Agreed. I just finished refilling my car with transmission fluid, and let me tell you, I'd never do it again. On my 1999 A6 2.8 Quattro, the filler plug is on the bottom of the damn pan, and that sucker was bolted in there so bad I had to use a 1 1/2 foot pipe wrench connected to a hex bolt in order to pop the damn thing loose (and I bent 4 bolts before I finally got it). I have no idea what possessed them to go away from the standard "side-of-pan hex bolt" (like 99% of all filler plugs), but it couldn't have been a good reason :P. The filler hole also has this plastic part on it that has small holes which make getting a tube inside of very annoying, especially it gets really slippery.

If you're going to DIY, make sure the car is completely level, and warm the fluid up before draining (I ran the engine to idle temp and let it cool for about 10 minutes before I drained). Also, I don't know what you're using for a pump, but I STRONGLY advise against the auto store pumps that attach directly to the bottle of transmission fluid. It's not that they don't work (mine did), it's just that it's a complete and total pain in the rear end. If I had to do it again, I would have gotten a high output manual pump with a large reservoir, poured all of my fluid into it, and pumped it that way. Less messy, faster, and frustration free.

Not sure what everyone on the board thinks of Blauparts, but I followed these instructions and everything worked out pretty well for me.

http://www.blauparts.com/audi/audi_f...on_fluid.shtml

Note, however, that I pretty much flushed my system of transmission fluid, not sure if you're planning on doing that or not.

 

First off the Audi dealers will tell you that the ATF is life time, but if it was lifetime why did they install a fill and drain plug? ZF the maker of the trans recommend fluid change at 40,000 miles that is why THEY provided the drain and fill plugs for the trans. As for the standpipe design to fill the trans, it just another way to discourage people from DIY since the book will tell you that a "Special" VAG tool is required to fill the standpipe design.

 

ATF as any other fluid has the ability to evaporate.....