A8 Quattro Transmission Emergency
 

Hey guys, thanks in advance for your time. I have a 1997 Audi A8 Quattro with the "DPZ" tranny. The transmission failed a couple of weeks ago and was only in safe mode. I ordered a used transmission that allegedly only has 85K miles on it but it is out of a 1999 code "DTE" I found through research on this site that the two were completely interchangeable and with exception of a few vent tubes I had to swap they were. The problem is, my mechanics have the tranny in the car, but it will not engage into gear. We filled it according to the procedure on AudiPages.Com with about 6-7 liters of Audi ATF and it was overflowing through the fill plug when the engine was running. It shows that it's in gear on the dash and the engine changes pitch, but it never engages drive or reverse. The Check Engine light is on and we don't have a code reader to read the codes, but I would think it would still engage, maybe I am wrong. Are the TCM's possibly THAT different? We disconnected a cooler line and no fluid would flow out of it. Listening to the transmission pan, there is occasionally a quiet thump sound, but thats about it. Do you have any suggestions on what we need to do? I would seriously hate to take the tranny out and have to try to send it back and swap it again, I miss my Audi :(

What kind of mechanic doesn't have a code reader? You need those fault codes, its possible you got a bad trans though.

The mechanics have a "Genesys" code reader, but they don't have the European module purchased? We ended up pulling the transmission back out again and found the tabs on the pump that the torque converter engages were broken off. We didn't find any pieces of them and the mechanics swear it had to have happened during shipping because they were "Extra Careful" to fully seat the converter (Even though they said they had to pull it 1/2" closer to the fly wheel to get it to bolt together after the tranny was mounted to the engine, maybe that's normal) Hopefully we can swap the pump from my old transmission and just pray that there was no damage done by operating the tranny with the pump not working.

I'll keep my fingers crossed for ya.

Swapping the pumps worked and the car drives perfectly. I am so excited to have my A8 back, there is no other car on the road like it, and I work at a car dealership so I should know. :) Thanks for your help.