QuestionQUESTION: Hi,
Recently, my A6 (3.0L Tiptronoic) is hesitating to start moving from the stop position (at the traffic signal or stop sign). It seems like taking 1 or 2 seconds to engage the gear to start moving. It is worse when the gear changed from “R” to “D” position (from parking lot), and it takes a long time (more than a few seconds) to engage the gear to drive. Car is running normal when it started moving, but it goes same thing again when the car is came to the stop. I noticed this problem in Automatic and Tiptronic mode.
It seems like the engine is running normal and I don’t see any fault message from the dashboard indicator. Do you think this problem is related to the transmission or some brake/engine sensor?
Any help is appreciated.
ANSWER: Hi Bryan,
Sounds like a transmission problem, some times the oil level in the gearbox runs low, or the filter gets clogged and the torque converter starves of oil and then struggles to pick up in time.
Id start off with the filter inside the gearbox itself, clean it and refill it with new transmission oil. then if that doesnt solve the problem then there could be a few other possibilities, but the main cause could be a weak or faulty oil pump or faulty torque converter, but that is highly unlikely.
make sure there are no leaks in that could have caused the oil level to have fallen low before opening anything. so you have an idea of what is involved.
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QUESTION: Hi, I brought my A6 to dealer this morning, and they said it is something wrong with transmission. My A6's transmission is sealed so that they can't repair it, and replacing with a new transmission will cost me $7K. Is it true that A6 transmission can't be repaired? How much is the rough figure for the rebuilt transmission?
Your help is appreciated.
Bryan
ANSWER: hello again Bryan,
What exactly do they mean by 'sealed'?? to my knowledge I havent heard of an Audi or any gearbox for that matter that cannot be repaired. send me the engine and gearbox codes and ill check with the official Audi factory repair manual. the codes can be found in the service manual on the first page,
That said, I doubt the fault is big enough to warrant a complete gearbox change, like I mentioned, its probably just worn out gearbox oil, although Audi warrant their oil for the life of the gearbox, there are two schools of thought on this, most people recommend the oil be changed every two years, in this case I'd agree with them, better safe then sorry.
If your up to it, then the job is relatively easy and only requires the special tool for refilling the gearbox again but apart from that its a piece of cake, and can be done with regular hand tools and in an hour or two. and the special tool can be fashioned from normal materials available in a hardware store, contact me on naushad2982@yahoo.com if you want the specifics on doing the job yourself.
as for your other question if you do have to replace the gearbox then instead of buying a new or even a re-conditioned unit it would be cheaper finding another unit from a salvage vehicle.(not too sure of the price but I got one for an allroad that cost roughly around 300K kenya shillings and the exchange rate was around 74ksh to one US dollar)
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QUESTION: First of all, thanks for your prompt answer to my question.
I called dealer for the fault code, they told me there were no fault code registered for this symptom. Is this sound right? no fault code for this kind of problem?
AnswerThe absence of a fault code doesnt mean there is no fault, diagnosis is only capable of picking up faults related to the electrical system, this is a mechanical fault and can only cause a fault to be logged if it effects the electrical system in some way e.g a leak in the intake can cause the airflow sensor to pick up the wrong reading which will turn up as a faulty sensor in diagnosis.
