MULTITRONIC PROBLEM

[MACH1]

My audi a6 2.4 SE multitronic box yesterday started to play up, it was fine when i first started it but when i went to reverse the car later on the PNDR Lights on the dash was flashing and to reverse the car i had to use high revs and then the car would only crawl, there are no fault lights showing on the dash other than the PNDR lights,anyone know what could be causing this. The car has done 128k with fsh.and is X Reg 2001.

[4RingsDH]

There have been many issues with Multitronic boxes, but i think it is likely to be an ECU fault in this case.

You must have the vehicle fault read, this will 'hopefully'

narrow down the fault.

A common cause of the PRND light flashing is a faulty multifunction switch - this is housed in the ECU

[MACH1]

Cheers for reply, Car going into SVS Cardiff tomorrow,their going to to do a full diagnostics check, they say the worse case senario is a full replacement box, which will cost £995 inc,Which i think sounds very reasonable with 12 Months Warranty.

[ QUOTE ]

There have been many issues with Multitronic boxes, but i think it is likely to be an ECU fault in this case.

You must have the vehicle fault read, this will 'hopefully'

narrow down the fault.

A common cause of the PRND light flashing is a faulty multifunction switch - this is housed in the ECU

[/ QUOTE ]

[MACH1]

Just got car back from SVS CARDIFF. They tried two Reconditioned gearboxes but the ECU on my car would not comminicate properly with the new gearbox, it would drive normally but then would go into safe mode, therefore they contacted audi and they said that fitting a brand new box would be the only way to fix this fault, apparantly some not all Multitronic Audi's are unable to be reprogrammed,so i have decided to take the car back and try to PX for another one, The car is driving fine again now and the dash fault lights have stopped flashing.

[cruiser647]

Have they changed all the fluids in the box? The fluid should be changed every 40K miles in real terms.

ANY auto gearbox (of any sort) should have the fluid changed at any signs of trouble.

[MACH1]

Yes tried all that, still the same even the reconditioned boxes with all new fluids wouldn't work on my car.Thanks for reply.

[ QUOTE ]

Have they changed all the fluids in the box? The fluid should be changed every 40K miles in real terms.

ANY auto gearbox (of any sort) should have the fluid changed at any signs of trouble.

[/ QUOTE ]

[Nelson_R32]

I really wouldn't get involved with Gearbox Specialist and Multronic Gearboxes. Especially as Audi Customer Care offer very good goodwill payments on them.

[jendker]

Hi my audi a6 2.4 SE multitronic needs a new gearbox and i think that 4 this price i can buy it.So MACH1 could u give me the address to SVS Cardiff.Many thanks

[GlynH]

Hi my audi a6 2.4 SE multitronic needs a new gearbox and i think that 4 this price i can buy it.So MACH1 could u give me the address to SVS Cardiff.Many thanks

Hang on a minute...am I understanding this correctly?

You want the address of a place who has already fitted 2 'reconditioned' gearboxes to a car and then when it still failed to comminicate with the ECU (possibly the fault in the first place?) had to phone Audi for advice, then ignored the advice to fit a new gearbox and happily sent their customer away??

And that same customer is thinking of going back to have a 3rd unit fitted???

Well it's your money...and your car...but it's no wonder most garages try it on if customers are prepared to let them get away with stuff like this...

[MACH1]

Hi jenker, Personally i wouldn't go back there for a replacement, They're service is very slow and they are slow on contacting you with information about repairs, Yes the price was very good and if it had worked would have been a good deal,But after all that time they failed, they told me it is not a common problem with Audi's,Even the Audi dealer was mistified as to why the replacement gearbox would not work, So it's up to you to check them out, if you want my Name and address to give to S V S in Cardiff send me a pm,

Here is the address of SVS Cardiff, Unit 7, Dyfrig Road Industrial Estate, Ely Cardiff,

CF5 5AD. Tel: 0292055 3368/555532.

www.svscardiff.co.uk

There is another place that may help www.engineshop.co.uk in Cardiff.Tel:02920 2049 0008, I have not tried this place they are advertised in the local autofreeway mag.Also do a search on this site there is a place in milton keynes but i've forgotton the name.

What is the trouble with your box?

Hi my audi a6 2.4 SE multitronic needs a new gearbox and i think that 4 this price i can buy it.So MACH1 could u give me the address to SVS Cardiff.Many thanks

[CactusGreen]

There is another place that may help www.engineshop.co.uk in Cardiff.Tel:02920 2049 0008, I have not tried this place they are advertised in the local autofreeway mag.Also do a search on this site there is a place in milton keynes but i've forgotton the name.

