Help!
The car has been properly serviced for the past 63k miles. And both my mechanic and the dealership (second opinion) can’t find anything physically wrong nor have any error msgs from the transmission on their computers. But we all agree that after about 15 min or so of driving when the pressure’s been building in the transmission, the car starts to jerk in low gears. It also jerks and bucks when put in reverse.
Audi dealership is recommending a brand new transmission. They are offering to take 40% off costs and charge me $3600. But that’s still so much! I just paid off the car as well and was hoping to keep it for a while. Is there a cheaper solution? Transmission pump?
I’ve seen a couple of other posts both on here and through google search by people w 02-04 Audi TT who had similar problems. Anyway to find out if this is a wider manufacturing problem and get Audi to pay for the whole thing?
I’m NEVER buying an AUDI again!
Any advice? Same Issues?
Much appreciated!
N.
It’s a 7 year old car and while the mileage is low, it’s not unheard of for transmissions to fail that early. Audi is a high end marque, so expect to spend correspondingly high prices for repairs, even if the car is just a glorified VW Beetle/Golf. I think that the dealership is being more than reasonable here.
“I’m NEVER buying an AUDI again!”
That may or may not be a valid decision, based on the actual circumstances.
In the 7 years that you have owned the car, how often has the transmission fluid been changed?
If the answer is never, then you should look in the mirror if you want to see the real cause of your transmission problems.
All automatic transmissions need to have their fluid (and filter, if so equipped) changed every 3 yrs or 30k miles, whichever comes first. In other words, your trans fluid should have been changed at least twice so far. When this is not done, trans failure can occur any time after 6 yrs or 90k miles–whichever comes first. And, this is true no matter what make of car you buy.
Some people who don’t service their transmission will luck out, and may not experience trans failure until…maybe 120k miles. Others, like you, may have their luck run out much sooner, but in both instances the problem is related to lack of maintenance.
So–even if you buy a different make of car to replace your Audi, bear in mind that this pattern is likely to repeat itself unless you are more proactive with maintenance. The major benefit of buying another make of car is that most other makes are far cheaper to repair than Audis are.
However, I may be on the wrong tangent here if your transmission was serviced as I described above.
If it was serviced in that manner, then your trans should not be giving this much trouble at this point.
I generally agree with what VDC has said. However I would not be so hard on you. Likely the owner’s manual never recommended or mentioned changing the transmission fluid. I don’t know why all the auto manufacturers seem to have eliminated any recommendation for service of an automatic transmission.
IMO most transmission failures could have been prevented by a little maintenance.
You are spot on. You need to part ways with this car and never buy an Audi or any other European car ever again. European cars are great cars to drive, but they suck in terms of reliability, all of them.
Actually, they seem to be great cars until they reach 8 to 10 years of service. Then, expensive things tend to go very wrong. In terms of this particular Audi, it seems like very bad luck to have transmission issues this early in service, but out of warranty. I’d do a wider internet search for Audi transmission problems and try to find a site or a forum that may indicate a known issue with these cars.
You say the car has been properly serviced but that does not mean the same thing as a properly serviced transmission either.
You state the “pressure has been building up in the transmission”. Exactly how was this explained to you as to any details?
An engine miss, which can be time and temperature dependent, could also cause this kind of problem. Even the lowly spark plugs could cause this so should I ask if the plugs have ever been changed on this properly serviced car?
interesting… The dealership gave the 30k miles service and said transmission fluid doesn’t need to be changed: “the transmission doesn’t need to be touched/opened at all”.
I got my 60k miles service at 59k with a non-dealership mechanic so I can save money who looked up the “recommended services” and didn’t change the transmission fluid. When I started having the problem, a transmission house changed the fluid. Later the dealership who is recommending a complete new transmission scolded me for changing the transmission fluid… “in these cars, it doesn’t need to be changed”…
I’m so confused.