Gearbox service by ZF in Dortmund

[IT]

There is no forum post - we have an email in our inbox offering it to us cheap...

We're getting a lot of queries about gearbox servicing now, and its a tough call to make.

I dont doubt that if a box was routinely serviced from new every 20,000 miles then its sure to last longer, but the owner who pays 50K+ for a car is only going to keep it a year or two and move it on. Whilst its not part of the routine maintenance of the car, then it wont get done in the early years...

So then they are bought second hand with 60K+ on the clock and the million dollar question is - Has the damage already been done?

Also if you did service it every 20K from new, then 8 services by the time it hits 160K and it would cost £1600 at £200 a shot, which is most of the cost of a new box... And whilst Audi are now doing all inclusive service packs, its hardly in their interest to make it more expensive for themselves..

Another school of thought says that if you take a box that has been happy for 100K miles and 'disturb' it by filling it with nice fresh oil, this can reduce the life of the box by disloging sludge that was happily not causing a problem before.

So, the bottom line is - I dont know whether you should do 'frank' or not. He has been done before at 66K, so in theory he's not really due for another 10K at the earliest ?

I assume ZF must have a pretty good idea though, as they do actually make the gearboxes, so perhaps directing these queries direct to them (in your best dutch german dialect!) might yeild us some 'best advice'

I do still strongly believe that Audi are neither best placed to advise, nor service these boxes as they simply dont have enough hands on with them, and I'm not about to start spouting recommendations as I'm dedinitely not a gearbox technician, just an observer seeing a lot of broken boxes....

I'd still love to know why the 4 speed boxes dont break..... ever...... We had one with 330,000 miles on it a few months back...