What is the trouble with your box?

Could be inde-tech www.inde-tech.co.uk in MK. Good people, ex Wayside main dealer and on their doorstep!! They've seen both my audi's and parents 80 TDi.

[MACH1]

Thats the very one, Thanks i hope this helps jenkers.

Could be inde-tech www.inde-tech.co.uk in MK. Good people, ex Wayside main dealer and on their doorstep!! They've seen both my audi's and parents 80 TDi.

[mj62mj62]

I really wouldn't get involved with Gearbox Specialist and Multronic Gearboxes. Especially as Audi Customer Care offer very good goodwill payments on them.

Thanks for the info - I'm in the same position as the original post -- '04 A4 multitronic gear box has gone in under 40k miles…

Local audi main dealer (where I bought it) is asking for £4300 and is contacting Audi about one of these goodwill payments. That amount of money seems astronomical to me (as I'm sure it is to most people!!!) - the gearbox is apparently £3200 on it's own - leaving me some room to barter with the local dealership as £1100 in labour seems like a lot of money as well.

Do these prices look correct?

Any idea how much others have gotten in goodwill payments?

I will also contact some specialist garages but my first instinct was to stick with where I bought it...

I'm a bit stuck because the issue is getting worse and soon I won't be driving anywhere. Any advice on how to bargain for the best deal?

[gibbo37]

I had the same issues with my 2004 A8 with a multitronic box.

Basically after my Audi dealer twice diagnosed the wrong fault they eventually replaced the clutch plates which cured the problem (mine juddered when pulling away).

I did get Audi UK involved and they made a goodwill gesture after lots of complaining/threats from me, even though the car was out of warranty and had done 100,000 miles, and I ended up parting with £950.00.

It's totally transformed the car and it drives perfectly now.

[mj62mj62]

Thanks for the info - i also had some clutch plates fixed as they are a very common problem (only 5 plates fitted as standard, 7 are required) - £1500 job - fixed in the last few days of my warranty for free...

I thought that was job done - I'm gutted to be faced with this £4k bill. Hopefully the goodwill is significant.

[Chav]

Local audi main dealer (where I bought it) is asking for £4300 and is contacting Audi about one of these goodwill payments. That amount of money seems astronomical to me (as I'm sure it is to most people!!!) - the gearbox is apparently £3200 on it's own - leaving me some room to barter with the local dealership as £1100 in labour seems like a lot of money as well.

WTF! Multitronic option on a new car is circa £1500.

Check the fluid though. Mine played up once or twice, but just needed a service. about 50k miles. Revved for a few seconds without engaging then worked again (this was at speed so quite irritating)

anyway, was fine after fluid change .

[mj62mj62]

That's what I said!!! I couldn't believe it!!! I'm off to an independent multitronic specialist in a few weeks time where they'll have a look at it and I'll ask them to change the fluid. Thing was the fluid was changed at 27k miles when they fixed the clutch, but I'll still cross my fingers

Also, I love your tag picture :) Quatro roof motor lol!!!

[PetrolDave]

WTF! Multitronic option on a new car is circa £1500.

The option cost is only the DIFFERENCE between the cost of a multitronic box and a manual box - not the entire cost of a multitronic box.

[Chav]

clutch doesnt cost 2500 grand though eh. multitronic option includes gear stick/surround, electronics, integration parts and gear box.

a CVT gear box with a couple of variable disks and a chain shouldn't cost 4K.

[Froggy]

No but then a dealer doesn't sell a car made from spare parts, it would be 10 times the cost...

But it's still far to much money for a gearbox, I agree.

[mj62mj62]

I really wouldn't get involved with Gearbox Specialist and Multronic Gearboxes. Especially as Audi Customer Care offer very good goodwill payments on them.

What kind of goodwill payments have you seen?

Mine is failing in under 40k miles, they want £4500 to do the job and Audi is providing just under £1000 in goodwill.

That's seems like a very small amount of good-will to me!!!

A multitronic specialist in Milton Keynes is certain that I only need a new switch and not a whole new gearbox, but if I pay to do that and need a new gearbox later, I'm not farther ahead.

I called Audi UK and they insist that it is the maximum they can give me towards the cost.

Isn't that shocking??? A £4500 bill in less than 40k miles... What happened to the Audi badge of quality?

