cruiser647 Posted July 7, 2007 Report Share Posted July 7, 2007 [ QUOTE ] S8ed, after sleeping on this and reading your comments I am having second thoughts!!! The two specialists in this section are 200miles north and 150miles south of me....aaarrghh. Does anyone know of a gearbox specialist nearer to Derby? I have printed out a copy of the A8 Transmission Service included earlier and I am visiting my dealer to discuss the procedure face to face...will keep you informed. [/ QUOTE ] Excellent idea on the written instructions bit! Let's hope they can read............. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
johnss8 Posted July 8, 2007 Report Share Posted July 8, 2007 B1gM4c, try Ben at Sports tech in Ilkeston, thats where mine goes now. If your interested i'll pm you his details. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamez3 Posted July 9, 2007 Report Share Posted July 9, 2007 S8346, thanks for the contact. Since my last post I am now going to talk to a local German Auto Specialist(?)this morning. If I am still not convinced I will pm you ...has Ben serviced an A8 gearbox before? thanks again.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
996Dean Posted July 10, 2007 Report Share Posted July 10, 2007 My dealer told me that my year 2000 3.7 40V would never need a gearbox oil change. From what I've read this sounds untrue? What do people think? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teacake Posted July 10, 2007 Report Share Posted July 10, 2007 [ QUOTE ] My dealer told me that my year 2000 3.7 40V would never need a gearbox oil change. From what I've read this sounds untrue? What do people think? [/ QUOTE ] It's not part of the servicing schedule and Audi regard it as a "lifetime fill". This is a circular term which means that the oil lasts as long as the gearbox, which in turn lasts as long as the oil continues to lubricate it. To put it another way, you could just as easily say that oxygen tanks for scuba divers are a lifetime fill... What Audi really mean is that the oil lasts for the duration of the manufacturer's warranty. Many owners buy and run their cars well outside this period, and don't expect to be scrapping a perfectly good car when it gets to three years old or 60,000 miles. Hence the advice to change the ATF. There is a documented procedure for Audi dealers to change the gearbox oil, but most will tell you it is not necessary and many have little experience doing it. This means that an otherwise relatively simple task (it's slightly awkward but not complex) runs the risk of unfortunate errors on the part of the dealer. Have a read of the following article PaulW's excellent guide and decide for yourself. If you want to go for it, take recommendations from this forum for good dealers or independents who can do the work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamez3 Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 Well...as promised...here is an update. After much deliberation AND conversation I decided to entrust my A8 with my local stealer alternative....GERMAN AUTOMOTIVE, DERBY. ( www.GERMANAUTO.CO.UK ). After a brief discussion with Ian, who answered the phone, he asked me to bring in any paperwork I had relevant to the autobox service with me for an informal chat with his mechanic Jamie. On arrival I was impressed with the set up, extremeley clean,well equipped and very friendly. It was soon apparent that my A8 gearbox was to be the first they had serviced? However, the detailed description I printed out from this forum was similiar to that of a Mercedes they were working on which put my mind at rest. When I dropped my car off on the Thursday I explained I had to have the car back for Sat noon at the latest. I aked if I could use their phone to call for a taxi - no, we will run you home! Saturday arrived and Jamie dropped the car off at my house so that WE could take it for a test drive prior to settling the bill. There was a vast improvement in the gearbox BUT it still stuttered on gentle acceleration? Jamie and I returned to his garage where he showed me the filter etc and described the condition of the oil/magnets.I was still happy to pay the bill ...195.00 incl. I did a 400mile trip Sunday and the stutter seems to have gone ...I think the M1 has completed the flushing process?? All in all...very pleased with the car and their service. I now have somewhere I can take my A8 and be confident it is getting the attention it deserves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teacake Posted July 16, 2007 Report Share Posted July 16, 2007 All's well that ends well. If there was a lot of sludge in there, you might want to repeat the business in a couple of months' time. It's impossible to get all the old oil out, so a second go once it's been diluted a bit can apparently help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamez3 Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Will do! I would be interested to see if it flushes anymore out? Question: When using cruise control for long distances does anyone know if it is more OR less economical?? My 400 mile trip used 50pounds of petrol cruising around 85MPH. I was happy with that.