I gotta say, the posters here must ALL be youngsters, from the replies. Hasn't been all that long ago that if the tranny went out you did not HAVE a "limp home" mode, you called a tow truck.

jaymac,If the tranny gets into top gear and drives, it is not like slipping a manual clutch. Have you ever DRIVEN a manual?

If the tranny will engage in top gear, and will make it up the first hill you come to, it is not slipping. Today's autos actually are less slippery than today's manuals, from what I read.

Pre the 97 I have now, all mine have been 90 and before. Blow the servo and your car is dead, it will not move.

Nice to know that if mine peters out I MIGHT still be able to "limp" home.

If I ever get to drive the damned thing. (See above.)

Cheers,

George

 

George, this Audi is only my second automatic, so yes, every car I've owned and driven for the past 11 years have been manuals. You must not have ever driven an Audi with a Tiptronic suffering from the same ailments as mine, hence your clearly unfounded argument that "it is not like slipping a manual clutch". Perhaps there is no such thing as "limp mode" on these cars, I don't know that. What I do know is that when I drove it home, it behaved like a car with a MT when the clutch was slipping. I was using "limp" as an adjective describing how I treated and drove the car. I was not using "limp" as a noun describing a limp "mode".
I was merely making an analogy based on the car's behavior, independent of what may be taking place mechanically inside the transmission or the computer .
When you say "peters out", you appear to be referring to complete mechanical failure. Clearly, neither of us are discussing that possibility, but rather, a likely electrical failure, as was the case with my current situation, from which I based my feedback.

Perhaps on your 97 and prior models, they don't share the same technology as my '04, but I don't know that with any certainty. Just a thought.

Lastly, I resent the implication that we "ALL" must be "youngsters", and that I have never "DRIVEN" a manual, and one with a slipping clutch, at that.

There's no need for ALL CAPS, and no need to share info on older cars that may very well be archaic at best in reference to our model years and their transmissions.

Jeremy

 

I didn't take offense buf iwish I was a youngster. :-)

 

Guys . .. guys ... can't we all get along. Ha ha.

Well, it doesn't matter anymore, as I said screw it to the Audi. Another Indy shop stated the same problem .... Tranny is bad. I'm donating it to charity and taking my Tax credit. I don't want to invest anymore money into it. Spent way too much money on maintanence already (and I still haven't even change the Timing Belt and Waterpump yet).

Going back to Japanese cars.

 

Just wondering:
what other items have you replaced or repaired, and how much have you spent on it?
Just so i can compare and contrast maintenance experiences...

 

Maintenance costs are typical and individual, as far as I'd say.

Just as in gambling....

I have the feel Audi engineered life expectancy is for the years of warranty... sadly enough this forum has # of evidences.

CPO cars usually have prices that cover big deal of all repairs necessary immediately after the warranty period (dealers pricing – as TC replacement for 4k cad).

No wonder the used Audis are priced very attractively….

 

I had the same problem with my '98 A6. The indy shop replaced some vacuum lines and everything is now OK.

 

The first case of limp home I had - lights on PRND lit up, stuck in 2nd gear and with the gear change causing a jolt, etc. I was driving the family on holiday when all of a sudden the radio went off and the brake light warning appeared. I could have lived with that but clearly couldn't go through an entire holiday in second gear. I had to get a tow home and then rent a car for the holiday (later I claimed it back on the holiday insurance so was not problem). I had it take to an Audi dealer as I felt certain the gear box had gone. They charged me so much money for "tracing the fault to ECM" and "rehousing switch gear". Second time (just this week) the brake light bulb went and also the radio failed and the car went into limp home mode. After reading various forums on the web, I decided to just try all the tricks to see if I could save some dealer cash (nearly £200UK). I simply checked all the fuses (replaced two) replaced brake light bulbs (which cleared the warning lights, but not the limp home mode) and then disconnected and reconnected the battery which cleared the limp home mode. Now all OK and my wonderful old family bus is back in full order. I truly hope someone with the same issue finds this and it they get the same fix without paying the dealers. Quite why the VAG engineers thought that is better to be towed home than be without a radio or a brake light for a while is quite beyond me.