05 3.0tdi Quattro Autobox failure

[Askelon04]

Evening All,

 

I'm in desperate need of some help. My B7 auto box failed this week and I am struggling to find any info on same issue on net.

trawled through about 60pages of search result and pulling what little hair i have out.

Problem startet with it shifting back to 3rd after trying to shift to 4th in [D]. this was followed by it going into limp/safe mode.

Booked into garage but it then failed on me where it is now selecting all gears (P, R, N, D, S and 1st in tip) but the engine simply revs with no

movement from the car. Run VCDS on transmission (I am just learning to use VCDS) and recovered the codes below.

If anyone can shed any light on this I would appreciate. It a 2005 A4 B7 3.0tdi Auto (6spd tip) Quattro

I am thinking a recon box may be in order but as i know that is going to financially cripple me for a time I'm hoping someone may have an idea whats going

or experienced the same.

Cheers

Wayne

                Address 02: Auto Trans       Labels: 09L-927-760.lbl
Control Module Part Number: 8E1 910 156     HW: 09L 927 156 
  Component and/or Version: AG6 09L 3.0lTDI RdW 0050
           Software Coding: 0000001
            Work Shop Code: WSC 06335 000 00000
                      VCID: 64CC5A78A7471D616D-8030
3 Faults Found:

17167 - Shift Monitoring 
            P0783 - 001 - 3-4 Shift - Intermittent
             Freeze Frame:
                    Fault Status: 00100001
                    Fault Priority: 0
                    Fault Frequency: 6
                    Reset counter: 40
                    Mileage: 225327 km
                    Time Indication: 0

             Freeze Frame:
                    RPM: 2496 /min
                    RPM: 2336 /min
                    RPM: 1472 /min
                    (no units): 42.0
                    (no units): 78.0
                    Temperature: 63.0°C
                    T.B. Angle: 34.5°

17119 - Gear 5 
            P0735 - 000 - Incorrect Ratio
             Freeze Frame:
                    Fault Status: 00100001
                    Fault Priority: 0
                    Fault Frequency: 6
                    Reset counter: 40
                    Mileage: 225327 km
                    Time Indication: 0

17113 - Gear 6 
            P0729 - 000 - Incorrect Gear Ratio
             Freeze Frame:
                    Fault Status: 01100000
                    Fault Priority: 0
                    Fault Frequency: 1
                    Reset counter: 40
                    Mileage: 225648 km
                    Time Indication: 0
 

[Dan3222]

Have you had any progress on this issue?

My guess is that you either have a sensor issue or a solenoid issue. But either way you need to see an independent auto gearbox specialist. To have a full rebuild of the box you are looking at about £2700, yep, that much!!  Plus to get a warranty on the work there might be an insistence to have the gear oil cooler changed (if your car has one).

a cheaper option is a secondhand box but these are not abundant and there vary wildly in price. However, they are not straight forward to simply change!

This is the fear I have for both my A6 and my T5. Both have 6 speed tiptronic gear boxes and the last T5 I had had the rebuild completed a few weeks before loosing an argument with a tree!!

 

[Askelon04]

None yet Dan,

Box is getting removed on monday/tuesday and the garage is going to have a look. 

I've email a couple of companies but no reply so far. going to try Strathclyde Gearboxes Services as they showed a good knowledge when I spoke to the regarding a vauxhaul m32 box 2 years ago and were very helpful in helping me get it delivered to Shetland. 

I have found a company that supplies recon boxes for 1800, but the name eludes at the moment. it was 1600 without cone, 1800 with. not sure what the 'cone' is but hoping to make some fonecalls today/Monday.

I've put a lot of work into the car with preventive maintenance and love it so scrapping it and buying another is not an option.

hopefully hear back next week. Will keep the post updated in case anyone comes across the same problem in the future and hopefully will have a conclusive answer

 

[Dan3222]

Interesting, if you have a 'cone' then the box is a CVT. I was under the impression you had a tiptronic box which as far as I knew used gears and a torque converter. Everyday a school day!! Hence why the price you have been quoted is cheaper than what I originally said:-) TBH other than understanding the basic physics of how a CVT (constant velocity transmission) works I don't really have any xperience with them. It would be most helpful if you get a diagnosis of the problem if you posted up a reply.

For the sake of 200 notes get one with a replacement cone. For peace of mind.

