I have read through the board and several people seem to comment on Transmission problems. I have a 1999 A6 Quattro (has 60k miles) and my wife has noticed that when the car is cold it has difficulty shifting through certain gears. She took the car to the Audi dealer who said that the oil was extremely burned and the transmission needed replacing for an astronomical fee. I took it to an independent transmission repair should who said the car had an internal transmission issue, but due to a number of issues I felt he was not trustworthy, so I took it for a third opinion. The third place indicated that he could not find anything wrong with the car and also took it to another repair shop down the street who said there appeared to be no problem. I have a hard time deciding what to believe. I know that these cars have problems historically with trannys, so I was wondering if any of you have experienced anything like this or have any advice on diagnosis. Thanks for your insight.

My car has difficulty shifting when it is cold too. Notably into to third gear. I've just come to accept it. I changed the snub mount and tranny fluid, which made a noticeable difference.

I had test drove about 6 cars before mine all ranging from 98-00 and 20K to 111K at some point they all did what you describ. My 98 has 142000 and does it sometimes and sometimes in the morning (if is cold) it seems like it take a few to shift out of first. Maybe just taking the steps from Badgerheel to improve the performance would help. But i would not sweat it to much.

My understanding is that the tranmission will hold lower gears longer than ususal until full engine temp is obtained, this is supposed to speed up warm-up and aid emmissions. My car has always shifted later in the cold

There is a delayed shift in gear changes when the car is cold. This is a desired feature designed to raise the temperature of the catalytic converter as soon as possible to burn the remaining fuel vapours. The gears hsould shift fine once the car gets warmed up after 2-3 minutes od driving.

If you are really unsure take it to a transmission specialty shop

Hey all... I too have a 1999 A6 and I wanted to know if any of you know how to add transmission fluid to the vehicle. I was changing the oil today and accidentely drained the transmission instead of the oil but can't figure out where to add. Can anyone help? Please let me know!

Thanks

Cleve

Hey all... I too have a 1999 A6 and I wanted to know if any of you know how to add transmission fluid to the vehicle. I was changing the oil today and accidentely drained the transmission instead of the oil but can't figure out where to add. Can anyone help? Please let me know!

Thanks

Cleve

I did a right up on this actually a bit ago. I learned this at work.

http://www.audiforums.com/m_309195/mpage_1/key_/tm.htm#309195

So the car needs to be up on 4 jack stands and the tires need to be spinning to go into each gear, right?
I guess that's obvious, but I didn't read that part anywhere. I'll be changing the fluid and filter next weekend.

No, you don't need the wheels on jack stands, when you 'go through the gears' (what we call it at work) you are just going from the lowest gear on the selector (ie "Low") all the way to park, 5 secords in between. Make sure you have your foot on the brake at all times, e-brake on for extra safety. The gear selector pattern should be something like Low - 3rd - Drive - Neutral - Reverse - Park.

When I do this at work, I am working from a basement, with the car on ground level (I work for a Jiffy Lube type company, except we are actually good and reliable. We are ranked in the top 50 among quick lube shops nationwide)

I have a 1997 A6 Quattro that had some of the same issues mentioned above. I was worried that I needed an entirely new tranny. Luckily, it turned out that the transmission lines were only leaking. I had the lines replaced by my local mechanic along with new Audi tranny fluid. The whole job cost me less than $300.00. When I drove the car for the first time, I could not believe the difference. The car now shifts so smoothly that the shifts are hardly noticeble.

My 1999 A6 tiptronic does the same thing. It really doesn't like to shift out of second when the engine is cold. I'll often upshift myself.

When the car is cold the transmission will "hold" to speed up the warm up of the car. I think this should be mentioned in the owners manual.