lock+load

90 200, just bought it a few months ago. Shows 90k on odo but its broke so true mileage is unknown. Looks like its had good care, thats why I bought it(recent michelin pilots, new brakes, everything works, interior nice shape). Spent the first 2 months taking care of reliability items:timing belt/wp/crank seal, resealed injectors, new ign wires & plugs,csv, changed fluids in tranny, diff, eng, steering. Drives great, except it doesn't like to shift out of 1st until I drive it 6 or 10 blocks which brings me to the quandry. Mr tranny sez needs a rebuild (why am I not surprised?), but, like I said, it runs great after it warms up & starts shifting normally. For $800 I get rebuilt unit installed. Investment in car would be in excess of $2200 at that point. So, should I A) Fix the tranny and sell the car, B) Fix the tranny & keep the car (what will break next?), or C) just put the old one back in & sell the car as is? (I'd take $1200 for it, I'm near SAV if you're interested). Looking forward to the comments. Thanks.

boxerfan

Nobody else can really say. Looks like you've hit the major stuff. Not much left once the tranny is done as well. What kind of ride are you likely to find with all those features for that kind of buck? Your call.

Tom Faust

I think of Lucas Tranny FIx as the "Universal Solvent" for tranny problems. It may work, or it may not, $10.00.

I think a rebuilt for $850.00 is a pretty good deal (installed?). If you like the car, I wouldn't hesitate. Audis are high maintenance cars, but what will $2000.00 buy?

RussB

This is a common failure mode for Audi automatic trannies and can be repaired without removal of the transmission:

<a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/v8/msgs/18058.phtml">My experience</a>

<a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/v8/msgs/42258.phtml">More of my experience</a>

<a href="https://forums.audiworld.com/v8/msgs/60624.phtml">And even more</a>

lock+load

No, not until it hits the right temperature, whatever that is. I tried every thing I could think of, manual shift, stop-rack shifter-go, manual upshift @ 3krpm, etc. Changed filter once &amp; (2 qts of)fluid several times.

lock+load

I did read these posts earlier &amp; for some reason decided that wasn't it. Perhaps because it wasn't leaking. Tranny shop has it apart on the bench now &amp; says the planetary is worn, causing heat to build up at some point along the way which has deformed one of the valve bodies enough to cause it to stick in its bore until the rising temp expansion frees it up again. Sounds bogus to me, but I don't know automatics. But, he is holding the reinstall until I can make a decision so will ask him to check that circlip. It seems he would have mentioned it, though if he'd found a circlip floating around in there by itself...

lock+load

Yeah, I guess I could keep telling myself that. I just don't want to become the next poster child for the Audi maintenance club.

RussB

The leak wasn't causing the problem. There may be no leaks at all and still the rod may not be moving because it's no longer attached to the piston.

The fact that the piston/rod assembly wasn't moving in the cylinder was causing the problem. The mechanic was searching for ATF leaks. When he removed the "cylinder" to replace its gasket, he noticed that the piston wasn't fastened to the rod (that somehow is attached to the second speed band).

This was done with the tranny in the car. It was one of those rare simple fixes for a perplexing problem.

airwhen

5-Speed Conversion time!!

boxerfan

Especially if you treat each issue as a chance to over-engineer the solution! ;-)