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thenamesross Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Good to hear your feedback and glad it has improved your box. It may improve further still as the new oil spends more time circulating round it. Like S8ed says it may help to do a second one after a while. Im going to do the same with mine. IIRC the box capacity is about 10l and mine took 7l to fill so theres still 3l of old oil in there. A second change in another few months or so should get the majority of that out. For £195 its def worth it for peice of mind. Plus its good to have a garage that will actually do what you ask them to. Too many of them think that we dont know what were on about because were not qualified mechanics. Then they b*gger up your car. I'd be over the moon with 400 miles for £50. Thats about 35 mpg! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teacake Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 [ QUOTE ] Question: When using cruise control for long distances does anyone know if it is more OR less economical?? [/ QUOTE ] I haven't noticed cruise control being directly responsible for improved economy in my admittedly unscientific experiments. However, it's very easy in these cars to let the speed creep up, with damaging consequences for both economy and licence, so cruise control's handy for that. I have noticed that my S8 chooses to use 3rd when bimbling around town at 30mph in auto mode. Switching to tiptronic and knocking it into 4th seems to give about a 5mpg improvement. This may well not apply to the A8, which has different ratios. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostKiwi Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 The best way to get good fuel consumption is to maintain a constant throttle position (which doesn't mean a constant speed). I have found in previous cars (but not the '8 as yet as its early days) that cruise will cost me 1-2 mpg as the car will not accelerate down a hill to get momentum to go up the other side. Therefore the cruise control waits till the speed reduces before applying a wider open throttle, thus costing fuel. Each time the throttle is opened more fuel than is necessary is injected (for those of you old enough to remember carburettors and the accelerator pump its exactly the same principle) to give a slightly richer mixture to improve power and prevent flatspots/hesitation. Hence the constant throttle position is the ideal (but hard to maintain). A skillful driver should be able to easily improve consumption compared to cruise by using the terrain to minimise the changes in throttle position. Similarly maintaining as high a gear as possible will also improve consumption. The internal friction in an engine increases rapidly from 2000 rpms up (due to changes in direction of reciprocating components), whilst simultaneously the volumetric efficiency (the ease with which the cylinders can be filled) drops away. For this reason I find that knocking the car into Tip mode and the highest gear it will comfortably pull will help economy too (as noted above by S8ed). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ska Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 Slightly off tangent but have any of you guys found that the bell housing area gets really warm after say half an hour (I found out because I wore flip flops to the local shops once- if your wondering ). All this talk of sludge is making me think that this blocks the pipes that go to oil cooler up front so the Gbox runs hot. And a normal ATF flush won't get rid of that. Perhaps the flushing the oil cooler locally may be in order? Any thoughts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figure11 Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 [ QUOTE ] I have noticed that my S8 chooses to use 3rd when bimbling around town at 30mph in auto mode. Switching to tiptronic and knocking it into 4th seems to give about a 5mpg improvement. This may well not apply to the A8, which has different ratios. [/ QUOTE ] Concur with that. Around town I always use tip, can get into 4th just over 30 and it can make a bit of a difference to you mpg. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickGUK Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] I have noticed that my S8 chooses to use 3rd when bimbling around town at 30mph in auto mode. Switching to tiptronic and knocking it into 4th seems to give about a 5mpg improvement. This may well not apply to the A8, which has different ratios. [/ QUOTE ] Concur with that. Around town I always use tip, can get into 4th just over 30 and it can make a bit of a difference to you mpg. Mike [/ QUOTE ] Well i find the opposite lol, mine quite often changes to early, mine is in 4th "most" of the time, which is fine on flat roads, but if you then hit a hill you may have to flick your foot down to get it to change down to 3rd, or as i sometimes do, flick over to tip and climb hills manually Mine is obviously only and A not an S, so thats probably the difference in ratios as you mentioned. Remember, you could recode your trannys via vag-com if you wanted to and change the shift programs. But dont you find it a chore flicking that lever backwards and forwards........what stress !!