Quite a few of you have commented on my plans to get the ATF changed in my 3.0TDi Quattro, and asked for feedback. Rather than continue to piggy-back on EddyP's thread about his new car, I decided to start a new thread to report back now that I've had the car back a couple of days, and driven it for more than just the half mile back from the servicing garage.
Changing the ATF cost over £500, taking into account the cost of the fluid, filter, gasket and two hours labour. Now that it's done, I have to say it was worth every penny. I hadn't properly realised before just how much the gear changes had become quite slow and jerky. It happens by tiny degrees over a long time (The car's seven years old, and I've had it for four of them) so you don't really notice it. With the ATF changed, all that is gone. It takes up drive from neutral in an instant, and all changes, up or down, are totally smooth and seamless, on full or part throttle.
I really don't understand why Audi continues to tout these boxes as sealed for life, at least in Europe. In the US, Audi recommends changing the ATF (not sure of the interval but I think it's around 60,000 miles). Meanwhile, the box manufacturer recommends changing it at 100,000km, which is 62,000 miles. Mine has been done at 88,000 miles.
If anyone out there has a ZF tiptronic box in their Audi, with similar mileage, I would urge you to get this done. What I would also say is that unless you are totally confident that you know what you are doing, give the job to a professional. A lot can go wrong if it's not done correctly, and the bill for a new box doesn't bear thinking about. If you are doing it yourself, someone posted a useful guide on an earlier thread. Click here to read it.
I asked my servicing manager about the spec of the ATF, but all he could tell me was that it was OEM, based on my car's specific model and age. My invoice lists a part number for the ATF, it is G060162A2. Of course, yours might be different.
Changing the ATF cost over £500, taking into account the cost of the fluid, filter, gasket and two hours labour. Now that it's done, I have to say it was worth every penny. I hadn't properly realised before just how much the gear changes had become quite slow and jerky. It happens by tiny degrees over a long time (The car's seven years old, and I've had it for four of them) so you don't really notice it. With the ATF changed, all that is gone. It takes up drive from neutral in an instant, and all changes, up or down, are totally smooth and seamless, on full or part throttle.
I really don't understand why Audi continues to tout these boxes as sealed for life, at least in Europe. In the US, Audi recommends changing the ATF (not sure of the interval but I think it's around 60,000 miles). Meanwhile, the box manufacturer recommends changing it at 100,000km, which is 62,000 miles. Mine has been done at 88,000 miles.
If anyone out there has a ZF tiptronic box in their Audi, with similar mileage, I would urge you to get this done. What I would also say is that unless you are totally confident that you know what you are doing, give the job to a professional. A lot can go wrong if it's not done correctly, and the bill for a new box doesn't bear thinking about. If you are doing it yourself, someone posted a useful guide on an earlier thread. Click here to read it.
I asked my servicing manager about the spec of the ATF, but all he could tell me was that it was OEM, based on my car's specific model and age. My invoice lists a part number for the ATF, it is G060162A2. Of course, yours might be different.
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