No subject

and can avoid "thumping" where possible through driving behavior you might
be able to achieve some extra longevity. On Audiworld, a guy recently
crossed 200k on his original tranny. He's a mechanic, I believe, and I
wouldn't be surprised if through "babying" the tranny (artful footwork to
avoid the total throttle-off condition which predicates the "thump") he has
added some life. 

 

One thing we do have going for us is that the "problem" exists under decel
rather than acceleration. The acceleration of this car under medium/hard
throttle is just heavenly. Yum.

 

-Jon

 

  _____  

From: Tim Crift [mailto:timofej.crift at att.net] 
Sent: Saturday, August 12, 2006 11:38 AM
To: a8 at audifans.com
Cc: urquattro at comcast.net
Subject: Re: [A8] New Lister, Trans. Question 

 

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