Jason, two weeks are up. Fill us in with the good news, bud.

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I am changing the ATF as we speak.
Started too late in the afternoon, and it took me a while to find the right spot in the yard where the car would end up level (front wheels on ramps; the rear raised on jack stands). After that, I had to run to OReilly's to buy a 19 metric socket for the fill plug/bolt (for some reason I had 17 metric in mind), and some metric hex wrenches.
The drain plug is a stupid hex size : not 1/4 - too big, not 7/32 - too small, not 7/16 - too big, not 6 - too small or 7 - too big, metric.
I filed a 1/4 size one, but it ended twisting like a toothpick, even though I used the PBlaster lubricant several times. Decided to stop guessing or messing with the darn thing, so I drained whatever came out off the fill plug - actually it came A LOT... and just lowered carefully the pan.
The dark creeped up on me, so I'll have to finish the job tomorrow....I took pics, too.

 

ya know what? I was relooking through my owners manual and it claims the tranny fluid should be changed every 45k miles..... guess its time to change.

 

I would definatley change filter and flush fluid if your trany is in good working order, shifts nice etc.I t is recommended at 80K However if it has problems it is worth as shot but may not repair your problem unless you are low on fluid. ALSO you might not want to replace the fluid if it is burnt. the new fluid is detergent and will begin to clean the burnt residue out of the transmission and plug your new filter and you will be getting flushes and filters like mad until the process completes if ever. I did that to myself on a Ford bronco II 20yrs ago never again!! and the fluid always smelled burnt anyway. but it shifted OK just smelled bad.

By the way I tried to do my own. I was just going to replace the filter and 5-6 qts of fluid, that went well -had my temp gauge set up and everything. but the fluid was dirty so I brought it in to Audi for a flush to get more of it out. It cost me 270.00 I am have my other one done this week for the same beats getting messy and I feel better knowing most of the fluid came out. For now on I'm going to drain the pan once in a while in hope to keep the fluid in better shape lifetime or not.

 

From what I've seen on AudiWorld forum + Blau website, changing the ATF is very well documented. Hence I decided not to do a write-up, and post my experience in this thread.
Most everyone in here has newer models, or at least above 1996, so I doubt anyone else with a 1995 may appear down the road... Moreover, I do this mostly for George (gmatov), as we hypothesized the change can be done without VAG-COM and monitoring the temperature...

I tried to get the car on an as level as possible plane ...via eye-o-meter. Since I don't have the "goods" (garage with concrete level floor; higher lifting jacks _ stands; etc), I had to improvise.
Some write-ups I came across hail to have the car with all the wheels off the ground. Well, good for them...
As I hope I will not anger the frail and sensitive Audi "gods", this was the best I could come up with:


Once the car was up, I had to run to O'Reillys to look (as said previously) for a suitable size of an Allen wrench, but no available size fits the damn plug. I already commented on it... As far as the fill plug is concerned, I suppose I stink anymore at sizing by eye a big metric bolt...I said 19, but the plug is actually 22-M, or 7/8... It turned out to be a worthless trip to the parts store...



As soon as I returned from the store, I dove into dismounting the pan. Since I couldn't get the drain plug off, I just removed the fill plug with a pair of locking pliers...
(today I got a 7/8 crescent wrench from a friend to ease the fastening)

After all the rigmarole with the plugs, a spot of sunshine: I have no downstream O2 sensors... lucky me...


The pan is secured at the corners via 4 10-metric nuts and some clamps that suppose to provide even pressure at all corners.

I couldn't tell for sure if the gasket slowly leaked overtime, or if the greasy sludge build-up on the pan was a consequence of a motor oil leak somewhere and sprayed toward the rear... However, this greasy side was facing the rear, so I wouldn't see how motor oil gunk would build-up there.

With fluid still in the pan, I had to hold it with one hand and unscrew the nuts with the other. As the nuts came off, the clamps just fell to the ground. I held the pan and I lowered it carefully.
Familiar view for some - the pan is off:


The filter is fastened via three long bolts, Torx-27 head. The filter in my tranny was the original one - 1995.



