Hello all. I am new to this forum but not new to audis. I have a 1999 A8 Quattro and a 2001 S4 6sp. My question for a problem that has gotten worse in my A8. What happens is I am driving around town in drive at 35 - 50 MPH and the transmission will hunt between 4th and 5th gear up and down. The RPMs of the engine will surge and fall with this and it feels like the car is running rough. If I punch the throttle the transmission kicks down and the car accelerates fine. But if I lay off and drive leisurely in Drive, the transmission will continue to do this surging up and down. I am just out of warranty thru Audi Assured by two weeks. The problem was there for some time but has gotten more noticeable lately. Does anyone have any ideas? I am in Riverdale, NJ. Thanks.

John

you drive round town at 50mph?

are there many schools in your town?


why dont you just turn off the overdrive, or lock it in 4th?

Hey I am having the same problem with my 1999 A8 and it isn't getting any better. It only has 66,300 miles. I am wondering if it is not yhe tranny but maybe an associated sensor. If I find out, and hopefully I will soon I will let you know.

No such prob w/my sweetie.

DO you have teh TipTronic tranny, or regular auto?

Mine is Tip, w/just a hair under 60K miles onit.

Have yu had the tranny services recently?

They need TLC too.

Not just the mota.

MayB time for a trip to AAMCO?

hey... im having the same problem i just bought a 98 a8 with 190 km on it and its doing the same with my tranny between the 40 and 60 km/h marks it stalls and the rpms go up n down it doesint shift smooth im worryed about it dunno what to do but i took it to a A8 dealer today so tomorrow they will tell me my results and see what it is... i will keep you guys posted when i get it checked.

My 97 is doing the same thing. Gald i am not the only one.

Thanks,
Neil

I haven't notice these problems with either of my A8's, but my 01 did start sticking when shifting in and out of park. Has anyone experienced this? It doesn't do it all the time, just sporatic. It feels like the shifter is stuck. The car perfoms flawlessly, just is difficlult sometimes to put in park and take out of park. The 01 has 62K on it.

I get that park-jolt thing, too, on rare ocassions. I think it's m re noticable when I park nose-first on a decline.

Hi I think I may have found the answer to our surging problem in 5th gear.

I just got mine back from the dealer for service. I wasn't going to mess around with this thing if it was the tranny it's to expensive to replace. It turns out that both the bank 1 and bank 2 air flow sensors were bad. It was causing the motor to alter the fuel mixture changing the revs causing the power to spike and drop a couple of hundred rpm's translating into a noticable surge in 5th gear. Why only 5th? Because it wasn't under that much of a load and it isn't requiring as much 02.

Let me know if this helps.

51timber

I think you may be right, most of the time it is when I was on an incline. Then it does it for a while after that. How long have you been dealing with it and has it gotten worse?

ORIGINAL: BryraTodds

I think you may be right, most of the time it is when I was on an incline. Then it does it for a while after that. How long have you been dealing with it and has it gotten worse?


I just, and I mean JUST recently started noticing it with my ride. Say, like, within the last 2k miles; so about a month-ish. FTR, I don't often have cause to park on an incline and, since I noticed the prob I try to avoid it totally. I just went over 60k, last week.

Gonna try and roll the timing belt, tranny service, and now, based on what 51timber just posted, replace the MAF's, as a further precaution... all into a 60k service trip around mid June.

I found the problem with my shifter on the 01 8L sticking. I noticed after my wife drove it last that the hard transition from park was gone. I was supprised to look down and see that now the plastic corrigated boot that rides up and down with the shifter is no longer there. She apperantly was shifting and put some extra muscle into it and now it shifts perfect again, just missing the plastic boot. I hope that your problem is as easy to fix, I am sure this will be a cheaper part to replace than anything actually involving the tranny, Let me know if you have any luck.

