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Re: Shifting the automatic - A6/100
At 03:51 PM 09/18/97 -0700, you wrote:
>Group,
>
>Saw some scary post regarding Audi automatics. Are these things designed
>to be shifted manually? Does doing so reduce their life?
>
>On my A6, if the car is moving, and I shift from 2 to 1, it shifts with
>a loud clank. It doesn't happen when the car is stopped. Not that I need to do this shift often, but I am
>wondering if this is normal. Can someone with the same car/transmission please tell me if yours do
>the same?
I don't usually shift my automatic in the gears lower than *D* and *3*, so I can't really comment on that aspect, but I do shift it a lot between *3* and *D* all the time. If you notice, there is no gated positioning between these two... it is a simple slide back and forth. I interpret this as intentional... therefore making it okay to shift between the two as conditions warrant. I don't really like the way the automatic hunts for gears and shifts into overdrive around 40 mph... so I usually keep it in *3* until I get up to 60mph or more, or until the rpms hit 4000 or so. It makes the driving experience all that much more exciting and wonderful... :-)
Has this affected my tranny? I don't think so... I now have 123k miles on the car... and it shifts just fine. I've also taken this car out on the track at the QCUSA event at LimeRock the past two years, and have driven it ALL the time on the track with it in *3*, with no problems (of course, at 80 mph or more, it is revving past 5000 rpms and more...).
I will continue to do as I have been doing. Both the car and I seem to like it.... :-)
IMHO, let the tranny do its thing below 3rd... it really doesn't want you to do a lot of fussin' with it on a regular basis. (Of course, in those situations described in the owner's manual for 1st and 2nd gear use... i.e. low traction, downhill engine braking etc...it makes sense... but that it usually on an exception basis.) These trannies weren't built as Tiptronics. If you want that... you'll have to get a 1998 model.
Just my nickel's worth. Hope this helps.
Good luck.
Jim Griffin
JGriff@pobox.com
http://www.geocities.com/MotorCity/4475/
Maryland, USA
"Perception is often stronger than reality!"
'92 100S
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