Any of you guys experience this before? After I leave my car sitting for a while, say overnight or while at work, and I start it up and head out, shifting from first to second and sometimes second to third is the complete opposite of the buttery shifting we all dream about. After driving for a few miles it smoothes out (still not as nice as it was during the summer though).
After a quick search I saw that some people have flushed out the factory transmission fluid and replaced it with a heavier weight such as Red Line MTL and MT-90. Dont know if that would help my situation out or not. Any advice??

oh yeah, Its a 2003 1.8T 5mt quattro...i really gotta get my signature up

I just changed to Royal Purple (synthetic GL4/5 compat). It was the only GL4 stuff I could find (all the rest are GL5).

I noticed the shifting is more "mechanical" and not as buttery as before. No more difficult to shift but different feel. I spoke to my wrench and he said it is normal w/ thinner viscous syn but that it's better for the gears. Still, I am going to dump and put in GL4 regular gear oil whenever I find some! none of the local stores carry it.

When is the last time you checked your gear oil?

what i did if i may suggest, is i had the same problem and i flushed all that old crap out. Although it is a little more expensive use a heavier weight Royal Purple fluid, i mean if your guna do it, do it right with good stuff. It isnt everyday you embark on changing your tranny fluid. There will be a noticeable diffrence in shifting and such, the 1st to second problem will be eliminated and say goodbye to getting into your car at 7a.m. to go to work/school and being like wtf am i retartedly tired or is my car all messed up.

hahaha, thats EXACTLY whats goin through my head at 7am. I just picked up the car 10k miles or so ago. I had everything checked out and fluids replaced when I first brought back but I'll double check with my mechanic to see if tranny fluid is something he looked at. He works for Audi so he might subscribe to the whole "lifetime fluid" mentality and not have checked it at all. But then again, he did rebuild my entire rear diff at no charge after seeing a fluid leak.

I think I'll take your advice and opt for the royal purple when I get a chance. Shouldnt be too hard ... hopefully.

Cruiserhead, why are you going to switch to straight rather than synthetic? Dont like the feel?

yes, don't like the feel with Royal Purple. I'm going to try Redline MT90 or MTL, saw it on ecstuning.com so I might order a couple bottles of that to see how it works.

Same with mine the shifts feel more mechanical then buttery and im all about the butter "cruisehead" idk what is going through your head where you wouldnt wanna use Royal purple but suit yourself im ordering some of this stuff asap and gonna have my mechanic flush all those nasty tranny fluids with new royal purple i love the feel of a buttery clutch!
















1998 audi a4 2.8 quattro 5spd.

I have Royal Purple in there right now. I changed it myself. I don't like it compared to what was in there before.
I'm going to try Redline MT90 or MTL.

If you want a buttery clutch, trans fluid isn't going to help you.

I want a buttery shift action so I am trying something else besides Royal Purple, which I have right now.


here is a post I found on AW

Dumped out the Royal Purple Max gear in my tranny, flushed and filled with Amsoil GL4---->long...
Posted by: Dung Beetle on 2006-02-17 18:11:58
Account #: 35702

MUCH MUCH better.

I know some people will not believe it, but it's true... 150% night and day difference.

Car was cold (45-50 deg. outside) when I pulled it into the shop for the swap, shifted kinda' hard like it has ever since the change. Pulled it in, did a dump of the fluid and then flushed it out with a full quart of the Amsoil 75-90/80-90 (I forget what it is exactly) GL4 (only-no GL5) rated fluid 'till it ran out "clear". Put the plug in and filled to level.

------>FWIW the Royal Purple that was in there came out really DARK and very thick after less than 300 easy miles.

I then did a MAJOR flushing of my engine oil and potential sludge (for the second time in as many months) with 1.5 qts Marvel Mystery Oil added to the 2000 mile old Amsoil synthetic that was in there, dumped that after running at idle (only) for a few minutes, then new oil to flush that out--ran it for a couple minutes in the shop, dumped that. Then I put in Amsoil Euro 5w-40 and a new fresh big-@ss OEM filter.

I proceeded to back the car outside, wash in & out and wax it and then left it all day long. When I got in to try it out this evening the car was again totally cold (36-38 deg. outside) Started it up and back around. First thing I noticed, no trans "whine" that I had with the R.P. oil when it was in neutral with clutch out. Almost like a throw-out bearing sound before, but sounded very internal. Must have been because it's gone. Very quiet now.

I pull out of the drive easy (still cold) in first and go to shift to second, slipped right on in like a, well you get the idea... Before it only went in if I rev-matched (rather high) and/or held moderate pressure until it dropped in with a harsh feeling. It was NOT smooth in the least, my wife even commented on it when she borrowed the car one day a week or so ago, said it was impossible to shift into second and a bit into third. Now it's perfect.

No noticeable difference to speak of between cold and warmed up where with the R.P. oil it was a HUGE difference.

Just thought I'd share... I'm happy, very very happy.