£10k gbox bill on 4yr old Audi. Was it ever fit for purpose?

[Vaud]

Audemars said:

I have only seen such bills and issues on German cars especially Audis and Porsches.

A gearbox should last the lifetime of a car and in excess of 200k miles as it does on most cars.

If kept to standard spec and serviced to spec, I agree.

[delta0]

Bunfighter said:

Agree. However how can a remap destroy a gearbox? Unless the OP was aiming for 100% extra power and monster torque.

That's the part that's crap- the gearbox had a fault of its own. Sometimes something like a map can help reveal a existing issue.

The problem with ALL modern complex cars are that they have masses of electronics now. Electronics that in a Consumer environment would only have 1-2yrs warranty in a shop.

Fatigue life will dramatically reduce with small increases in load above the endurance limit. The gearbox will already be above endurance limit anyway as it is designed for a certain amount of life for a set of reasonable load cycles. Excessive aggressive driving, abuse and increased amplitudes of loading from a remap and that life will reduce significantly.

Edited by delta0 on Sunday 19th February 10:21

[GroundEffect]

That's a pretty standard price for a service department new transmission. The gearbox will cost Audi roughly £1500-2000 to make.

A remanufactured transmission would be my first check. Does anyone offer them on this variant?

From the symptoms, it sounds like either the mechatronic is clogged or the clutch is. Surprised neither of them are service parts for Audi.

[thepeoplespal]

GroundEffect said:

That's a pretty standard price for a service department new transmission. The gearbox will cost Audi roughly £1500-2000 to make.

A remanufactured transmission would be my first check. Does anyone offer them on this variant?

From the symptoms, it sounds like either the mechatronic is clogged or the clutch is. Surprised neither of them are service parts for Audi.

I guess if Audi made these service parts they'd have to admit they had a problem with their gearboxes and that would never do.

Incidentify a local motor factors to me said in conversation that the issues he is dealing with most involve Audis and that the BMWs & French cars don't seem to be causing nearly as many issues. I reckon it's probably due to Audi popularity in that area combined with shaving a few too many pence of their suppliers, which is reducing tolerances too much.

This will eventually effect Audi residuals, who in their right mind would buy an auto Audi 2nd hand with the potential for a £10k gearbox as a possible fix to a problem. Madness.

[anonymous-user]

Land Rover dealers are the same. They are not mechanics who repair things, they are fitters who take old bits off and put new bits on. The whole process is designed to empty your pocket which is why I prefer to use good independents instead. As above, get the box repaired by a transmission specialist, it will save you a fortune.

[OldGermanHeaps]

Audi autos have always been russian roulette though. Remember multitronic?

[anonymous-user]

Surely the answer to "did the remap likely cause or exacerbate the issue" depends entirely upon which part of the gearbox has failed?

In simplistic terms, as I don't know the innards of this particular box:
- If it's an electronic or hydraulic type fault, then (probably)no.
- If it's a mechanical fault with the clutch plates having melted or a piece broken off some moving stressed part, then (possibly) yes.

The obvious starting place therefore is to determine exactly what has failed , and proceed from there.
Which means taking it to a good gearbox specialist and paying that initial (probably quite small) cost to determine the exact failure.

Once you know that, you are in a much better position to either push for a contribution / replacement from Audi, or accept that you will have to pay for it yourself.

Without that specific info, you can't really proceed any further.

[J1JPE]

Thought > would the OP have any joy with a claim against whoever remapped the car ?

If OP had the mapping done, not a previous owner ... was OP aware of the map when buying the car etc

[Ej74]

My gearbox gave up the ghost on my old R35 GTR

Its a sealed item and quoted cost was 20k

The car was remapped

Nissan GBP supplied a new gearbox as goodwill after a polite email to Nissan CEO

The servicing dealer should be able to validate the cars history which was what my dealer did

[Jimmy Recard]

OldGermanHeaps said:

Audi autos have always been russian roulette though. Remember multitronic?

They weren't a question of if, they were a question of when. It was a turd of a gearbox.

[nickfrog]

cayman-black said:

He has a point though and is probably right.

He would if what OTHER people think was important or relevant

[ericmcn]

another case of people people remapping diesel cars only to fubar them.

Why dont they just get a nice petrol they can red line all the way to the moon and back.

If I had a pound for every diesel car that has seen garage time in the last 10 years or so I would be loaded, extremely loaded.