Not that my opinion matters but if you love your car and have spent money on it then even though this will be a big bill it will be worth it. Good luck

Dan

[Askelon04]

Definitely agree on the spending extra money. despite the fact i would rather not spend all my saving on this garage bill I have al requested they order and change cam chain tentioners and remove turbo so I can have it cleaned up.

The price was just from a list on the website, I did wonder if the cone was the CVT internals. having phoned around today i have confirmed it is the ZF box so that price may be void.

However, not really getting very far as most companies either admit not having the experience with this box or would rather not do the work without the car being there also. Living in Shetland with a non drive-able car posses a problem.

SGS were very helpful and have pointed me to another two companies in Glasgow who he highly recommends. with local haulier having depot in Cumbernauld makes it slightly easier to ship. 

I really no very little (read: nothing) about the ZF box to try and self diagnose, but the lack of a destructive sound prior to, and when it failed leads me to believe it could be a very simple fault. however, 140k on the clock, i would feel more comfortable spending cash on a fully recon'd box

[Dan3222]

Hmmm, Shetland makes you very isolated for sure!!

Was one of the gearbox specialists in Glasgow Mackies? That's who I use and they are very very good but sadly not the cheapest!!

Try speaking to John, he is most helpful and will point you in the right direction.

However, I I was living where you are I would seriously consider buying a box on an exchange basis. You can just swap it over. But speak to as many specialists as possible. If somehow it could be a sensor or something that is mounted on the external case of the gear box then there is no need to remove the box in theory. If however it's internal........ an automatic gear box is the only thing I would not attempt to fix myself, far too much to go wrong.

Mackies btw have a high tech bench mounted tester. I am sure that if your box was shipped to them they would have no issue testing it for faults. The reason why people would prefer to have the whole vehicle is because part of the testing is done through basically VCDS. 

Best of luck mate.

[Askelon04]

It was but he did say he was pricey so i din't get his number yet. I'm going to try Top Gear and Caldonian first

[Askelon04]

Just a quick update for anyone interested or searching in the future;

Gearbox is on its way back from getting a rebuild, and from what I can remember this is what happened...

Low oil level, likely due to the "sealed for life" claim on the box and having never been done resulted in the pump having to word hard to keep the pressure correct. this has slowly flattened the valves. This has been why it was dropping out going into 4th and then going into limp mode.

The engineer doesn't understand how i managed to get it to shift in manual up through 4th 5th and 6th, he is guessing it was the very gentle approach to shifting that has allowed it.

Long story short, box required a almost full rebuild (opted to get a full rebuild anyway) and the torque was also knackered which is why I lost all drive.

Lesson to be learned, Don't mess about if the box is playing up, get it checked out ASAP. I'm looking at a total repair bill of around 3-3.5k (including shipping from and back to Shetland Isles)

[Dan3222]

Hhhmmm, 'sealed for life'. With better advice we would not have to go through things like this. I hope you enjoy many years of driving fun though with a rebuilt box. My suggestion is do not go past 50k without having the oil changed. Do mine in the T5 every 50. Due now actually. About £120 to £150.

pleased u have it sorted now though.

[Ronnyuk]

On ‎29‎/‎07‎/‎2017 at 8:55 PM, Askelon04 said:

Just a quick update for anyone interested or searching in the future;

Gearbox is on its way back from getting a rebuild, and from what I can remember this is what happened...

Low oil level, likely due to the "sealed for life" claim on the box and having never been done resulted in the pump having to word hard to keep the pressure correct. this has slowly flattened the valves. This has been why it was dropping out going into 4th and then going into limp mode.

The engineer doesn't understand how i managed to get it to shift in manual up through 4th 5th and 6th, he is guessing it was the very gentle approach to shifting that has allowed it.

Long story short, box required a almost full rebuild (opted to get a full rebuild anyway) and the torque was also knackered which is why I lost all drive.

Lesson to be learned, Don't mess about if the box is playing up, get it checked out ASAP. I'm looking at a total repair bill of around 3-3.5k (including shipping from and back to Shetland Isles)

Hi Wayne,

I imagine you tried topping up the gearbox fluid before you sent it off? it's quite common for Auto boxes to fail through low fluid and just emptying them and adding new fluid and filter fixes the issues you seemed to be having, I have had a few Mercs with the same no drive issue and topping them up has sorted it every time :)

 

 

[Askelon04]

Hi Ronny,

yes that was the very first thing we tried as the oil had just arrived the following day i think. unfortunately it was too far gone by that point.

Gearbox is now rebuilt and back on the island, jus the small issue of the adaptation now which doesn't look like fun