Good thread on A8 Transmission Seal Failure on Audiworld.com

[Paul Waterloo]

There was an interesting thread on transmission failure the other day.

After reading about all of these transmission failures, it appears the
reason why they fail is due to the final drive seal failing. Once the seal
fails, the oil in the transmission leaks out, then it fails because of lack
of lubrication and an automatic transmission needs oil to operate, so it
kills all the components as cavitation occurs.

Regardless of the actual failure mode, the seal is the culprit. One of the
listers has found his seal to be dripping and replaced it, I don't know if
we discussed it on this list, but the procedure was posted on audiworld.com.

My recommendations is that the car is put up on a lift and the seals
inspected for leakage, I assume it is some type of mechanical seal or just
simple plastic seal. You have to drop the exhaust, one cat and the drive
shaft to replace it, but I don't think it's that hard.

If you have any leakage, it's time to replace it, if not, it seems most fail
between 70K and 125K. I plan on inspecting mine soon, and replacing it
sometime this spring or summer, my car has 60K on it now.

Be careful when inspecting, because it's above a cat, and if it's leaking,
it can drip on the cat and then just burn off, so you won't see puddeling
under the car.

Most of all, if you hear any grumbling noises from your tranny when driving,
or pump cavitation, stop immediately and turn the car off! Get it towed and
fixed, because that's when the damage occurs.

To view the thread go to:

http://www.audiworld.com/forum/index.html

Go to the A8/S8 forum, then go to the thread about 6 or 7 down titled "97 A8
Transmission Failure".  One of the replies has directions on how to search
for the procedure to replace the seal.

Paul (97 A8)
_____________________________________________________
Paul Waterloo
Applied Energy Services
Phone 708-524-9464
Fax 708-524-0079
Cell 312-961-2523
pwaterloo at compuserve.com