SimonG

Hi

I've a year 2000 A6 with a Mutitronic/CVT auto box and 104k miles on the clock.
The car has a full Audi service history and has been relatively trouble free (Aside from a collection of annoying oil leaks!).

The car's due for a full service, and although I have the service history with the car I've been unable to confirm whether the ATF has been changed as per the service schedule (40k miles I believe).
I asked an Audi dealer to check to see if they could confirm but they said they were unable (or unwilling) to advise.

I'm fortunate enough to have a local ex-Audi mechanic that does work on my car and asked him for costs for the service and changing the ATF fluid (Dealer wanted ?200 for the fluid change alone). This has opened up a can of worms that leaves me worried about my CVT box ......

As a 2000 model, my car was one of the early CVT's and following the enquires my mechanic he's been advised that Audi had a LOT of isses with early boxes that led to numerous failures requiring box swap-outs under warranty. Due to the numerous CVT boxes being replaced Audi came up with a modification in order to save them money(Something to doe with clutch plates and valve bodies !?).
I've been told that dealers have been advised to "measure" the size of any swarf found during the fluid change and if out of spec recommend that the customer replaces the box or has the modifation done.
Apparently a LOT of early boxes were replaced, so many in fact that he feels that with my current age/mileage that mine will almost certainly have been done.

This leads me to my dilema - Apparently Audi cannot tell me if my box was replaced by the previos owner due to the data protection act so I have no way of knowing if I'm sitting on an expensive time bomb.
To add to my worries, I've a work colleague who knows an Audi service manager and his reaction to my request for more info on the problem was "I hope your friend had a lot of money" - Helpful.... Not !

I'm probably being a little paranoid about the issue as I dont have any probelms with the box as such, but have felt that it's not quite as smooth as it used to be - No major jerking, but it feels a little different.

Does anyone have any info on the issues with the early boxes & know if there's a way to tell if my box has been replaced.
Many thanks

April

been replaced. The only area where protecting the previous owner comes into play is with regards to their personal information such as name or contact details - so they won't give you a printout unless they take the time to white out the personal data and copy it. Of course the dealer needs a reason to do this, since they don't get paid to do it. Have you built a relationship with anyone in the service dept? Or perhaps make an appointment with the service manager and tell them you would like to keep the car and keep seeing them for service, but that your concerns may end up with you selling the car and them losing a customer.