I just purchased an 01 A6 2.7T silver with black interior, quattro today because the price was right. It has 192,000 miles and runs like a champ except when cruising between 35 to 45 miles an hour maintaining the speed you can see the rpm gauge go up and down about 400 rpm. It hunts back up and down. You can barely feel it. I was told by a fellow gear head that it is most likely not the tranny slipping because it is such a small variance in rpm's and that it is most likely the torque converter. When you are accelerating at all, it goes away and takes off. Any thoughts, ideas or opinions? The first owner was a traveling salesman for Eli Lilly and put tons of miles on her. It has the common lcd display issue but other than that everything works, and the turbos pull hard.

 

Please help!

 

Sounds like it could be torque converter shudder.

Good Luck...

 

I would try draining and refilling the transmission. It is possible that you are a bit low on ATF, but it is also likely that you have some very very old ATF in the tranny case and torque converter. Be sure to also replace the filter in the transmission and not just the ATF. If you have someone lese do the job be sure they replace the filter, even if they object.

 

I noticed there is no dipstick. Is this somewhat like Isuzu's in that there is a drain and a fill plug on the transmission? Can you tell if it is low without adding to it? Thank you very much, brian

 

Checking the ATF level in the Audi trannies is a real PITA.
There is no dipstick, just a drain and fill plugs, both at the bottom of the tranny.
The car needs to be on a lift or jackstands and level. Also the ATF has to be at a certain temp (warm) and the engine running. Preferrably you wold have a VAG-COM plugged to check the temp of the ATF. Remove the fill plug and the ATF should be just at the fill pipe level.
Tricky, huh!
There are some great instructions on the blauparts.com, look for the ATF refill kit. Click here!

 

I went to the dealer here in town yesterday and he told me you could absolutely not add fluid yourself and that the vehicle had to be cold and off. He said it had to be hooked up to a computer and I about fell down when he told me how much. That link you gave me was very helpful becuase I can now take back my 18 something a quart fluid and buy that kit for only forty more than just two quarts. Greatly appreciated!

 

Too bad some dealers are just so full of $h1t...
I hope it works out for you!

 

I'll leave that fluid alone, it will destroy what is left of your transmission
your transmission is going south, the torque converter failure you can feel as you start moving
on transmissions with more than 80k miles is not recommended replacing the fluid unless it has been replace before
on old transmissions the new fluid will wash the clutches and plates and will not hold enough pressure causing severe slippage

 

so if the fluid is low and the car has 190,000 miles on it what should I use to top it off being that new fluid adds new detergents into the system?