I have been doing much reading in preparation for a bunch of work to be done to my 01 a6 avant (2.8L 5sp. auto). I am planning to change the front and rear diff fluid (not sure when it was changed), transmission fluid (also don't know when it was changed), passenger side axle, and passenger side tie rod end. I have done all of these things on other cars but want to get it rite again. Here are my transmission q's:

I have read that I should not do a flush, just a change. Is that refering to hooking a pump up to the trans and pumping new fluid in and out of the transmission while running the car? Or is it something else that I may potentially do (like drain the fluid out and refill)?

I will be changing the filter, fluid (mine is a nasty gray/silver color but no burnt smell), drain and fill plugs, and all gaskets related to fluid change. I was reading that when you drain and refill you don't actually change the fluid in the torq converter...is there truth to that? Is there a secret step that is not in the bentley's (a chant, dance, and sacrifice perhaps)? Should I not be worried about it?

I don't have a vag tool; do I really need it or could I top it off, run the car, and check the level? If not what is the best price I could get one for?

The drain and fill plugs are 17mm hex and 10mm hex or is one a tripple square? Just got out from under the car and it is a 10ish mm and 17mm...but now I am wondering is there any other special tool I will need to get the old filter off/new filter on?

I have read a bunch of horror stories that resulted from doing this job wrong so I am especially cautious. Don't want to **** this one up. Thanks in advance!

 

Nobody? Not even "If you change your fluid your transmission will never forgive you?"

 

Send me a PM with your email address. I have a PDF DIY that I created a couple of years ago.

Anyways, to answer your question... yes you only want to change the fluid, not flush it using an external flush machine. You are also correct that the fluid within the torque converter is not being changed. It is okay. If you really want to do it right, change it one more time 5000 miles after the first fluid change. You will have pretty clear fluid by then.

10mm or 9mm (I forget) is the drain plug. 17mm is the fill plug. You will need T27 torx bit to remove the pan. No triplesquare bits are necessary for the fluid change. If you want to do it right, then you need VAGcom. If you live dangerously, then you can do without. Don't be yelling at anyone else if you blow up your tranny

Oh yeah, you also need a hand pump to pump in the new fluid.

 

Sounds about right. I just did a pump swap on a trany, and most all of the stuff is not hard at all, just have some time to do it right, axels come out pretty easy, just have to remove wheel and lower control arms out the way. To drain front differential you pretty much have to remove it, or a cover from it (cover comes out with bunch of gears in there). Dont know about rear deferential, but there is to compartments in trany itself that you may want to change (front about 1.3L of gear lube and rear about 0.9L). Trany flush is pretty simple: drain trany over night, remove oil pan, take out two torx bolts and pull out old filter, replace, put it all back togehter, start the car and start feeling ATF, i think to check fluid level trany temp shouldnt be higher then 113F. While you pumping trany fluid you should go through each gear and stay in it for about 10 sec (after about 3-4 qts already in). I didnt use vag com period and it still went fine.

 

Great, thanks for the help and insight guys!