waiting for Chester Transmission to formally confirm the recon quote price range, but will also investigate the TPS/ZF direct options, as helpfully suggested by others on here. Amanda - could you let me know how long ago you had yours done by Chester Transmissions, and roughly how many miles you've covered since then - you sound like you've been pretty happy with the work they've done. I'm basically weighing up whether the extra 3-4k is worth the peace of mind/extended warranty - assuming that I don't allow it to be scrapped, which would be a very, very, very difficult thing to do. |
Yes mine was done in march 2011 and have done approx 12,000 miles since. I cannot give you a price as the work was all billed to me by unit 20 when I had my engine upgrade. I bet the boys at Chester trans remember my car :ROFL:
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Stephen, Jim quoted some prices from Mackies here and they are main ZF agents, as I said before though there is still the problem of Geography in the way:(
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265KW (Engine output, I think), A5 (I think this may the gearbox code), 03/02 (year of manufacture) AVP (Engine code?), EUU FBG (gearbox code?) Other codes are optional equipment and the rest of the build codes... Brian - thanks for the link to the Mackie's quotes: it's another option, and get's me north of the border - always a good thing - even if it's on a low loader :D Amanda - thanks for the info on when yours was done, appreciated. |
Pretty sure A4Audi mentioned about 2.5k all in when I was toying with a new box in my D2.
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Gearbox code is something like 5 HP 24 FLA so it might be the FBG bit?
Mine was a 5 HP 19 FLA for the 3.7 But im not sure if theres another code for the later sport mode gearbox Mine was an 01V gearbox on the sticker but looking at THIS there are at least 5 codes |
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