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

[CarAbuser]

I really don't see what problem you have with Audi. The car is out of warranty and you are the second owner. If you wanted a warranty then you should have purchased one. Surely Audi offer an extended warranty scheme?

I can see why goodwill would be offered to the first owner outside of warranty but not towards subsequent owners. The fact you had it tuned just makes it worse.

[Northernchimp]

Why the fk didn't you trade it in somewhere else? Rather than draw attention to it?

Not once has the dealer I've traded my car in at bothered to test drive it.

[giggity]

Begrudgingly, my current shed is a 2004 A4 Convertible.

I vowed in 2008 after my A3 to never purchase an Audi as they are utter crocks of st.

stty automatic boxes, and st engines with the oil consumption issues.

An arrogant brand that is hugely overrated.

I only went for the A4 as it was cheap and comes with Full Service History so I won't need to spend on it (for now anyway I hope)

Hope the 1.8T and Manual Box from that era are solid enough as I only need this for another year max.

Cant wait to get back in a Benz, 8 years and perfect.

Anything beats VAG st.

[thelawnet1]

I don't see why you don't sue. You have very little to lose. They will likely settle.

[Motorrad]

Northernchimp said:

Why the fk didn't you trade it in somewhere else? Rather than draw attention to it?

Not once has the dealer I've traded my car in at bothered to test drive it.

We buy any car is made for cases like this surely?

Probably not now the OP has parked it outside the main dealer with a sign on it and created a thread about it on the internet though.

[Sa Calobra]

It's been messed with by a tuner and Audi won't help because of that. I can see that not working.

[Alucidnation]

giggity said:

Begrudgingly, my current shed is a 2004 A4 Convertible.

I vowed in 2008 after my A3 to never purchase an Audi as they are utter crocks of st.

stty automatic boxes, and st engines with the oil consumption issues.

An arrogant brand that is hugely overrated.

I only went for the A4 as it was cheap and comes with Full Service History so I won't need to spend on it (for now anyway I hope)

Hope the 1.8T and Manual Box from that era are solid enough as I only need this for another year max.

Cant wait to get back in a Benz, 8 years and perfect.

Anything beats VAG st.

Why did you purchase another one if they were so st?

There are plenty of other makes out there with FSH and cheap.

Bizarre.

[WestyCarl]

CoolHands said:

Coded to the car; what bks

Don't know about Audi, but certainly some of the components we produce are coded to the car (PSA stuff mainly)

[jamoor]

Alucidnation said:

Why did you purchase another one if they were so st?

There are plenty of other makes out there with FSH and cheap.

Bizarre.

Indeed just buy a Toyota or Lexus if you want something that's not a heap of ste

[SWoll]

Alucidnation said:

giggity said:

Begrudgingly, my current shed is a 2004 A4 Convertible.

I vowed in 2008 after my A3 to never purchase an Audi as they are utter crocks of st.

stty automatic boxes, and st engines with the oil consumption issues.

An arrogant brand that is hugely overrated.

I only went for the A4 as it was cheap and comes with Full Service History so I won't need to spend on it (for now anyway I hope)

Hope the 1.8T and Manual Box from that era are solid enough as I only need this for another year max.

Cant wait to get back in a Benz, 8 years and perfect.

Anything beats VAG st.

Why did you purchase another one if they were so st?

There are plenty of other makes out there with FSH and cheap.

Bizarre.

And a convertible model, so even more chance of something failing horribly..

Bizarre indeed.

[skyrover]

For 10k you could drop in an Ls3 and tremek 6 speed.

[nickfrog]

briang9 said:

As for a second hand box like the ones folks have linked to, by the time you add fitting costs its going to be over the cost of the repair with no guarantee how long the box will last.

That was my first thought when someone mentioned second hand ebay job...

[nickfrog]

CraigT007 said:

my brother who was looking at an RS6 has commenced looking elsewhere, I've cancelled the T6 kombi (or was just about to order) in favour of a transit, my mate was on brink of Q7, he's back looking at the X5...

Were those purchases likely to ever happen in the first place though ?

You modified it and it's out of warranty - AUDI really have done nothing wrong. And I am not one to defend manufacturers.

[Ahbefive]

skyrover said:

For 10k you could drop in an Ls3 and tremek 6 speed.

Indeed. For £10k you could probably have a racing gearbox installed. Probably not quite right for the car though.

