Gearbox woes :(

[Inkblot]

Hello all, I have a 2001 A8 4.2 with 88k miles of which I have done 13k since I bought it 2 years ago - pretty much every one of them has been a pleasure....until last Saturday

Last week the car needed its MOT which I already knew was going to cost a bit as I needed new discs/pads on the front. In the end it needed calipers as well as the old ones were seized leaving me a £540 bill which was a pain but not the end of the world. At the same time I renewed the tax for another 12 months (Up £30 from last year!) so in the week I spent best part of £800 on it. Having got it back on Friday the 1st time I used it was Saturday when I went to several retail parks, each time I reversed into a space and drove out again. When I got home I started to reverse onto the driveway but had what seemed like clutch slip and little backward motion. Just clear of the road and pavement all movement stopped and that was it - no more reverse movement. Selecting forward gears gives a drop in revs and the takeup of the transmission so I'm confident I have forward gears. My mechanic checked it using his diagnostic computer and no fault codes are showing - the computer identifies which gear is selected including reverse.

I had no visual indication of a problem, no funny sounds, no funny smells, no funny driving characteristics. No indication at all of the problem until the point I lost reverse gear - time between the 'clutch slip' and losing reverse was less than a minute during which I probably moved 5 yards backwards.

On the basis of a phone call a local auto specialist has suggested that a gearbox brake (?) may have gone but added "If we are stripping it anyway we would advise that we recon it at the same time otherwise something else may go". They then suggested that this would cost a minimum of £2200+VAT. To repair the broken part is going to be at least £1100+VAT but before spending that sort of cash I thought I would post here to see if anybody has any other suggestions - the thought of spending best part of £3k on a car that's probably not worth much more than £4k when working isn't a good one!

According to the documentation the gearbox is given as EUS FBE if that means anything at all?

[PsYcHe]

Not sure on that specific gearbox model, but the facelift gearboxes are prone to the 'F' seal failing which kills reverse.

Amar had a gearbox refurb done not that long ago for about the 1200 mark and I guess he'll probably be along at some point today so can remind us of where it was.

[Inkblot]

Thanks for that PsYcHe, I'll bear it in mind when speaking to anybody else although I have spoken to another autobox specialist this morning who initally told me wouldn't touch it as he has easier ways of making his money but then revised this to say it would cost "upwards of 3 grand". I didn't clarify if this included VAT or not.

Hopefully Amar has had a good experience and will see this post - at the moment a £1200ish recon sounds like a good bargain although I'm not sure the wife will see it that way just 7 weeks before Christmas

[SINGH]

Someone call?

Inkblot I had my gearbox rebuilt on my S8, it cost around £1500 in the end. I had the actual box rebuilt by VMTP they originally quoted me £999 plus VAT then when it came to paying the bill they asked for £1200 and said the £999 wasn't including VAT! So get that £999 quote in writing if I were you, get the gearbox taken out by Ben at Revo 01327 301901. Tell him I sent you, he charged me about £250 to put it in and out, and he really knows what he's doing (tech director of Audi driver mag).

The only problem is my fault was a gearbox clutch drum that failed and not the reverse gear that I lost which seems like a separate fault...

Best to speak to the guys at VMTP, they have a branch in the midlands and London.

VMTP Midlands About

Let me know if I can help any further, I know its gutting. After I had my gearbox replaced I had the engine go so brought another and lost another engine. GRRRRRRRR

Stick in there.

[Inkblot]

Update!

Between my last post and Singh's post I spoke to a company called 'Technical Automatic Transmissions' (Techical Automatic Services - Automatic Gearbox Repairs Mersea, Essex, Colchester, Witham, Chelmsford, Norfolk, Sudbury) and the difference in attitude/knowledge between them and the other people I spoke to was amazing...the converation went something like:

Me: Hello there, I have an Audi with a sick gearbox, is that the sort of thing you do?

TAS: It certainly is, what model?

Me: A8, 2001

TAS: Engine size?

Me: 4.2

TAS: Not sure on that year, do you know what gearbox it is - it'll be either a 5hp19fl or it could be a 5hp24a

Me: No idea, according to the manual it's an EUS FBE

TAS: Ah, that doesn't mean anything to us, we go by the ZF part numbers. If it's the 5hp19fl then what happens is (Making this bit up) that the thingamyjig attatched to the wassitcalled fails and you lose pressure, resulting in not getting 3rd, 4th or 5th. If it's the 5hp24a then the oojamaflip that drives the spinnybit fails and you lose reverse gear.

Me: I've lost reverse gear....

TAS: In that case it's probably the 5hp24a, that costs £1685+VAT to fix, if it turns out to be the 5hp19fl then that's £885+VAT.

There was more chat than that but that's the essence of it - the guy knew off the top of his head what gearbox it was likely to be, what the problem was likely to be and what it was likely to cost to fix. They offered to pick the car up a couple of days later and leave me with a hire car. I did look for VMTP in London but could only find the midlands address which was closed when I called but this guy had given me so much confidence that I called him back the next day and arranged it with him. They *diddn't* recommend a recon on the basis that all the gearboxes have a single fault and if you fix that then nothing else is likely to go wrong. They only use original parts and only refill with the proper ZF fluids.

The loan car turned out to be an automatic micra on an R plate which came on the back of the same low-loader that was used to take my car away, 117k on the clock, very basic transport but hey-ho, beggars can't be choosers!

Not the cheapest option but I was more than comfortable that the guy knew what he was talking about, I picked it up yesterday and it's a smooth as a smooth thing - but then again it always was

[cruiser647]

If you do a search on other forums/t'interweb, you'll find the same issues with other make cars with the same ZF gearbox. So it's not jsut Audi.

Good news on the knowledgeable bod!