awdinut

I did the "clutch basket" search and saw that there have been a number of trans failures in the 01 A8s also. I thought the 00 cars were the omly facelifts at risk.

So, my question is: did what ever the design flaw was on the 00s and 01s that's causing the failures get corrected on the 02s and 03s? I need to know what year replacement to shop for.

tozoM8

stronger. I don't think I saw one failed from a facelift car. Usually it is the F seal that blows in the 00' and 01'.

CalG

I think it is an exageration to describe the failure of simple rubber seals etc. or even mechanical hard parts as "design flaws".

If we did a MTBF (Mean time between failure)study for every part of every transmission maker, I believe that "design flaws" would be common to all. There is a huge aftermarket business for transmission repair!
I was in the local GM dealer repair shop recently. At the "back door" were no less than 5 reusable transmission shipping crates. That's in a town of 10,000, so ....I'm think'n transmission failure is not so uncommon.

Milage, and driving patterns determine wear. (you know, "150K, all highway miles" ;-) It's the little things (like rubber parts) that get you.

Just a perspective

CalG

tozoM8

We have way more Lexus in the shop than Audi. Auto tranny fails all the time. There are probably 100 transmission shops in Chicago area.

PaulW

If you want something to last forever, the price is going to be about 100x of what Audi paid ZF for our transmissions, and they are robust units.

awdinut

call the failure what you will...did Audi/ZF make changes for 02 and 03?

tozoM8

I don't know when they switched to the new clutch A, I haven't worked on a 00' yet.

tozoM8

I take care of the 1%