AudiAsshole69

Hello all! I do not have an A8, but i was told that you guys were the creme of the crop on trannies. Heres my problem... I have a 97 A6 Q. I have been having some problems w/ my tranny. When the car is moved from park to drive, no gear is caught until the RPMs near 3k. It then slams into gear. From this point that car shifts of cue and is very rough. If i start in 1st and work my way up yto drive it seems to be alot better. As soon as a stop, the same problem occurs.
I had the car looked at by a local Audi mechanic that I have had very good luck with in the past. He said there were no codes to be found and that I need a new transmission at the cost of about $4000 +. I trust his word, but how can there be NO codes found??

Any further advice from this forum would be greatly appreciated.Again, the car is a 97 A6 2.8 quattro and the tranny catches at 3k rpm's from a dead stop when in "drive" with a large "thunk", yet I can manually shift the tranny from 1st all the way up and it works fine.

Should I keep manually shifting the car until it completely dies as I don't have $4000 to spend on a new tranny. Would a filter/fluid change be worth a shot?

PaulW

First off, with only 3 posts to your account.....I would change your handle. I don't think people will appreciate it.

Secondly, if there are no codes and it shifts like that, I'm almost certain it's in the valve body.....but only a rebuilt valve body would tell you that. It's working, which means the clutches are not slipping, but the clutches are not engaging.

The valves in the valve body control this....if this was the problem, one or more of the valves is mechanically sticking even though it is electrically working.

If your only other chance is a new tranny, this does not sound like a bad option.....try www.car-part.com for a doner valve body.

pw

skiracer

The fact that you can "manually" (I assume you simply select the gears manually with the gear selector since the '97s didn't have tiptronic) shift the gears with no problem indicates the transmission iteself is likely fine. However, there could be a problem with your gear selector (when placed in "D") or ECU/TCU. Smells like an electrical problem to me, but the lack of DTCs is baffling. A good look at what the tranny is doing by logging the data during the problem using vag.com would be a good start. In any case, if you keep the car, a fluid and filter change is not a bad idea if you haven't done one for 30-40 K miles. I doubt that is your problem, however.

skiracer

actuate the solenoid valves to achieve the shift? If so, why would his work fine using the shifter in manual mode if it were a problem with the valve body? I have a lot to learn about how these trannys work!!

PaulW

....if you look at the schematics for the tranny, the TCU controls everything, the multi function switch on the side of the tranny sets everything up.

Gabor stated that there is that small shaft that goes in there and I think he said it engages the locking mechanism for when you are in park.....but I don't think it actuates anything else......but not sure.

AudiAsshole69

I appreciate all your responses thus far. Im gunna try to replace the valve body. And NO, there is no fluid leaking.

tozoM8

It basically directing the fluid in the right direction manually, so in reverse there is no way that the TCU can engage forward gears. Also if you manually select 2-3-4-D it will set a limit so the TCU can go up to the selected point only.

<img src="http://pictureposter.audiworld.com/80919/dscn1013.jpg">