Clunking in/out of 1st after Mackies Flush

[1781cc]

Have a chat with BBA Reman and see what the can do for you on the ecu front mate, worked wonders for me in the past putting an AEB ecu into free run mode when it was looking for a code from the clocks and keys from a donor Passat (I put the 1.8 turbo engine into a 1993 Audi 80 sport - don't ask!)

A call won't take long and hopefully they can help!

[Turbo Tony]

Thanks for the recommendation. I looked them up and they've had some terrible reviews recently, so I'll keep searching. I did manage to find a couple of other places offering a similar service, though.

[briang9]

Originally Posted by Turbo Tony

Thanks for the recommendation. I looked them up and they've had some terrible reviews recently, so I'll keep searching. I did manage to find a couple of other places offering a similar service, though.

Yeah I used them a few years back to repair a body control module on my son's car, they did eventually fix it but it took a long time, however the experience was a pain and the general level of customer service very poor. Looking at recent reviews appears they are now even worse.

[1781cc]

Thats a shame, it was about 3 years or so ago that I used them and had no issues at all, its was pretty plain sailing to be fair - I certainly wouldn't have recommended them if I would have had a bad one, but worth knowing for future.

Tony, I hope you get this sorted and persist with the car, if the gearbox is ticked off the list of "major problems that could happen" then you might have a much cleaner run moving forward

[ainarssems]

It would be a very unlikely coincidence that ECU developed fault at the same time when oil was changed if there was no issues before. I would be more inclined to think that it is something mechanical in the transmission.

I think it should also be possible to swap in another second hand ECU even if it needs pairing with engine ECU. I don't think it will have CP as normally CP is only for extra equipment and still provide basic functionality like instrument cluster will still show speed even with CP. Why don't give a call A8parts, they should know as they are selling second hand parts.

[notorious]

>> It would be a very unlikely coincidence that ECU developed fault
>> at the same time when oil was changed if there was no issues before.

My thoughts exactly !!!

Edit:

All that is happening here is dangerously near to bullsh1t. Smells incompetence.

If car is still drivable I'd sit in it, point it towards the channel tunnel and I'll drive without looking back.
Leave it in Germany in ZF service in Dortmund or Darmstadt. They'll fix it.
( if the owner **loves** his car of course )

P.S. I now only go to ZF services in Germany to do everything related to ZF gearbox. Including oil changes. Living in southeast it is faster and cheaper for me.
http://forum.a8parts.co.uk/showthread.php?t=10365

P.P.S. AFAIK D3 gearboxes have a huge variety of oils, filters etc. I won't be surprised that it could be as simple as wrong oil or wrong filter type.

[IT]

Sorry to hear your sad tale of D3 ownership so far.

I will say that I've heard nothing but good things about Chester Transmissions over the years, which correlates with my own positive experience.

If they are saying its mechanically sound (and it would be to their profit if it were not presumably) then I guess the ECU is the next place to go.

Reading through this whole post, you had the oil changed AND firmware updated at Mackies, so it does suggest that a botched / incorrect firmware update could be an explanation ? A distant one, but it is possible.

Like Chester Transmission, I have only heard good things about Mackies, but mistakes can happen I guess.

Interestingly, that S8 gearbox that was referred to for sale by the sponsors is the first D3 S8 gearbox we ever stocked, some years ago. Not one has ever sold as they (sorry) don't ever seem to break.

Its much the same story for most of the 6 speed ZF boxes. I know there are a few isolated incidents, but they are very few and far between.

Even my RS6 was pushing 700 bhp and 1000nm through one of these things and it was still silky silky smooth. In fact, the gearbox was so robust, the propshaft bearings gave way first...

I've had half a dozen 4.2 Tdi's on the 6 speed box with some high mileages on - with no known gearbox servicing - and they have been peachy. The same story is echoed by most D3 owners on here I'm sure.

So, at very least, if you do fall back onto 2nd user components to solve this issue at any point, I wouldn't worry too much the longevity. Its nothing like the concern that we saw on the 5 speeds......

Maybe worth a chat with Mackie's over CT's findings and see if they can both agree where its gone wrong. If Mackies have somehow cooked your ECU, then really they need to be involved in sorting it...... ?

[ainarssems]

Maybe a silly question as both companies are well regarded professionals but have they done adaption procedure after oil replacement, see screenshot from Audi self study programme.

[Turbo Tony]

Wow, thanks everyone for your posts. There's some really good info there. Initially, I did think about driving the car to ZF, but I thought they stopped accepting customers? I can't remember where I'd read that.

Please, don't fret about recommending BBA Reman. A couple of the reviews mentioned that they used to be really good, so there's no way you'd know what happened since.

That quote from Audi sounds exactly like what's happened to mine, but Mackies tried to erase the adaption, to no effect.

I'm not convinced it's the ECU. Mackie told me they didn't need to update the ECU because it was already on the latest firmware. That's a worry, considering it was only changed to LG8 fluid at Mackies, so it must have either been running LG8 fluid before (remember it was short-filled) or it had the wrong software installed. Alternatively, I suppose it's possible that the software could have been corrupt already, which is why it wouldn't accept the update. They may have mistaken it not accepting the update for it being up-to-date.

I spoke to CT today and they are going to use another company to check over the ECU. They're based in Nottingham, so wanted my permission to drive it there later this week, which I gave. Frustratingly, they didn't give me price for this check. The worrying part is that they called ZF, who told them that there isn't a clutch per gear on these gearboxes. They use a combination of clutches and the same clutch is used between 1 & 2 and going into 6. When Mackies test drove it, it started clunking mildly going into 6, so I think it's pretty likely that clutch is at fault, which means a gearbox rebuild.

CT still think it's worth getting the ECU looked at, but I told them the likely reason there are no deposits in the fluid is because the car's only done 11 miles since the fault first appeared.

I am grateful that they're trying all they can to prevent the need of a rebuild, but, in my head at least, it's looking more and more likely to be what's needed.

...One steerage-class ticket to Brokesville, please.

[Delboy]

What's the story warranty wise Tony did you get any when you bought it?