Gearbox again.

[DrB]

I have owned and cared for my 6 for 7 years now (i't's a 2003) and the car has now done over 120 000. Obviously I am a little worried about the life expectancy of the gearbox. I have noticed recently that it has been a little more 'cluncky' when changing up and especially down from first and second gear. There are no problems changing at any other time. However when sitting at a roundabout today the car failed to engage first from neutral. I required to move the gearstick through it's range and then it engaged.

Has anyone experienced this before, or have any ideas what the problem might be,

Thanks,

Mark

[imacool]

No idea mate.
When did you have gearbox fluid change? It may be ATF low level, or some electric issues.
Any warning lights on the dashboard?

[DrB]

The gearbox was serviced a couple of years ago.
There are no warning lights.

Mark

[Shoppinit]

Could be a bad F125 switch.

Or low ATF.

Or a valve body / solenoid fault.

[Simon T]

There's no warning lights for ATF so always start with it.

[DrB]

Just driven to work. I was playing around in 1st and 2nd gear and the car entered, what I think, is 'safe mode'. I had to restart the engine to continue. Is that possible? Still no warning lights. Is this going to be expensive....should I panick sell? Help!

[amanda1]

I suspect it maybe the gearbox on the way out ......... Best thing you can do is get it to a good auto gear box specialist to give the once over as they will be able to tell you if there is a fault or not.

[Mr Footlong]

May be being a moron (likely) but surprised that nobody has asked if you have run Vagcom on the car yet? I can't do without it these days - http://www.gendan.co.uk/product_VCHU.html

Plug it in to the connector in the Driver's footwell. With the car on igniton mode (not started) select Auto Scan, select the 4B A6 chassis if memory serves, start and wait for a few mins for all the checks to complete. The only special thing I do is turn the radio off and the climate control while it is running.

/Edit, was typing this while he posted that the box had toasted itself a bit more but my question is still valid.

[Shoppinit]

Yeah, you kinda assume that if he had a Vagcom he'd have stated it.

Now that the box has gone into limp there'll definitely be a code stored.

[DrB]

I don't have a Vagcom adaptor.

Has anyone experienced a true gearbox failure or what would be the symptoms?

[bakustax]

Banging between 1st and 2nd are the most obvious symptoms that the box is on the way out...don't know why but this seems to be the first signs that something is wrong...get a fluid change...won't hurt...mine had a massive slip like your’s taking off from lights...got the fluid changed and all has been well since...12 months ago

[DrB]

I had the error code read and it stated: Gear monitoring ratio error. Any thoughts?

[Shoppinit]

Yes. It's not electrical then (almost certainly). Either low ATF, problem with the ATF pump and valve body or your clutch packs are toast. Unless it's low ATF then you are probably looking at a new box.

ATF level check is the first place to start. If the level is OK then you'll need to do some diagnostics to eliminate electrical problems, no matter how unlikely. Last thing you want to do is pull the box because of a bad sensor.

[DrB]

I have sorted the problem for the moment, but I'm now afraid of similar problems in the future. It may be time to say goodbye! It's a shame because this car is hard to beat. How do you replace a car like this. It still drives so well.

[Shoppinit]

How did you sort the problem?