hi everyone...go easy on me here, I hardly ever mess around with audi's so im a complete noob here..

a buddy has an '04 B6 A4 1.8t quattro and the tranny seems to be on its way out. Automatic, O1V I think?

Problem is that when you go from park to drive, theres a huge delay from when it engages first gear. If you rev it up, it gets to about 2,000rpm and than slams into gear. Once its out of that, it shifts normally. Part throttle is fine driving around down, but if you go wide open and hammer on it it flares the shifts really badly and is hesitant to kickdown. I only rode in it, I didnt drive it, so I couldnt tell if the converter was locking up properly or not. No check engine light. I looked all around for a dipstick but I guess these crazy new tranny's are sealed. Acts like its low on fluid, theres only 35k miles on the car so I find it hard to beleive its burnt up already. No mods on the car or anything, all stock. I didnt try holding it in neutral, and then going into drive to see if there was the same delay as in park - drive. Do these tranny's pump fluid in park? I think I might know someone who has vag-com but like I said there was no check engine light on so I dont know ifthe trans computerstored any DTC's or not.

What are the mechanical specifics of these tranny's? Clutch to clutch or overrunning stuff? I assume its a standard lockup converter like any other automatic? How many clutchpacks? What fluid does it require? Is there even a fill plug on it so I can try to see how much fluid is in it? Do these tranny's generally have problems? PITA to rebuild? Ive rebuilt GM tranny's before but no foreign stuff, so Im not sure what to expect...

thanks in advance for any advice...

ben