Brian

local://upfiles/4165/85873BEF280B489980AC28B4F9BA5DBD.jpg

I have an 2000 A8 4.2, 44K mi, with a transmission that has a very rough down shift from 2nd into 1st on coast down, a discernable "clunk" that has been getting worse, and which now no doubt stresses the entire driveline. On one occasion, in 2nd or 3rd gear during coast down mode (about 20 mph), I accelerated hard, and the transmission suddently went out of gear. Otherwise the transmission opeates correctly. I visited the audi dealor, and turns out the transmission was leaking and low on fluid (though no fluid on garage floor), and the filter was dirty, so filter and fluid were replaced under warranty, but no chang in behavior or transmission.
Anyone else experiencing similar problems (trans leaking, hard shifting, trasnmission dis-engaging under hard acceleration at low speed)? Any experience in dealing with Audi USA on transmission warranty?

Thanks.

Newbie,

I traded my '97 A8 for just that reason. My local Audi dealer (Audi of Charlotte) told me that he had seen this issue in maybe 5 A8's which is a lot seeing as how so few of these cars are on the road. I was told Audi was aware of the issue but not enough to make it a repair/warranty item.

My '97 A8 had right at 90K miles and I was told the tranny could go in 6 months or two years but it was ultimately going to need repairs/replacement. To replace the thing was around $8K.

Above 50 it was fine but from 25 to 50 it constantly wanted to switch from 4th to 5th. I started dropping it into 4th when in traffic and that made the car less annoying but i did just recently purchase a '01 A8L with only 67K miles for $22,900 and love it.

Stephen

Yes my 1997 A8 was doing the same thing...and unfortunatly it dosent get any better, for me it was the torque converter, a common problem in the 97's, rebuild was $2600, BTW my tranny was non tip, as is all 97's if im correct, just drive it nice and dont let it fall in and out of gear, and you will be able to get a few more miles out of it.
good luck to all of you

51timber, how much did replacing the two air flow sensors set you back by?

My 99 A8 with 67K is also showing some signs of hunting for gears between 30-50mph sometimes, but aside from that it doesnt do anything other weird stuff.

Hi every one i just thought you should know some important info…

I have a 1999 Audi A8 with about 70000 miles on it and the transmission was having some of the same problems you were all talking about. I took it to Audi and they told me that if the problems persist to take it to a local trans shop. I waited a little while and ended taking it to Ammco. By then they said I needed a rebuild costing me about $5000 and said it was due to the fluid not being changed. They let me take pictures and such because it was really bad. I tried to contact Audi because it is supposed to be a lifetime fluid. They told me there wasn’t enough complaints to them and that they would not take any action in the matter. The best thing I can tell you is to get the fluid changed every 30000 like every other car. That should really take care of most of the hard shifting. Audi wanted to charge about 500 bucks to change the fluid, even though they didn’t recommend it. I just need some feedback on the matter because I want audi to pay for at least some of the cost because the trans should not go bad because of the pump getting clogged with debris.

that sucks man i guess the only thing you can try and do is take legal action and get a damn good lawyer lol

These ZF trannys suck. Bad design and poor quality. Good luck with AoA, the claim to know nothing of our problems. Sometimes a fluid and filter change will help it, but if you do your first fluid change at 100K miles you'll probably make it worse.

The hunting, I believe, is the valve body wearing out. Mine is tolerable in Tip but I know others have just as bad in Tip.

The thumping is the torque converter unlocking violently. After my fluid/filter change it went away.

The only way is fix this is to rebuild the tranny, torque converter and valve body. I'm hoping to convince my friend to put in a 6 speed S4 manual in mine.

So i was wondering if there is any one else that wants to join in legal action against Audi for transmission repairs. Let me know if your willing.

I have a earlier V8 but there is non-tranny thing that can create issues. In the older smaller V8, there is a breather hose that comes UNDER the intate manifold. In my car that hose became oil soaked and a crack developed that created a serious vacume leak under extream decel. In my V8, it eventually freaked out the computer and the tranny would go into "limp home mode" (it stayed in 3rd gear till the car was restarted). When the crack was less severe, I was getting symptoms like a bad TPS in other cars.

