first off its a 01 A6 4.2 with 170k on it. problem is the trans slips in every gear under medium accerlation, light throttle diriving like a old lady, the car is fine. i added fluid today roughly 2 quarts and it didnt get better, and yes it was on a lift running in neutral.
now heres my question, after alot of searching on here, i tried driving in manual mode, still slipped under medium throttle but it up shifted sometimes on its own. i was under the impression that when its in manual mode the trans will hold the gear untill redline or untill you upshift?
the trans was either new or a reman when i bought the car last year so theres roughly 15k on the trans and the whole trans is painted gray so i know its been rebuilt at one time and the pervious owner wasnt b's in me.
no codes and reverse works fine.
iam gonna try a fuild and filter change, if it still slips after that, could it be a bad valve body? my concern is why is it upshifting in manual mode on its own?

 

first off, welcome to the forums.

The transmission must be reprogrammed to hold gears to redline when in tip mode, so your car is acting as it should with that respect.

I would really recommend making 100% sure your fluid level is ok. I would also think that if your transmission was 2 qts low, and now it is slipping, the damage may have already been done. Adding fluid can't fix a problem that has existed for possibly 10k or more.

Lastly, ZF transmissions can be finicky to rebuild, many rebuilt transmission meet their maker soon than you would expect when rebuilt by a not so skilled mechanic.

I have no idea what is wrong with your transmission, but I would suggest taking it to a very reputable transmission shop and go from there.

Best of luck.

Jeff

 

Its not a valve body. Most of the time its a torque converter.
The seals in the converter fail and will require removal of the converter and getting it rebuild. There are a few companies that do that kind of work. Most of the cost will be labor to get the trany dropped.
Converter is about 500-600
Labor about 1200-1700 depending on where you go.

 

thanks, iam gonna service the trans, new filter and fluid, if it still slips then its 6-speed swap time, iam done with these junk automatics in these cars. the problem was there was a tail shaft leak, no signs on my driveway, just a bad shift one day and thought it was a fluke, now a week later it started to slip, so i got it on a lift and it was 3 quarts low on fluid. now if the bright engineers at audi would have put a dipstick on the trans, i would check it everytime i fill up like i do my oil and i wouldnt have this problem..........

 

It would have been nice if they had included a dip stick. It makes filling it much easier as well, since you just shove a funnel in the dip stick hole and pour the fluid in.

Our 3 series doesn't have an oil dip stick

 

atleast they should have put a sensor in to throw a symbol of a trans, like they do for the coolant if its ever low................

 

Our 3 series, as well as the A6 will tell you when the oil is low, but not the transmission. I wish they had, but oh well.

 

at least that would have been a sensible idea. I wonder if they get any percentage of the maintenance profits from the dealerships?

 

did you find out what your problem was? i just had the torque converter go on my audi A6 2.8L and i am curious about whether i should send it off to get rebuilt and what the mechanic will charge me. let me know if you have any suggestions - thanks, andy

 

nope, been driving it as is lol, trans slips with anything over 1/4 throttle comming off a stop, so i just drive like im a 80 year old lady.can't find any shops i trust to take it to. still looking for a low milage trans and converter to swap in.