[Fastdruid]

WestyCarl said:

CoolHands said:

Coded to the car; what bks

Don't know about Audi, but certainly some of the components we produce are coded to the car (PSA stuff mainly)

The issue is as I understand it to predominately to do with the integration for stability control et al, the ABS/DSC ECU talks to the PCM which also talks to the TCM (sometimes the TCM is integrated into the PCM) so that it "knows" what gear its in etc but to ensure the modules are talking to who they're meant to be the serial of each is "registered". I *think* it's actually not the fault of the manufacturers as per se but a legal requirement for anti-tampering on the ABS/TCS/DSC etc.

Can't see why if it's not the TCM that's gone that you couldn't use the mechanical bits of a different box but then again there might be some unique parameters per box which might preclude that.

It is the real downside to the DCT type (and to be fair the more advanced CVT's as well), awesome bits of kit but aren't as reliable as a manual and *very* expensive to fix.

[Monkeylegend]

Ahbefive said:

skyrover said:

For 10k you could drop in an Ls3 and tremek 6 speed.

Indeed. For £10k you could probably have a racing gearbox installed. Probably not quite right for the car though.

For 10k you could buy a decent Merc.

[WestyCarl]

Fastdruid said:

WestyCarl said:

CoolHands said:

Coded to the car; what bks

Don't know about Audi, but certainly some of the components we produce are coded to the car (PSA stuff mainly)

The issue is as I understand it to predominately to do with the integration for stability control et al, the ABS/DSC ECU talks to the PCM which also talks to the TCM (sometimes the TCM is integrated into the PCM) so that it "knows" what gear its in etc but to ensure the modules are talking to who they're meant to be the serial of each is "registered". I *think* it's actually not the fault of the manufacturers as per se but a legal requirement for anti-tampering on the ABS/TCS/DSC etc.

Can't see why if it's not the TCM that's gone that you couldn't use the mechanical bits of a different box but then again there might be some unique parameters per box which might preclude that.

It is the real downside to the DCT type (and to be fair the more advanced CVT's as well), awesome bits of kit but aren't as reliable as a manual and *very* expensive to fix.

There are certainly technical arguments for coding parts to specific cars. However the cynic in me believes it is done by the manufacturer in a way to restrict Independent AM business opportunities.
Wait until autonomous driving starts, I suspect a lot of components will have some sort of anti tamper electronics to immobilize the car if "fiddled with".

[Nors]

nickfrog said:

You modified it and it's out of warranty - AUDI really have done nothing wrong. And I am not one to defend manufacturers.

I'm not one to defend manufacturers either and technically Audi has done nothing wrong, but perhaps some offer of assistance would have been seen as a genuine goodwill gesture, but also, where do you draw the line if you're Audi?

As I've stated to Craig (OP), I've heard some serious stories about this particular dealer. I personally think it's no coincidence that faults started happening after the dealer changed the oil. Every possibility it's been filled with the incorrect oil.

Craig, is there no way you can have the oil currently in the gearbox (assuming you haven't replaced it since)analysed in some way to determine if it is actually the correct oil? Given you're cost, it might be worth paying a nominal sum just to be sure. If it were to turn out it was the incorrect oil, you'd have the dealer over a barrel for sure, if not Audi!!

Another thing in general, the comments levied by some that all VAG products are st can be said of any marque where an individual is having issues whith their car. We only tend to hear of such things when things go wrong and never hear about the thousands and thousands of other cars out there running trouble free. But you always seem to get the haters jumping on the band wagon claiming every single car must be st by association.

The OP obviously has looked after this car and it has still developed this issue, but it's inconclusive to me to say that this is some inherent problem with this Audi gearbox in this instance, because 1. There is no guarantee here that the correct oil was used and 2. perhaps these gearboxes do not respond well to the torque generated by a remap.


Wish you all the best Craig, but I would be trying to establish if that's the correct oil in the box before doing anything else.

Edited by Nors on Thursday 16th March 09:49

[jhonn]

Nors said:

... I would be trying to establish if that's the correct oil in the box before doing anything else.

Yes, quite - this was suggested by a number of people when the OP posted back in February - why the OP is so reluctant to take this relatively cheap and easy diagnosis step is beyond me.

Despite the stance being taken by the dealer/manufacturer he seems content to take their assurance...

CraigT007 said:

Audi dealer is silent, Audi UK are not recognising that it could have been wrong or lack of oil.

Of course they're not going to admit that they could have got it wrong!

[xjay1337]

Lol this thread is a joke.

You should not have told them about the engine tuning. They probably would not have cottoned on.

But you modded it and it broke, you have no hope.

Also nearly £5k is a rip off. I could have it sorted for half that.

Enjoy!