The other thing is the adjustment of the TPS. I know the old V8 TPS has a 4 position switch instead of a full potentiometer like some other TPS's. With the speed that was suggested, normal operation and adjustment of this item might put you on the between switching spots of this sensor at the given speed.

i know i'm a little late to this chat topic, but I think I got all ya...I had the same problem that it sounds like most of you are describing while driving, the rpms fluctuating up and down within a few hundred revs. I have 166k on my '99 A8. about 50k ago i had that problem that got worst, and worst, and worst. after many trips to my audi dealer, and them talking w/ germany and waiting for da german dudes to figure it out, they came back with........the TORQUE CONVERTER. which i then dropped about $2k on and haven't had that problem since. some transmission issues, as when the torque conv was coming apart, the debris was circulating through the tranny as they share the same fluid. i, to not drop $8k on a tranny, change my filter, fluid, and clean the magnets every 30k miles or so, including just yesterday. good luck

So i was wondering if there is any one else that wants to join in legal action against Audi for transmission repairs. Let me know if your willing.
[/quote]

Yes, I would be interested in joining.

Kent Brady
Woodland Park, Colorado[quote]ORIGINAL: pierzynskijl

ORIGINAL: BryraTodds

I haven't notice these problems with either of my A8's, but my 01 did start sticking when shifting in and out of park. Has anyone experienced this? It doesn't do it all the time, just sporatic. It feels like the shifter is stuck. The car perfoms flawlessly, just is difficlult sometimes to put in park and take out of park. The 01 has 62K on it.



possibly your selenoid that unlocks your shifter doesn't work well your get's stuck,leave your hand on the shifter while pressing on the brake you should feel a soft click,that's an indication if your selenoid work's at least maybe totally, but engages a t least.

ORIGINAL: tonypai

These ZF trannys suck. Bad design and poor quality. Good luck with AoA, the claim to know nothing of our problems. Sometimes a fluid and filter change will help it, but if you do your first fluid change at 100K miles you'll probably make it worse.

The hunting, I believe, is the valve body wearing out. Mine is tolerable in Tip but I know others have just as bad in Tip.

The thumping is the torque converter unlocking violently. After my fluid/filter change it went away.

The only way is fix this is to rebuild the tranny, torque converter and valve body. I'm hoping to convince my friend to put in a 6 speed S4 manual in mine.

oh that would be good ...do you think it would much changing for a manual tranny?

From what I understand, it was quite a bit of work. The S4 drive shaft is too long and had to be cut. Parts had to be moved to make room for the flywheel. I think he spent about 60 hours of designing and actual work to install the manual. I'm very jealous!

I have the same issue. Did you get it fixed? And if so, could you share what the fix was. Thank you.

Curious if you found the problem, and what the solution was. Thanks.

I have similar problem that you are describing - rpm fluctuations at light throttle at 30-40 mph that
feels like trans gears are up and down together 4-5 and 5-4 etc. You mentioned air flow sensor,
what are they? Do you mean O2 sensor? Or Mass air flow meter/ sensor ?
Any help appreciated.
Thanks,

Kwan

Here's a note from Troy, Awdaholic!
i think he described the problem and explained it nicely on my query.
Just want to share that with others:

The MAF, or (M)ass (A)ir (F)low sensor is different from the O2, or, Oxygen sensor. The MAF measures the amount (or, mass) of air flowing past an electrified wire. I won't go into ALL the details, but, suffice to say that if that wire gets dirty it won't "read" the air-mass properly, and confuse the engine control management (or, ECM) chip/computer. One of the symptoms of this result is a "hunting" feeling, by the engine, as it tries to accurately guess what it's reading from the MAF and meter the fuel accordingly. This happens because the chip that controls the engine "talks" to the one that controls the transmission. As the engine hunts up and down, so, too does the tranny, as it plays guess-the-rpm/catch-up with/to the engine. If you do a search, on AF, for MAF, you should be able to find some hints about how to clean your MAF, but, eventually, you'll hafta replace it.

The O2 sensor, when it's going bad, usually affects the ECM's ability to provide spark, at the appropriate time, resulting in a hesitating feeling, as you accelerate. This is a little different than the phenomena you're describing.

