RE: Pat's Tranny Blues

["Pat Dooley" <pdooley@gte.net>]

OK, I lied.  I didn't get to the trans today.  Seems like a good thing,
probably serendipity.  I am going to try the snake oils first.

I have to drive the car 1000 miles round trip in a couple days.  I certainly
hope the trans isn't burnt, I have been easy on it, but who knows.

Thanks again for all the help.  Will keep you updated.

> -----Original Message-----
> From: owner-quattro@audifans.com [mailto:owner-quattro@audifans.com]On
> Behalf Of apowell@ezlink.com
> Sent: Sunday, November 21, 1999 7:02 PM
> To: quattro@audifans.com
> Subject: Pat's Tranny Blues
>
>
> > Pat Dooley wrote:
> > >
> > > Subject says it.
> > > My 86 5kt(2WD) will not shift when cold.  I can let the car idle for
> > > 5-10 minutes in the morning and it shifts ok.  Otherwise, its drive
> > > around at 20-30 mph until things heat up enough to make the
> thing shift.
> > >  To make things worse, it seems to be taking longer for it to start
> > > shifting every day.
> > > Somebody please tell me this not major trouble.  I have plans of
> > > installling a 5spd, but not just yet.
>
> Mike added some good comments.  Pat, this is probably not good
> news, but a
> total transmission fluid change - to synthetic ATF - is likely to
> be your best bet.
>  In the process, the mechanic can see if odd bits are in the pan.
>
> The common problem which Mike alluded to is the valve body.  These are
> prone to sticking either in use or after rebuilds.  It took three
> months after a
> rebuild this summer for the valve body in our 200 to start
> shifting immediately
> in the AM when the car was cold.  Prior to that time, it would
> not shift up from
> first until it had been driven close to a mile.
>
> During the rebuild, the gent doing the work kept the car perhaps
> two extra
> weeks - repeatedly removing and cleaning the valve body, finally
> installing a
> known good used one (for one-third the new price), and it still
> would NOT shift
> correctly.  He said the last one which gave him this problem was
> in a domestic
> car - and it took six months to settle down and shift.
> Fortunately, ours decided
> to cooperate in three months.
>
> Provided there's no evident mechanical problem, a fluid change might help
> things out.  It also would not hurt to try Militec-1 in the
> tranny (I know, I'm
> usually the first one to blow the whistle on oil additives, but I
> and at least one
> other lister have used this stuff and gotten some help from it.
> You can find a
> website for Militec-1 at: http://www.apdinc.com/Milstart.htm.  No
> endorsement
> of this website, but it helped me find the stuff.
>
> Good luck.
>
>
> --
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> Al Powell
> In Fort Collins, lovely northern Colorado
> Home: 970/407-9609
> Web: http://www.ezlink.com/~powells/
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>