m1964

You can find all the instructions in my previous post here: https://www.audiworld.com/forums/q5-...rvice-2906049/. The transmission in my Q5 is 6HP28 AF (at the very bottom of the PDF I received from ZF).

So, three weeks ago, I left the Q5 to "rest" overnight. In the morning outside temp. was about 72F. I did not want to drive the vehicle before the fluid change because the max. temp. of the tranny should not exceed 40C (~100F).
With the help of my friend, we placed the Q onto 4 jack stands to allow me to get under it. After removing both plastic protective covers, I made sure that I can fill the tranny by first removing the fill plug.
After that I removed the drain plug so that the oil drained into a graduated bucket- about 3L of oil came out from the cold transmission.
Using a small funnel connected to a plastic clear house which was connected to my "Made in the USA" handmade VW/Audi tool (see photos below), I was able to add about 2.5L of Lifegueard8 ZF oil (motor NOT running).


my handmade in the USA VW tool



I then turned the engine on w/ tranny in “P”, and was able to put another 1.3L of fluid in. The transmission was still below 35C/90F at that point. I shifted through all the gears except I was unable to manually shift above M2 -it just would not shift above M2 and I did not want to raise RPMs.
I used my hand to feel for the temp. of the oil pan- when it became a little hotter and the fluid started coming back out from the fill hole, I closed the fill plug. I was going to use an infrared thermometer to read the temp. of the oil pan but it produced suspiciously low readings even when the tranny got very warm to touch.
We poured old fluid back into the empty bottles- it filled 3 bottles (1L each), plus some was still left on the walls of the bucket and some spilled out on my ratchet when I was removing the drain plug, so I figured out we put in (3.3L) about the same amount that came out.
If I had to do it again, I would not even go through the gears or wait for the temp. To rise – on a cold day, I would measure how much drained out, put as much as possible in w/ motor not running and, if that was less than the amount drained, turn the car on and put a little more.
If the amount of the new oil is equal to the amount of the drained oil, there is no reason to wait until the tranny gets warm and the oil starts spilling back out (assuming that it was filled properly when new, and there are no leaks).
The shifting is now a little smoother, the small “bang” that I felt when shifting from “D” to “R” prior to the change is gone.
At the time, the Q had 61000 miles on ODO, now we have driven it about 350 miles and the shifting feels fine just like when it was new. If I keep this car another 2 years I plan on doing this tranny oil change again.

sszyma

Like myself you will be one of the 10 or so (maybe more) who have done this on their own. Great write up. Doing this is a must, which the "dealer" will say is not needed. It is not a lifetime fluid and should be changed at ~50k or so and is just good practice.

rdA4WtQ5

Nice write up!

kingsalami

I just finished draining and filling my wife’s 2012 Q5 @ about 55K miles. My experience was very similar to the OP – approx. 3.2 quarts came out, and about 3 quarts went back in.
I used a Harbor Freight transfer pump (Multi-Use Transfer Pump) with a 3/8” barbed L fitting in the end to pump the new fluid into the fill port. Ignore the fitting in the first pic – it was an experiment that didn’t work out. You'll also need a 5mm and a 10mm hex bit or Allen wrench.



I cut one barb off the L fitting & it fit perfectly over the edge of the standpipe in the fill port. One tip – I swapped transfer pump tubing ends to place the kinked portion of the tubing at the pump. This helped the straight end of the tubing sit in the fill port correctly. I followed the shop manual procedure to determine the correct fluid level. Pretty easy job once I found the correct size fitting for the fill port. I just pumped the fluid right out of each quart bottle and into the transmission.