As you correctly guessed, low tranny fluid could also cause the gear-hunting you described, but, it wouldn't affect the engines rpm's, so if you've got both it's a better bet that it's your MAF. If you clean or replace the MAF and the tranny STILL hunts, then it's obviously your trannyy that's acting up, too.
Hope that helps. Welcome to the forums!

Those who ARE know I'm NOT a tech, but I believe that, while overly simplistic, it addresses teh fundamentals of the parts/issues.

We've got a couple of actual techs who'll hopefully chime in with a better, and more thourough covering of the issue...

As suggested by Awdaholic (Troy), i told my Audi mechanic (Don Galbraith Motoring, http://www.dgmotoring.com/) to clean the
MAF sensor while they are doing complete timing belt change service for me. I have also asked them to do trans and fluid change
as preventive maintenance. Today they called me and said that after MAF cleaning, my car runs "perfect" and have no gear hunting/rpm fluctuations problem. Also they suggested not to do trans fluid/ filter change since the tranny doesn't have any sign of leaks and shifting well. Looks like they are worrying about it might create some other problems that did not exist before. I wonder if this is a reasonable recommendation. My car is 98 A8 with 92k miles and in good condition overall. So timing belt service is done already. I need to thank Troy for help and good suggestion and am relieved knowing that the tranny is in good shape.
I asked them to change spark plugs and fuel filter as part of the maintenance also. I felt like their recommendation is an honest one
since it is not based on their making further profit from trans fluid change (expensive close to $500).
So next time gear huning/ rpm thing pops up again, i guess i need a new MAF sensor.

heres my little rant and rave.

Sorry if it offends other A8 owners

Ok so I agree that AUDIs are immaculate cars. Wait a minute but are they really. Lets do a simple comparison with a mercedes benz S430.

One only needs to go to the mercedes benz forum to see that they rarely have tranny problems. Their trannys do not "clunk", "hunt" or select wrong gears. Their trannys do not fail randomly asking for costly repairs (about 6000 to get an A6 tranny fixed). Mercedes benz does have electrical faults...which are at least fixable at a reasonable cost not the thousands we need to spend. I do not think there is a day we go by not hearing about a tranny problem. I have a 2000 A8 and I want to let go of it and only because i am afraid the tranny will give up on me.

It already clunks on an incline if i move it from park to drive, it "thumps" between 1-2 and vice versa. Other than that the car is a joy to drive. I am just afraid that I will not be able to afford a costly tranny repair.

my friend has a 2000 lexus and it shifts flawlessly...in my a8 you can feel the gears shift and sometimes hear it as well...how annoying!

Timing belts are a nuance. Think about it...mercedes benz has chains...WHAT a smart idea...wait its not smart..its common sense...adds value to the car because you dont have to change it and worry about it snapping. Chains make noise you may say....personally i feel that mercedes benzes have a beautiful purr to it no chains clunking

A8s have great engines...although i hear that they are a bit sluggish as compared to the S430. I agree with that because on the NJ turnpike (omg never go that way) i almost got run over and side scraped by a toyota because my car didnt respond too fast to my command from the throttle...ARGHHHH..who would have thought that it wouldnt move that fast...ITS AN 8 cylinder monster...you want it to move FAST.

anyway i did change my timing belt and boy was it in good shape..it had 105 K ...makes me wonder if some one else had changed it...although the rollers were rusted....which is bad...puts more tension on the belt.

one thing i also realized is that s430s do not transfer rumble and vibration to the steering wheel..my A8 has a steering wheel that seems to catch every single bump on the road...ARGHHH

S430s have bad air suspensions but I dont think my A8 has any better...its kinda stiff..dont know if anyone else has felt the same way..

Ok i admit it A8s have excellent control..i know because i drive in Ithaca, NY which is a snow and hill heaven..nbot to mention sleet as well. I agree that S430 AWD is no match for the quattro..

what else...i shouldnt be typing this since I am at work...but i needed to vent about the A8 especially the tranny...

Do you guys agree with me?