Transmission shop kills my car

[abk@phy.duke.edu (Andrei Kogan)]

Dear list members,

I would like to  tell you about the nightmare I have been going through
since January. Please tell me what you think.

In the mid January I took my '84 4000S in to have the automatic repaired.
The brass gear which transmits rotation from the pinion shaft to the
governor in the differential wore out ($5-10 part, if Audi were willing to
sell it separately from the $400 governor, but I could not find it
anywhere). The mechanic suggested to do a full rebuilt since the
transmission had about 250,000 miles on it. I had no intention to get rid
of the car (my wife and I love it, I've done quite some work upgrading
suspension, breaks and a few other things, and aside of the transmission
its in GREAT shape) so I agreed . He charged me $922 for the work.

I don't want to bother you with lengthy comments, so I will just give you a
brief description of events which followed.

2 weeks later: Got the car back, noticed that ATF was leaking slowly.

1 month later. The car developed erratic shiftings. When cold, It would not
shift from the first gear up, and will do it only after 5-10 minutes
warmup.

3 days later : The car quit shifting at all to the 3d and would toggle at
random between 1st and second regardles of the engine (or trannsmission)
temperature.

I drove it back, halfway on the first gear.

1 week later : Mechanic told me that one of the valves in the valve body
was getting sticky. They replaced it. When Driving back home, the car
shifted down to the first gear at full speed on a highway, 12 miles away
from the gates of the damned shop.

My wife a night spent half night trying to get it back to the shop, but It
would not upshift. 12 miles is a long drive if you go in the first gear, so
I decided to have it towed so I don't dmamage the engine.

2 weeks later: The shop replaced the whole valve body, sying "they all must
be sticky".

I got the car back, the transmission worked fine, except it was still
leaking a little bit of a transmission fluid.

2 months later (middle of  May) I started to hear a light noise from the
differential. It would appear every time  I press on the accelerator pedal
and would go away if I let go.

Took the car to the shop, got "they all do that" reply ...

2 weeks later :
The differential noise became really loud. A local Audi expert told me it
results from an incorrect ajustment of mutual position of the differential
and the pinion shaft, determined by the thickness of shims used when
installing the shaft.

I took the car back, That was in early JUNE.

Here is the current situation : The CAR IS STILL IN THE SHOP. There is a
huge leak of the transmission fluid into the differential case. After they
start the engine, the differential fills up with the red fluid in 2-3
minutes and then it starts to run out from the ventilation hole on top of
the differential REALLY fast. They had in in and out of the car 3 or 4
times and don't know what the problem is. The shop manager was relatively
honest with me alll this time, but yesterday he told me that in case I want
my money back, his responsibility  will be limited to the amount of money
he charged me for the differential repair, not even the full amount I paid
(in other words, something like $300-$400). I have been wothout a car for
1.5  months, and in practice it has been unusable for the entire time.

If anybody on the list lives in the Research Triangle Area , NC and would
like to know the name of the place to avoid it in future, please let me
know.

Any suggestions, recommendations, advices are extremely welcome.

Many thanks for your attention.

Sincerely, Andrei