Stubags

2003 Audi A4 1.8T Cabriolet. Tiptronic
I AM NOT A MECHANIC BUT THIS WORKAROUND SEEMS TO BE WORKING FOR ME.
I’ve probably done some ill-advised things in reaching this solution but at this has come with a fair bit of trial and error.
Not everyone will be in the position to try this.
This is long winded but please bear with me, it just might be worth it.

For those of you who want the short version, here it is!!
When you first start the car each day, place it in manual mode and drive in 1st gear keeping the RPM at 2000 or lower until the car reaches running temperature. Depending on where you live this should take a couple of minutes. Once the car has reached the running temperature it should run normally from there on.

Right for those of you who want the full background on how I came to this solution here we go. Are you sitting comfortably? Please bear with me.
I came by this solution by trial and error caused by financial constraints and unwillingness to spend $10,000 on a car I paid $8000 for.

I moved from Upstate NY to Savannah, GA 7 months ago. I drove my 2nd hand Audi (116000 on clock) down to GA from NY without any problems. For at least 2 months she ran fine, then I started to notice a slight lunge as she first shifted when pulling away from a stop. Then after a while she would occasionally lose power when accelerating into a turn and eventually she started dropping out of gear and would go into LIMP mode.
As fortune or misfortune would have it, this happened a couple of times late on Friday when my mechanic was closed for the Weekend. I had to drive the car regardless because I had to get to work over the Weekend and I found that when I hit a stretch of road near my house where the speed limit is 55MPH that when I got up to speed the limp mode would disappear. This happened twice and each time I took the car to my mechanics without it being in LIMP mode he ran a VAG diagnostic and found nothing.


Finally I managed to get it to him with the LIMP mode flashing, he ran the VAG and sure enough new transmission time!! My mechanic is a good guy and said he would look around for a used transmission but even this was well out of my realm of affordability. My only option now was to keep the car running until she finally gave out.
I had been searching the internet since first experiencing the problems and as well as having my heartbroken most of the forums left me with my head spinning and very little in the way of a solution.
The only thing I could afford at that point in time was a transmission flush, I couldn’t afford a filter change. My mechanic did the flush and told me that the fluid that came out was pretty dark. I suspected this because during one particularly bad episode of it dropping out of gear I smelt burning because I didn’t take my foot off of the gas.
For about 2 Weeks after the flush the car drove beautifully.
I should add at this point that I had only been driving the car in automatic mode.
Suddenly whilst setting out on a trip one morning about 2-5 minutes into the drive she dropped out of gear again, this happened for a few seconds then she seemed to find the right gear and all was fine for the rest of the day. When this happened she would also go into LIMP mode until I got to the stretch of road that I could get up to 55MPH and then LIMP mode disappeared.
During all of this, my suspicions were becoming more and more aroused. If the transmission was shot why did it drive great for 2 Weeks after the flush and why did LIMP mode disappear once I reached high speeds?
I decided that in order to try and do the least possible damage to the transmission I should drive in manual mode at least that way I could maybe control the gear changes when the problem hit. This decision led to some interesting discoveries.
I SEE SOME PEOPLE CLAIMING THAT DRIVING IN MANUAL MODE IS THE WORST THING YOU CAN DO?! I DON’T UNDERSTAND WHY AUDI WOULD HAVE THIS FEATURE ON A CAR IF IT WERE BAD FOR IT!!






I noticed the problem would occur only once during the day and at approximately the same time or temperature into my journey. This was when I would first start out on my first drive of the day. My journey starts each day with not being able to go above 3rd in my apartment complex due to speed bumps and stop signs, then once I get out on to the main road I often hit morning school traffic. I noticed the problem would happen about 3-5 minutes into the journey or when the car hit the first mark on the temperature gauge. It would drop out of gear but because I had my foot on the gas the RPM would shoot up. Now I could see what was happening and the problem seemed to be occurring between 1st, 2nd or 3rd gear. The car would go into LIMP mode but I noticed that as soon as I got the car into 6th gear LIMP mode would go away.

Here are various things I tried to stop the problem happening and the varied unsuccessful results.
1: I tried on several occasions to get the car up to 6th gear before the problem hit. I did this several times but the problem still happened at around the same time or temperature. This also caused the car to get stuck in 1st gear. When this happened I tried turning the car off and restarting all this did was lock me into automatic mode and the car was not moving out of 1st gear. Out of sheer desperation I found that driving the car around a parking lot in 1st and pushing the RPM a little would eventually get the car to start responding again. Once this was cleared the car would work fine for rest of the day.
2: After talking to a friend of mine who designed engines for GMC he told me to try letting the car warm up for 10-15 minutes before driving it. I did this and the result was the transmission would not allow me to switch over to manual mode and the problem still occurred and that same time and temperature. My friend also did some in depth research, he had access to a mechanic’s website that give inside details of various car problems. He didn’t come up with anything.
3: I tried starting each day off by driving gently using only 1st, 2nd and 3rd until it reached running temperature. The problem still occurred at roughly the same time and temperature but the result was less violent and she would recover and drive normally quicker.
4: Starting my journey using 1st and 2nd gear only until running temperature was reached by driving around my apartment complex. It was during this test that I noticed the car was shuddering between 1st and 2nd as I shifted in to 2nd at low speed.
5: I started the day by using 1st gear only until the car reached running temperature. She no longer dropped out of gear when I start driving normally and she runs fine in both automatic and manual mode. If you’re able to do this, I suggest keeping the revs at 2000 or lower, the car should take 2-3 minutes to reach running temperature.
My friend has advised me to get another transmission flush and change the filter, I’m a bit worried about doing this as what I’m doing right now seems to be working and the car is running fine.
In closing, I would like to say that my driving habits changed between driving in Upstate NY where each day my journey would start on open roads with no stops to driving in a more congested area in Savannah, GA where each morning starts with unavoidable stops and starts. Could this change have caused something in the car’s timing to get confused? I don’t know, maybe someone out there might finally see what the problem is.

Good luck.

jzw

This is very similar to what i've experienced recently, especially the fact that the problem happens at certain temperature, speed. Also even though i don't like in an apartment complex, but i cannot get my speed up to 30mph for a while due to the traffic lights in the vicinity of my house.

jzw

Maybe more rains in GA vs. NY.