[A8] New Lister, Trans. Question

[Tim Crift]

Jon,

Here is my best shot as a '99 owner:

> -how long between the beginnings of the "thump" and the complete demise of the 
> tranny 

Mine thumped since I bought the car with 72k miles on the clock in 2002.  I have 155k on it now.  It's not dead yet, but only a matter of time.


> -whether and how the "thump" itself actually leads to the aforementioned demise 

The stress of the instant lock up of the torque converter on the rest of the trans can't be good. 

> -whether there is any warning before the transmission fails to the point the car 
> is undriveable (ie could I limp a few hundred miles home or be completely 
> stranded) 

I am waiting to see ;-)
 
> -has anyone bought a ZF-rebuilt trans, and if so, what kind of luck have they 
> had with it; how much did it cost 

No experience there yet either.

The transmissions are definately weak points on these cars.  BMW uses the larger 5HP30 on the 7 series and I do not believe the 7 series from the same era has the same failure rate.  Audi definately undersized the trans/torque converter on the a8's and even more idiotically told customers it was a sealed unit.  There were many that died either from the filters clogging up or leaks from the measly .9 pt fill in the rear output shaft reservior.

Cheers,

Tim