Hi Everyone,

My 04 A4's CVT goes into limp mode and PRNDS is flashing when the car is hot, but not when cold. My mechanic says the transmission is reporting solenoid fault codes. He believes it's not worth trying to fix it, as he has tried with two others and they were a nightmare. He is a truly good mechanic. I don't have the time to try to do anything myself.

Could the rebuilt TCMs solve the indicated solenoid problem?

Or - my theory - could metal particles go into suspension in the fluid when the car is hot and cause a short, such that if I just changed the fluid the problem might go away for now?

Thanks for any ideas!

 

Johnny,
What codes are you getting exactly.

 

Hi Cuda, unfortunately I don't know the codes. My shop has given me a bunch of free time on this one and I would rather not ask them to look up the codes and send them to me. They didn't charge me for the diagnosis or the six follow-up emails and phone calls we had. I'm wary of throwing good money after bad on this transmission, and am royally ticked off at Audi for not repairing these under warranty for the life of the vehicle. I only have 74k miles on my A4. I told my shop that I'd read online that they could simply replace the bad solonoid and he said he doesn't recommend trying to fix this CVT. Maybe I should start again with a dedicated transmission shop and then report the codes here? But I will have to pay them.

 

You can have your codes read for free at Advance Auto parts and most other chain parts stores. It's impossible to give you advice on what to do if you don't have the codes.

 

I will get the codes - thanks for the tip!

 

In California and Hawaii, it's against the law for auto parts stores to provide you with a code reader. Nor will they read your codes for you. Unbelievable!

I'm going to try to borrow one from a friend.

 

I bought an Innova 3130 scantool that you can now get at walmart for less than $200. If you do any type of auto repair work is well worth the money.
I had it on a trip to Oklahoma a few weeks ago and was able to diagnose a coil that went bad. Without it I wouldn't have a clue as to what was wrong and would have had to have the car towed. It ended up costing me $25 at the parts store and an hour delay. have
I am currently in the middle of repairing the TCM in my transmission, and replacing the waterpump and timing set. I removed the TCM monday, shipped it to XeModeX on tuesday and just now received it back. Less than 48 hours from the time I dropped it off at UPS.

 

To all 02-06 A4 and A6 owners with cvt and lives in Cali . Audi CVT class action settlement preliminary approved by a judge on march 29 2013. Google audi cvt class action for more info

 

Damn. I traded my A4 in last week for an A6. The dealer lowballed me on the trade-in, but there's no record of the CVT issue. I doubt I'll be able to get compensation from Audi, but I will try. I am out about $2,500 on this. :/

 

I finished the TCM repair / re-install at a total cost of $875.00. XeModeX in Canada repaired my TCM and it took less than three days to complete the repair. I pulled the TCM and shipped it on day one, they received, repaired and shipped on day two, I recieved it on the morning of the third day and installed it that afternoon.
Filling the transmission wasn't an issue either. I used a gear fluid oil pump (Item #40714 harbour frieght) to fill it. The tube fits snugly into the filler hole and didn't allow any overflow.
A new gasket was $10.00 from the dealer and I'm cheap so I reused the original bolts without a problem.
It's running fine and no more flashing "PRNDS"