I just got my hands on a 1997 Audi A4, 2.8L 5-Speed Manuel Quattro. Needless to say, I'm addicted. But I've noticed that 1st gear sounds different than the others. Could anyone with the same configuration please tell me that this is normal. I emailed the previous owner about it, and this is what he said...

"Hi Clayson,

I changed the gear oil when I first bought the car in 2005. They did the rear differential at that time too. No visible metal in the gear oil from either. That was at 164,000 miles. It takes a special tool to get the oil plug out of the transaxle so you'll need to buy that if you do it yourself. I had it done because I've put gear oil into a manual transmission before and it was a pain.

1st gear is louder than the others but it's been that way since 2005 (when I bought it) with no change. I was concerned too and have read a lot of articles on that subject (www.audiforums.com etc.) and it looks like that's a common thing. I wasn't able to find any articles from people who had the noise and then had a gearbox failure. It seems to be just an annoyance. The syncros have always worked well and I never heard any noises from the other gears.

Chuck"

Also, how often should the transmission fluid be changed in these things?