I'm new to this forum and relatively new to A8s (I've been coveting them from afar for a long time J) I took the plunge recently and purchased a 2000 A8 4.2 (94,000 miles) however I have run into a spot of bother.

The first indication of a problem was a couple of days ago, all of the transmission lights lit up red, there was a large "shunt" experienced when putting the car into reverse and a smaller but still noticeable one when engaging drive. In addition the car was extremely sluggish when pulling off.

After some digging around on this and other forums the pants were scared off me as most pointed to a potentially terminal transmission problem with similar symptoms.

Anyway to cut a long story short the car is currently in Limp home mode, lower down gears are not being used hence the sluggish response.

I brought the car to a mechanic friend of mine and we checked for error codes in the transmission and found the following:

* 18232 P1824 Pressure control valve 3 - N217: open short to ground
* 18238 P1830 Pressure control valve 4 - N218: short to B+


When we cleared the codes the dash readouts when back to normal (red lights went away), but when I started the engine of course the car reverted to limp home mode and the red transmission lights returned.

I suppose I could be described as "mechanically challenged" (i.e. I can do some bits and pieces but wouldn't be brilliant or anything) so my following questions may be somewhat naïve.

1. What I'd like to know is has anyone experienced these errors with their A8, if so how costly is this likely to be to put right?

2. What is my next step, do I bring in the error codes to an Audi dealer and say tell me what to do to put this right i.e. purchase the necessary new parts and have them installed.

3. From the codes above it would appear that these are "simple" electrical problems, does anyone know if this is correct?

Any help, advice, or guidance on this would be greatly appreciated.