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figure11 Posted July 17, 2007 Report Share Posted July 17, 2007 [ QUOTE ] But dont you find it a chore flicking that lever backwards and forwards........what stress !!! [/ QUOTE ] You know this needs a siantific test Nick. We line up together. Both 'hit it' together and see whose ahead when 5 is selected! Waddaya think? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickGUK Posted July 18, 2007 Report Share Posted July 18, 2007 [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] But dont you find it a chore flicking that lever backwards and forwards........what stress !!! [/ QUOTE ] You know this needs a siantific test Nick. We line up together. Both 'hit it' together and see whose ahead when 5 is selected! Waddaya think? Mike [/ QUOTE ] I think you'll look quite pretty in my rear view camera Now me has to go get a facelift S8, just to have 20 more BHP than you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teacake Posted July 18, 2007 Report Share Posted July 18, 2007 [ QUOTE ] I think you'll look quite pretty in my rear view camera Now me has to go get a facelift S8, just to have 20 more BHP than you [/ QUOTE ] <Me stripping out rear seat, spare wheel, carpets> Ready when you are... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NickGUK Posted July 18, 2007 Report Share Posted July 18, 2007 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Figure11 Posted July 18, 2007 Report Share Posted July 18, 2007 [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] But dont you find it a chore flicking that lever backwards and forwards........what stress !!! [/ QUOTE ] You know this needs a siantific test Nick. We line up together. Both 'hit it' together and see whose ahead when 5 is selected! Waddaya think? Mike [/ QUOTE ] I think you'll look quite pretty in my rear view camera Now me has to go get a facelift S8, just to have 20 more BHP than you [/ QUOTE ] lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ianambrose Posted October 15, 2007 Report Share Posted October 15, 2007 A great post, thank you Richard. My local Audi dealer recently told me I needed a new gearbox. Thankfully I found your post and spent the weekend changing the oil and filter. My car now appears to performing better than ever - long may it continue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew001 Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Hi guys. I really need your advice. Just bought a (a8, 3.7) (never ever on ebay again) and looks like I've been ripped off. Symptoms: During the changing from second gear to third there is a 2sec break and revs goes up (it feels like slipping)(If I keep on accelerator in the same position) and after couple seconds when the third gear is in - it kicks so badly Any suggestions guys whats needs to be changed in the gearbox? I do have a feeling that it might be a clutch friction plates, but not sure how it is called officially. Anyway, I'll try to contact with seller today (the car has been bought last night) and ask for my money back even it's been sold as seen. But he has confirmed that everything is ok with the gearbox. Thanks for your advice. Andrius Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LostKiwi Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Does it do it at full throttle or partial throttle? Also is this a 4 speed or 5 speed? How are the rest of the changes? It may be something as simple as a sticking solenoid or as bad as worn clutches and bands.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ska Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 If nothing else do a ATF change + strainer/seals etc more often than not this will improve the Gbox performance. Did the previous owner ever get the Gbox fluid changed? If not then do it yesterday! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew001 Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Thanks for your quick response LostKiwi. I haven't tried at full throttle as I am scared to damage the box. It does at partial throttle and if I don't press the accelerator during that changing (2nd to 3rd) it changes gently, but I still can feel that 'slipping' and revs goes up a bit anyway within those 1-2 secs. And it does only on 2nd to 3rd speed. Thats a good question about the speeds I think it should be 5speeds. It's a S reg (1998) 3.7 sport. BTW the oil never been changed I believe but anyway, I think it's to late now.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andrew001 Posted October 22, 2007 Report Share Posted October 22, 2007 Ska - If the seller refuses to take the car back, I'll start from changing the oil, but I'm a bit pessimist if that helps.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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