Examining the evidence: ATF filter/fluid
#1
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Well, this time I had the filter changed as well as having the fluid flushed and re-filled, and I got the old filter and a sample of the fluid for examination. But what do I look for? The fluid is dark grey and doesn't seem to have many particles suspended in it; drained some through a paper towel and found little - eyeballing it in a drinking glass seemed to reveal a few particles and the exterior of the filter has some particles stuck to the surface in fluid "gel". Haven't taken the filter apart...but looking inside all I can see is a dark grey material which appears to be somewhat hardened, as opposed to soft/porous. Can anyone tell me how to examine these items of evidence and how to draw valid conclusions?
#2
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and will be almost impossible to see with the unaided eye. Look through the fluid in a clear glass- is it transparent or opaque? Clean fluid is transparent- if opaque then the cloudines is the result of suspended particles. Clean/new Audi fluid is a transparent light yellow fluid, and used fluid is generally mufh darker in color with a brown or reddish hue. If your fluid is grey, I would suspect water or other possible contamination. But post photos- that will be the biggest help.
#3
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You dang sure couldn't see thorough it. Very gray, and I really don't think there was any water contamination.
I bet most of our A8's look like that.
I bet most of our A8's look like that.
#4
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Yep, your pix looks a lot like my fluid, though mine may not be quite as dark and skanky as yours; but it sure as hell isn't clear/yellow!
#5
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therefore my confusion. That is why I wanted JBC to post a picture of his fluid. JBC- if your fluid looks like JimR's, then you are likely OK as far as not having any contamination, just common used tranny fluid. I would schedule another fliud drain/fill within 5K miles, and then change the fluid/filter every 30K miles from here on out.
#6
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I'm going to do a drain/fill on the A6, in addition to the filter replacement / refill I already did, in th next few weeks. That gets you to about 2/3 new fluid on the A6; haven't looked at the capacities on the A8 yet, that's in the queue for the next couple of weeks, too.
#7
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Well, I got the car back last night and have driven it about 100 miles since and this flush, re-fill and change of filter certainly has improved the situation! There's no whine at start up, nor any whining when driving the car; when the engine's cold,however, when accelerating from a dead stop there's still a bit of a whirring sound until the car reaches, say, 30 MPH, and I wonder what that may be. It disappears when the engine temp is up. Reading some of the postings, now I'm wondering if I need to do mutiple flushes (I've had two so far) to get ALL the fluid changed...any ideas on that, and/or re my "whirring" noise?
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#8
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you will have replaced approximately 80% of the original fluid. Replace the filter and as much fluid as possible every 30K miles after that.
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