Edited by ericmcn on Sunday 19th February 17:11

[Rich_W]

Ej74 said:

My gearbox gave up the ghost on my old R35 GTR

Its a sealed item and quoted cost was 20k

The car was remapped

Nissan GBP supplied a new gearbox as goodwill after a polite email to Nissan CEO

The servicing dealer should be able to validate the cars history which was what my dealer did

Nissan have what 1000 GTRs to deal with? Which are probably built better than a rep mobile diesel. Failure rate is likely to be a small percentage (I'll ignore the whole launch control thing when new)

Audi probably have 10,000 cars in the UK with that gearbox. I daresay they don't want to set a precedent. Of course if the owner had kept it standard then who knows if that might differ. Don't give them the option to reject warranty or goodwill would be my suggestion.

Also, not relevant in this case, but Goodwill from a manufacturer, out of warranty, is almost always a direct result of always using a dealer for servicing. Why should they make an effort to support a customer whose never darkened their doorstep and helped them keep their doors open.

[anonymous-user]

Heaveho said:

Lol. I better not say that in front of my 13 year old Evo that's been running about 110 brake and 80 lbs/ft more torque than standard for half it's life, the original, standard, unmodified gearbox might blow up if it finds out! Doubt it though.

Or the T56/TR6060 in my Monaro. Rated to about 450lbs there are plenty out there running well over double that, including my own. You can abuse them beyond belief and they don't complain. If you do need a new one they are cheap as chips too. Only down side is they are agricultural to use but goes to show American engineering is superior to German

[rayyan171]

I feel that the extra torque from the remap couldn't be handled by the car. S Tronic gearboxes are quite chocolate, the ZF boxes in all BMW's (bar the DCT) is the best out there.

Dealer won't be happy with the remap and will try and wriggle out of the cost by using the remap as leverage.

[liner33]

datum77 said:

Just to add my 10pence worth. ANY main dealer is NOT going to have a transmission specialist employed at their site. They WILL have someone that has been on a 1 week course who MAY come across the odd transmission problem, probably twice a year.
They will almost always want to take the line of least resistance by recommending a new transmission. The dealers on site "specialist" will not have the experience of taking transmissions apart - day in, day out, as a transmission specialist WILL have.
A specialist that does NOTHING else but repairing transmissions WILL have the necessary expertise when it come to diagnosing a fault and putting it right. Your main franchised dealer will NEVER have this expertise. Changing the gearbox absolves them from having a repaired gearbox go wrong AFTER the event.
It will also be the most expensive course, but that isn't the dealers problem. And they know it.

My old boss had the earlier 2007 or 2009 3.0l diesel Q5 and it developed a fault which put the gearbox into a limp home mode , often temporarily sorted by cycling the ignition , he was told by an Audi tech that if the gearbox is at fault they replace both the gearbox and the electronics , all new not recon , the whole lot then goes in the skip , IF is a fault with the electronics then they can replace that on its own. As luck would have it someone had just had a complete gearbox change so he was able to get the used electronics for the price of a drink and replacing that sorted his issue

So I suspect that the dealer is pricing for the whole lot hence the price , many specialists are able to repair them but Audi main dealers are not

[bearman68]

Get the gearbox out, strip it down and have a look - see what's failed. If it the hydraulics, it ain't the remap. If the gears are worn out, it might be. Simples.

[ToothbrushMan]

£9,700 for a gearbox swap? crackers. I bet an engine for that car wouldnt cost anything like that. why so costly?

the torque uplifts you can get from a remap on a modern diesel can be huge. it could be a factor but I wouldnt put money on it. i would go with others suggestions of incorrect levels or incorrect grades or oil in the box before allowing the audi "fitters" to reach for their disposable gloves and ring up the cash register.

[Borroxs]

f the gearbox is drivung so erratically with this fault, you'd best be careful in case you lose control and hit a wall or something, writing the car off, tragically.

[Willy Nilly]

As it happens I found a load of metal parts in a filter on Friday on a machine at work. The parts are from the transmission. The machine will have to be split in half, probably cab off too. Not sure where in the 'box the bits are that need doing, but they will probably put in clutch plates in too while they are in there, charge up the accumulators, flush the whole transmission and hydraulic system out and it will need recalibrating. I'd expect 40 hours work. If it's more than 6 grand I'll be amazed. It's a 16 speed semi powershift with about 10,000 engine hours on it.