Here's the pan, emptied - actually I didn't find excess sludge or to much of metal shavings on the magnet

I cleaned well the pan and the hardware pieces:


-
The supplies needed: I got the ATF from Blaufernungen, as a "Fluid change Kit" - they included only 4 quarts and I think I came up short a half of a quart which I'll add later on... So much for "professionals"...
The hand pump was a separate item from them - about $ 13.
The filter, its o-ring gasket, and the pan gasket were supplied by ArizonaAutohaus.


-
Nice looking fresh fluid:


And the old fluid - no burnt smell, but pretty dark looking


George, what I did was to leave it overnight to drip as much as possible (well, I was forced too - too lazy to work in the dark; plus it was already cool by 8 pm).
When I started filling her up, about 2 1/2 quarts went in before started dribbling. I screwed in the plug, hand-tight and started the car. As soon as I started it, you could tell it needed more....it had sort of a whining groan...
Got under and pumped about 1 more quart (so 3 1/2 quarts by now) until started dribbling again...The whining groan disappeared gradully, as I would pump. I fastened the plug again by hand and hopped in the car. Got the selector through all the gears for about 10 secs each, and then got back under the car.
I pumped the rest of the last quart and closed her up. I bet it would have taken another half more before being up to level. Whenever you'll change yours, please don't buy any BS kit from "trusted professionals" like Blaufernungen... Buy 5 quarts, or even 6 to be on the safe side.
Anyway, by the time I finished pumping that last half quart, and tightened the plug, I heard the rad fan kicking in... So about 15 minutes the whole shebang to reach that "adequate Bentley" temperature ...
Yes, is very doable, and believe me is much easier than all the scary warnings that abound...
AND IS SO WORTH IT!
I took her for a spin and my first gear slight hesitation is gone; no joke, no fake bs; no baloney... It takes off smooth as it should, which it didn't before the change.

I'll leave it the way it is until I change the TB and all the other crap, and then I'll recheck the level with my mechanic friend (he has a 4-prong shop lift). After 1-1500 miles I'll change it one more time and then put a cross on it...

Cheers!

chefro

 

Cool... so you did have red fluid huh? I looked a mine and its the ol' 'light amber' stuff... so off to get Pentosin...

The drain plug is a 1/2 size... ie: x.5mm

 

I bet is a 6.5 mm, but I couldn't find one. As I said, 6 is loose in the hole, not catching a damn thing, while 7 doesn't fit in the hole.
Same thing with the "inch" sizes: 1/4 doesn't fit, yet the next one in all the sets sold - 7/32 - is loose.
Great engineering, indeed. Good thing that afterward they switched plugs to Torx or larger and even sizes unlike this one, with its size resembling a cow's dung on the pavement of a nice citadine park...

 

Chefro,

Sounds good to me. I can't do much of that anymore. Went to an AAMCO outlet with a Cro running it (ti znas sto to jej) and he said he would charge me 42 for an hour labor and 16 per litre fluid.

He asked if I could leave overnight. I said "No", no way home. OK, I'll do it while you wait.

Why WOULD you have to start from cold and monitor with VAG to get it to "Hot", when it comes IN hot.

Suggestion is to put a piece of paper or cardboard under the car and see if the tubing to the rad is leaking. Mine are kind of rusty. I do not know if they are weeping fluid, but they are exposed to the elements. AND, them damned pipes are about 300 from the dealer.

Cheers,

George

 

Ya know... looking at you pic (mine is a '96) it looks like yours is a 'polydrive'. Hard to tell.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polydrive

 

well, it is hard to tell with the rust on some of the walls.
Also, I never seen a polydrive pattern upclose, but shouldn't the corner grooves be more accentuated than in my pic?

Anyway, is not a big deal. the pan is not too heavy to hold it with one hand while unscrewing the last nut. I lowered mine without any spilling trouble. One good thing coming out of it though: no chance of leaking from the drain hole .

For the future, I may look around for a diff plug type or....just forget about it.

 

Ja znam.

I'll keep an eye on that if possible, and inspect them thoroughly when starting the TB job. Tks for the suggestion, George.