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Gearbox fluid change


cruiser647
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Done.

Although the fluid itself is stupidly expensive, it took 6 bottles of the stuff. The box holds 8, but that would be from a fresh empty box!

Anyway, the differences is gear changes are massive. Every now and then there would be a low speed jerk, gear change as it caught up in crawling traffic or caught out as I wanted a bit of movement as it was thinking of changing down.

When it was cold, you could also feel the car pulling back as it changed down as it coasted to traffic lights/junctions/to a crawl.

But now........ smoooth as! Much, much, much less pulling back when cold. Gear changes are imperceptible.

Definitely worth it.

So, get it done. Even if you have only 80K miles on the clock. +++

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Not only must you use Audi gearbox fluid but you also have to use the correct Audi fluid. About 3 years ago, in my D3 A8 4.0TDi I was experiencing a thump when coming to rest as the box changed from 3rd gear to second. In addition, I occasionally experienced what is best described as a short "hooting" noise when booting the car out of large roundabouts (Milton Keynes!). I did some research and whilst most UK Audi dealers did not seem to have heard of this, in the USA there was an Audi Technical Bulletin covering this. The "hooting" noise is caused by the torque converter briefly cavitating. The solution is to upgrade the gearbox fluid to the "blue" fluid which was the standard factory fill for the 12 cylinder cars. However, this fluid has a different viscosity and the gearbox ECU must be flashed with new software to suit the new fluid. I gave the Master Tech at Audi Northampton the technical bulletin and they flushed my gearbox, refilled with the blue fluid, reprogrammed the ECU and carried out an adaptation procedure by driving the car at certain speeds/gears. This was not cheap (about £350 as I recall) because two complete sets of blue fluid were required for the flush and refill. The good news is that my gearbox has worked perfectly since then. I guess that the blue fluid is a higher spec to cope with the extra power and torque of the 12 cylinder cars - the Lambo engine cars may well also use this fluid. My service book has been amended to show the change and associated software upgrade.

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Another vote for getting fluid changed. My A6 had a CVT box (which are notoriously guaranteed to break) and I took it up to just shy of 200,000 miles with zero problems. Fluid was changed every 60k from new.

Just had the X5 changed also and that has made a very definite change to the performance of the box. That was at 95k.

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Hi DaroB,

TSB (Audi America) 37 07 07 201302/3 dated 13 Apr 2007 supersedes TSB Group 37 Number07-01 dated 18 Jan 2007. My upgrade was done at Audi Northampton in Aug 2009. I think that the UK TSB may be 2009736/7. The Master Tech was Nigel Bushnell and when I spoke to him last Sep on another matter he remembered doing the flush, fluid change, software upgrade and adaptation. I suggest you get your dealer to speak to him. It completely cured my problem and the car worked perfectly until I sold it in Sep 2013.  Be warned the job is not cheap - in Aug 2009 the bill came to £736 of which more than half was the very expensive "Blue Fluid" (16 litres). I now have a D4 4.2 TDi which is even quicker and more economical (quicker than my Porsche 911 Carrera 4 to 60 mph!).  Sorry about the delay - I do not check this forum very often because there are so few A8 posts. If you google "A8 hooting noise" you should find some references.

Edited by RichardW
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My recent story - I was quoted NZ$95 per litre for the OE ZF lifeguard 6 fluid but found an "alternative" cheaper brand (which I wont disclose at the moment as I am in discussion with the oil company) ...which "claimed" to be right for the G006062 gearbox and be equivalent to ZF Lifeguard 6..... but it serious wasn't. Impossible to drive smoothly, especially when cold. Revs rising and falling for no apparent reason....just generally shite.

 

Swapped back to the ZF LG6 fluid (from a cheaper source but still pricey) and all is silky smooth again. These transmissions are built around the hydraulic properties on on fluid only. There's no substitute. 

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So given my A8 has clocked up 150k miles... and I don't believe the gearbox fluid has ever been changed, it sounds like this could be a good idea??

 

What's the exact fluid I need to ask for (I generally use an indie German car specialist), and approx. cost?

 

Thanks

Edited by Mitchet
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MY fluid change was £300 early in 2013 after I bought the car.  180K miles, so I too thought it was due a change.

It did feel a lot smoother when changing afterwards.

 

My VAG man used proper Audi ATF, but I could not tell you what it was called.  It's flipping expensive though at something like £10 per litre!

 

 

 

This morning, I had the brake light come on.  Seems to be plenty of pad left, but I'll get round the changing them soon.

Just need to find the procedure on-line somewhere for both front and rear (different weeks!)

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Defiantly get it done , did mine recently it was well ready to be done , clutch plate dust on the bottom of the sump and debris on the magnets .

The fluid is lifeguard , it's the same fluid that land rover discos and the jag xf /s type use , on these you change the plastic sumps as the sump is the filter , the Audi has a separate strainer , I used a genuine strainer and sump gasket , we buy the

Lifeguard oil in 20L drums , but you can get 1L bottles it's around £22 per bottle , you will need about 6L as the torque converter will not fully drain down .

The oils very important .... don't cut corners ,most modern autos have torque converter lock up , this is like a conventional clutch plate inside the converter held by a vulcanised banding and operated by oil pressure, as the lock up clutch engages it creates heat , the correct oils deal with this heat , incorrect oils will get fried and cause further gearbox issues

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