ryoung

$56 parts
$17 labor

The bulkhead fitting for the electrical connector to my tranny was leaking. To replace two Teflon o-rings required draining the tranny and dropping the pan. "While they were there", I asked the dealer (Fred Baker Porsche Audi) to change the filter/strainer. Since everything else was covered under warranty, I guess the leak was actually good fortune.

BTW: I now have 33k miles on the S8. Both the filter and tranny fluid looked very good. The fluid was transparent and only very slightly discolored, and the pan magnets had captured only slight traces of metal. There was no varnish build-up inside the pan or on the filter. Having said that though (and maybe this is my imagination), in the last month it seemed that kickdowns were getting rather harsh, especially from 5th to 4th. In the 3 hour drive back home from Cleveland, shifts up and down were as smooth as silk.

2tuŽbos1mission

Did you happen to see if they had any allroads on the lot?

ryoung

but I personally don't know of one. I trust the service technicians at Fred Baker and hesitate to take the S8 anywhere else when a screw-up could seriously damage the car.
Sorry, I didn't notice any Allroads (they be some), but I did see a bunch of '04 A8L's and more than a dozen Porsche Cayenne's on the lot.

2tuŽbos1mission

Thanks anyway, Guess I'm lucky they are 10min from me :-P

PaulW

....the tranny has at least 30 hydraulic passageways, 8 solenoid control valves, 1 filter, 1 pump, etc., etc.

Getting the fluid changed is just darn good practice. Every one who has done it says that tranny shifts significantly smoother, and that's regardless of miles.

It is breaking down in there (or there is foreign material in it or something).

I think with regular tranny fluid changes, the tranny could outlast the car!

pw

ryoung

I found this chart interesting, even if it is somewhat generic. It makes me wonder, though, at what temp does our tranny normally run? Even though there's a transmission fluid cooler in the radiator, is the tranny easily overheated?

<img src="http://www.holley.com/HiOctn/ProdLine/Products/EPP/EPPOCC/TACchart.jpg">

PaulW

Which is about 167 to 194 F. When you do the fluid level check, it's not suppose to exceed 50C? oil temp I believe.

Therefore, we're in the good range!

By the chart above, a 20 F increase in temperature basically cuts the life in half.

pw

KaMaKaZieP -ALUMIN8-

Not to say its unrelated but i think driving habbits, load, and maintenance are a good part also. Is there a feature in Vag Com that lists tranny temp?

PaulW

Yep, it's under measuring blocks in transmission module

chairman

I agree this is the least expensive insurance you can "buy"