[cruiser647]

I get the impression the CVT Multronic was a stop gap gearbox between the end the Tip for FWD and the beginnings of DSG.

I don't think enough work went into it.

[cofotony]

Well, i'm another one to add to the list. I had the £90+ vat oil change when they asked me to (on my 2nd service at 45k miles). The car is now just under 50k miles and the clutch is slipping really bad - has got loads worse since I brought it in last week for them to confirm what I already know.... I guess they gave it some rigorous testing.

So was quoted ~£2.5k, with 40% goodwill bringing it down to~£1.4k. I had a similar problem at 16k miles - car just lost all drive twice, no juddering though. I brought it in, they mentioned something about valves and I didn't get an invoice off them - which is strange as they give you them for every little job. Having dug back in their records it looks like they fixed the same thing - but the record they kept is on "a different system" and there's not much detail. I'm just outside the 2yr warranty on that fix anyway.

I've flagged it with customer services, who have appointed a case manager, but when I spoke to him he said the branch are going to call me. It's a manufacturing fault. I didn't buy my car from the branch that have serviced it, and the branch that have serviced it are different to the branch that fixed my first problem - so why should their budget get stung by me??? I want Audi UK to take responsibility for what is a known problem. I shouldnt have been sold the car, an 04 that I bought from a dealer with less than 4k miles in 05 when the problem was well known - they should have upgraded to the 7 plate clutch before selling.

At present my options are £1.4k to Audi, £750+ vat to indie-tech (who will do the same job with Audi OE parts) or just hand the car back as i'm nearing the end of my 3yr deal - which is annoying cos i've got a 2.5tdi Cab worth a few grand more than the buy back deal (if it was working!!).

All those 3 options will really stick in my throat as i've had nothing but good things to say about Audi the past 5years i've owned one (an A3 first then the A4 Cab). Not given up with Audi yet though, I have faith..... As a goodwill gesture i'm willing to pay a few hundred towards fixing their problem - but I don't think they'll see it like that. They call it "wear and tear". Brakes are that, as are tyres. Them selling a car with sub-standard parts isn't. If i'd wanted that I would've bought a Ford.

[mj62mj62]

A final update from my original saga:

During the weeks of haggling with my local main Audi garage and Audi UK (who offered £900 towards a £4500 bill - on a car with only 40k miles - terrible customer service!!!!), I had the gearbox oil independently checked and there was no problem with it found.

Therefore there seemed no justification for changing the whole gearbox. I think they wanted me to change it because these gearboxes are known for a succession of failures after the first problem occurs. Of course when another problem happens, the garage is blamed...

So I took my car to Bath Audi instead who were really friendly and helpful. They checked the gearbox oil, confirmed it was fine, called Audi UK and I came away for a subsidised bill of £600 instead of the original £4500.

With the ECU changed (aka. MCU, gearbox computer) everything is working fine now.

I hope nothing else will go wrong but for now it feels like a good result.

I can't help but feel my local main Audi garage was dishonest and that's disheartening.

During the whole thing I received a lot of help from Inde-tech in Milton Keynes (they did the original diagnosis), Basingstoke Audi and of course Bath Audi who did the final work.

If you have a multitronic gearbox, my only advice is to change the gearbox oil every 20k instead of every 40k and make sure you have the 7 plate clutch installed.

[audi2004avant]

I recently purchased a used 2004 1.9 TDI A4 Avant Auto Tiptronic 43k from a private dealer. And after 2000 miles - to my shock and horror. I encountered the dreaded flashing PRND problem. I quickly ran to a local Audi dealership to ask their opinon and they wanted £140.00 to diagnose the problem. £140.00!! to basically tell me something that I already knew.....Audi have a major problem with their older model Tiptronic ECU's. (their crap) They went on to mention that if it was the ECU it would be £1400.00 and they couldn't book my car for 2 weeks (like they were doing me a favour?!)

Anyways I am certainly glad I found this thread. After reading a previous post by "cactusgreen" mentioning Inde-Tech inde-tech - Home Page in MK. I decided to call them. They said they would diagnose it for £45.00!!! within 30 minutes they confirmed that the problem was the ECU (ie. Implausible Signal). The cost would be approx £900.00(inc VAT) and they could book the car within a week (parts pending).

Top Firm. Fast, Friendly and Professional. I would recommend them again. btw...I did receive compensation from the original dealer

Edited October 7, 2008 by audi2004avant
wrong url