First, I'm looking for a good book/cd set to use to work on my friend's A6 which he recently purchased with 97k miles on it and is having some minor problems (starter so far, and now the water temp sensor is dead, Air bag light is on sometimes, etc). He knows nothing about cars and I know little about AUDI :-( I know there are the Bentley service manuals to purchase on CDROM, but I hate both the idea of a manual that I either need to print constantly, or run inside to my computer 50 times for each job, and paying $90 or so for it. I have found some on eBay for much cheaper, which I know are probably copies etc etc etc[:@], but hey, I'm a college student. Does anyone have any experience with any manuals that they could recommend? or should i bite the bullet and try one from eBay?

Second, recently he started having tranny troubles. Its an auto, and im not exactly sure what model. It seems like in 2nd or 3rd gear the tranny rumbles and shakes. It doesnt grind or vibrate or anything, but it does produce a pretty odd feeling inside the vehicle. From what i can tell, there is no sound associated with the feeling (at least not inside the cabin) it just feels maybe like its slipping or catching on a tooth or something. Any ideas where I can start troubleshooting on this???

I've also been looking at getting one of those vag com setups? any experience with this? audi seems to be so much different than my corolla ... haha

Thanks for all the help i can get

-Ian

forget the eBay ones they aim at engine problems not transmission, I cant help you but I had the same problem which is why I joined this site and got no answers
my problem was the ticking like a gear was catching it turned out to be the converted and and worn selector due to lack of maintenance (unlucky for me while my engine and gearbox was in the shop for repair/rebuild my car was burned out) by thieves[:@]

THEIVES???[&:] -- Thanks no good, no good at all!

I'm not sure this is as much of a ticking as it is slipping or something else. I didnt do a good job of describing it before, and unfortunaly my time in the vehicle is limited, but it feels to me more like a band slipping or something (but only in one gear, and not every sequence through the gear). Its not top gear or low gear, that I can say for sure.

How would I describe it? I think I would have to say like very intermittent patches of ice on the road where the tires catch every few inches or feet and kind of softly jolt the vehicle. Maybe like driving over a loose rock area werhe the tires are slipping/catching/slipping catching. It isnt a hard lurching like a sudden release of the clutch would be, and its definatly IN the gear, not between them (unless it is one of those things where it cant decide which gear it wants, but it seems too quick for that). Earlier I had said 'catching on a tooth' which i think is a bad representation because it doesnt seem to be a uniform pattern to the "shaking" -- or whatever i should call it.

it sounds like ABS breaking/traction control and is normal on poor road surface

Yes, you are right, that is a good way to describe it. However this is on dry pavement under very light acceleration.

-Ian