Yet another due to the box.

[Architex_mA8tey]

Originally Posted by sarg

I had the same thoughts with mine back in May/June time, sold my 2000 4.2 Sport with a broken gearbox for £1,400 to a Polish scrap merchant.

And believe me, I am sitting here still reading the A8 forums, wishing I had spent the 2,150 on a replacement box. Sure, it would have been worth 3k tops, but I couldn't have replaced it for 3k, and then I'd have had a sorted A8 with a good gearbox.

Sure things go wrong, but it's the same for all car - I replaced mine with a Boxster, which has no major problems, but plenty of 'perfectionist' niggles.

I did exactly that sarg, decided that better the devil you know when mine went last year and plumped for the VAG service exchange box on the basis that if youre spending that kind of money then you basically get a new box, torque converter TCU etc etc - it even came with the oil pre-loaded. The warranty was unlimited mileage for 2 years (which for me is 8-10k lol) but I intend to get the gearbox oil flushed every 25000 miles from the start which should keep her sweet.

[surveysteve]

When I get it back from the mechanic I'm going to look at a 53 plate A3 3.2 quattro that's in a local Audi dealer for 7k.
I'll see what they offer on a trade and take it from there.

[Adrian E]

Be very picky about the A3 3.2 - I gather there's generally a good reason they're so cheap as used buys. Some DSG issues and engines not that reliable either - usually sensors, but they're expensive to replace and hard to get at. Hopefully if it's approved used it'll have a decent warranty

[surveysteve]

Many thanks for that info

[daviesbike]

whats the main fault that causes the gear box to fail, is it hard punishment or can you give them stick every day so long as it has the filter and tran's fluid changed every 20k miles ?

my box runs sweet and i almost every day use the kick down and it gets the taps opened fully, but i am on my second gearbox service, i flush out the old oil and replace the filter and refill following audi pages, i have done this twice now as i have clocked up 42k on the car since my ownership

[Adrian E]

The way it was explained to me, the fact the car is 4wd means there's no power lost through spinning the wheels - it just grips and goes. Assuming the tyres and road surface don't break grip, then the torque converter and oil will be asked to deal with the resulting mechanical strife/heat of any power that can't be transferred quickly enough.

Factor in no oil changes by Audi and gunky oil and that'll pretty much do it over time. If a component doesn't physically fail then the valve bodies and other internal components will get gunked up until something stops working

You don't get these issues with a BMW running similar power with the same box, although they also don't appreciate ancient oil in them.

There's RS6 out there on their original boxes with 120k on them, and others on their 3rd box by 75k, so driving style or quality control probably come in to the equation somewhere too....

Personally I try to limit balls-out starts in lower gears for special occasions and rely on the torque reserves to deal with most traffic situations without giving it full beans.

[Nollywood]

I think Adrien's said it all.

Does this afflict the D2 2,8 quattro as well? I only ask, because the Audi A4 B5/B6 2,8/3,0 quattro has the same ZF unit, but documented failures are rare. Is it then a combination of the higher torque the D2 V8/S8 puts through the trans, and lack of slippage (grippy tyres and hot tarmac)?

I too drive mine conservatively, I don't do full-bore standing starts, it's getting too cold to do a trans pull, to install my 01E 6-speed manual.

[Singh]

Sounds like you know what your doing Nollywood - are you still a vehicle tech?

[Nollywood]

Originally Posted by Singh

Sounds like you know what your doing Nollywood - are you still a vehicle tech?

A semi-retired one.