Hey everyone,

I've got a '99 A6,2.8, 5spd auto with 170k on the clock. Yesterday I was driving and decided because of an idiot in front of me I would use the tiptronic and drop a couple of gears to blow by this guy and get to where I was going.

The next stop light I forgot to shift down with the tiptronic and stopped at the light with it in the tiptronic mode and probably in third gear. When the light changed I started off and it felt like I was still in third gear instead of it automatically starting in first like normal.

It was shifting very hard and set a engine light with a code P1857, that code seems to be a communication problem between the ecu and the tcu. I cleared the code and drove it normally for probably 50 miles.

When I started it to leave again I put it in reverse and it didnt feel right. Put it into drive and it seems to be stuck in 4th gear. Messing with the shifter and playing with the tiptronic didn't make any difference.

It is now stuck in 4th gear and I know better than to drive it this way so I wonder if any of you have seen or heard what to do about this.

Thanks very much in advance for any advise you may be able to give me!!

Mm

 

Did you try to scan codes again? Is your PRNDS all lit up instead of just the one you are in? Sounds like limp mode but you may have buggered someting. Try the scan again and see what comes up. You may have to drive a little to get a code to set since you just cleared them.

 

The gear indicator is indicating that all gears are selected. Normally in drive only the "D" is lite up and when in tiptronic the gear you are in is lite up but you are right they are all lite up at this time.

I'm afraid to drive it the way it is as it seems it would be very hard on the clutches.

I will scan it again and see if any new codes. I don't have the cool Vag-com, I'm using a generic OBD2 scanner.

Mm

 

All the indicators lit up like that is an indication of limp mode, your tranny is restricted to third gear only so as you can "limp" to the shop or home or whatever. possibly just a bad TCU but you may have done some real damage. take it in and get it checked.

 

What exactly did I do that caused this problem. I thought that if you forgot to shift down before stopping or didn't pull it back into drive before stopping that the tcu would automatically put the trans into first and then shift to second before giving you back control with the shifter.

Seems like if everything was working properly what I did should not have done any damage.

I don't have the money to take it to a shop so it looks like I'm out a car for awhile. I do want to make sure I know exactly what caused this as to not have it happen again.

Thanks very much!

Mm

 

I'm don't think you did anything to cause this issue. As far as damage, I think it's unlikely. What state are you in?

 

I didn't think I did anything that would have caused any damage.

I'm in Portland Oregon.

I unhooked the battery and left it unhooked overnight and went for a drive after I hooked it back up again and the trans shifted fine again. It lasted for about 20 miles and now its stuck in either 3rd or 4th gear again.

Both times it got stuck in the high gear it was after putting it into reverse and backing up before driving forward.

Strange!

Any Ideas??

Mm

 

Look at this previously posted info:

I found that there is a way to let it's never flashing again, and check engine light won't be on either. Although it doesn't really fix the problem, but it will be much better.
1. To start the engine: To turn the key to ignition position, but don't start the engine, take a look at the shift indicator on the dash board.
a. If it performs normally, that means you can see your shift position, then start the engine right away.
b. If it's fail to show the position, then move the shifter to "N" position, then start the engine.
2. To shut down the engine: To move the shifter to "R" first, then take a look at the shift indicator on the dash board.
a. If it performs normally, that means you can see it's at "R" clearly, then shift it to "P"
b. If not. To move the shifter to "N" position, shut down the engine first. After the engine's off, move the shifter back to "P", then turn the key down and take it out.
The TCM will work properly when the transmission totally been cooled down, or totally been warmed up. And if it's fail, you might not be able to backward, but you should be able to move forward. So if you do know that you'll go for a long trip(more than 20 miles/30 km, then you don't need to worry about that it'll be fail when you get there, but you have to worry about it when you leave later, so always back into the parking spot, in that case you can go out in any sitution.
Anyway now I always park my car back into the parking spot, and use the way I wrote above. Now the TCM has already broken more than 3 month, I never got any problem to drive it, no matter go forward or backward. And I found that the TCM's not working properly only at certain temperature range, so I do believe that it's a bug from the original TCM programming, But AUdi doesn't want to admit it, and doesn't want to pay money to do the recall. Maybe we should try to put everybody who has the same problem together, then to complain this issue to Audi, and see if Audi will do something on the part and labor.
Try the way above, hopefully it works for you as well.

 

If you are in limp mode as you described, your trans is toast. Sorry. It was nothing you did, just the ticking time bomb of a transmission that finally went boom.

You could and should try swapping the TCU, but, from the sounds of it, that isn't your issue.

Good luck,

Bob

 

My A4 TDI suddenly came up with a yellow warning light indicating the rear wheel differential plus the sign that looks like a double loop knot. I was on the motorway but the nearer I got to home stop starting became extremely difficult with the gearbox stuck in top gear. I limped into my local garage - should i expect a huge bill for repair?