I own a 97 Audi A4, FWD, 1.8 Turbo and Im getting on the freeway last night (4 hours from home) and as my transmission shifts into 4th gear it makes a clunking sound and the engine kills, I coast for a little bit, put it in neutral and it starts right back up, Im already on the freeway, everything seems normal, all of a sudden grey smoke starts coming out of the exhaust and engine and the transmission starts making a high pitch noise, sounded like metal on metal, the smoking stops as soon as I slow down, luckily close to an exit stop at a gas station and look underneath and my tranny fluid is pouring out of the middle of my car, Drains for about 3 mins and stops. Now I got it at some local family repair shop (only place open on a Sat. in this area) and they cant even find the transmission, lol. I am hoping to get it fixed by Monday, but not looking good.

Hoping someone might be able to help, so Im not stranded here longer. Anyone have any advice, or a guess at what happened to my car. Thanks,

 

It's an automatic, right? or is it a manual tranny?

 

yep its an automatic

 

Sounds freaky. Thats not tiptronic is it?? I forget if they started tips in 97 or 98?? Well its obviously fucked. Do you mean that this place cant find the tranny on your car or cant find a replacement one?? How many miles?

 

They are having a hard time figuring out how to check the transmission fluid level and identify where the lines and seals are, they want to know if its safe to start it. Im probably going to have to wait until Monday and get it towed to a Eurpean Repair Shop or a Transmission Shop. I try to avoid the dealerships if at all possible. Yeah your tight, its not tiptronic.

 

hey I bet I know what color your car is, yay for another pelican blue member

 

Good guess, lol. What part of a pelican is blue, anyway? No such thing as a blue pelican, as far as I know.

American White Pelican
Australian Pelican
Brown Pelican
Dalmation Pelican
Eastern (Great White) Pelican
Peruvian Pelican
Pink Backed Pelican
Spot Billed Pelican

 

maybe its then the white ones are flying over the ocean the reflectin of the water on their white body looks blue like the color of our cars

 

The repair shop I brought it to is doing there best, super honest people, been in business 49 years and has helped me out tons already, but they might as well be working on a space ship, lol. They've never seen anything like an Audi, totally confused. The owner said they already put in over $300 worth of man hours, plus the fluid, and special pump. Lucky for me hes such a good guy, hes hardly gonna charge me for any of it. They cant find a leak anywhere, so they think it over heated.

Now comes the bad part, spoke to a transmission specialist who said my transmission overheated and spewed, since I let my car run for over 4 mins I blew out my pump. The high pitch metal sound is very very bad news. He says minimum it will cost me $2000-$3000 dollars to rebuild!! Screw rebuilding.

I need to find a good used transmission at a great price, can anyone help??

 

TRANSMISSION / A.T., 1.8L, exc. Quattro; (code "DDT")

Luckily my transmission is interchangeable with a buch of Audis and Volkswagens(1996-2004).

Ive found a couple for $900, one for $1050 with a transmission computer. Anyone know how much thats worth?

More importantly anyone know any reputable used parts dealers that can help?