I thought I'd throw this out there and see if anyone has had the same issues. I cannot stand the transmission in my 2001 4.2. To me it is the single worst piece of engineering audi used in this car.

Here's the deal. The tranny is motorboating and it feels like there is a rubber band instead of a torque convertor b/t the flywheel and input shaft. It absolutely drives me crazy. When I'm going, lets say 40mph down the road, and I give it some gas to the point where I think it should downshift or lock the TC, the revs go up and I don't feel much acceleration. I feel like I can literally sit there and feather the throttle back and forth and get no kinetic change in the drivetrain. It is at the absolute worst when I take off slow from an intersection and decide to get on it. I have to mash the accelerator completely to the point where it presses the kick down button to get it to take off. I'll described this tranny as schitzo (sp?). The best way to put it is the accelerator is really a MPH lever: you push it halfway down to get to say 60mph, and the car gets to 60 mph it's own damn way.

Resetting the TPS sometimes helps, but I cannot reset the damn thing every day to ensure the tranny acts accordingly. I don't have 5 min to wait every morning with the ignition key in the on position, or to get out vag com and reset it that way.

I've hooked the car up to my vag-com and there are no fault codes. Under Tranny, i can get readings for the flywheel, input shaft, and output shaft along with the status of the TC lock. additionally there is a value for engine speed minus input shaft speed. Vag com shows graphichally what I've just described. Giving it gas at 40mph shows a definite increase in engine speed and a very small increase in input shaft speed. It should be noted that during the example I described, the TC is Regulated rather that Open or Closed.

I've put about 40,000 miles on the car. It now has 100,000 on the clock and ever sice I got the car I have thought the transmission is going out. I replaced the filter, 'highly refined mineral oil' and pan gasket at 80,000 and have not seen much improvement. Any ideas? Is this normal for a 'luxury sedan' to put ride quality over performance?

Do you all think this is a tranny issue, TPS issue, TC issue or normal? Please help with any ideas because I can't stop thinking about this everytime I drive the car. TIA

 

I've actually got the same issue. Some times when I'm starting from a stop, or a slow roll it does not downshift, and I have to pull my foot off of the gas and hit it again to get it to go. It's actually a little dangerous when trying to pull out quickly from a parking lot or something.

 

As far as I could understand there are 2 problems here:
- slippage
- downshifting

What happens when driving on Sport or Manual modes?

Wild guess about slippage:
Symptoms are as tranny being on P or N.
Is it possible that the gear selector is faulty-worn down?

Downshifting issue: what downshifting is expected when roll on from a stop?
But please, do not highjack the thread.

 

Is there any new development?