rxpclb

Anyone have any experience using AMSOIL Synthetic Multi-Vehicle Automatic Transmission Fluid (ATF)? My '99 A6 quattro has 147K miles & I serviced the transmission at 50 & 100K miles with a filter kit from BlauParts.com. I'm looking for an oil that will last longer than 30-60,000 miles. Has anyone tried Amsoil in their Audi (they claim up to 100,000 miles between drains)?

What transmission fluid do you prefer in your Audi?

Thanks,

Curtis

jseklund

I have amsoil ATF in all 3 of the audis I work on - my gf's A4, my mom's A6 and my A6. I change it at around 50,000 miles, give or take. On my gf's car, we bought the vehicle with 95,000 and I put it in and haven't gone 45,000 on it. I put it in my mom's car at 100,000 and changed at 50,000 and it was still almost new looking - clear and red. On my car, I bought the car at 93,000 and put it in then and then changed it at around 150,000 and it was still good looking but not as new as in my mom's car.

None of the 3 cars have any transmission problems at all. I don't know that I'd go 100K on each change, but from the LOOK at 50K it probably can do it. Looks are deceiving though and I've never done an oil analysis on any of the fluids when I take them out. I have about 175K on my car right now. I do about 50K a year on my car so I am doing at least 1 oil change a year.

audifirst

if you plan to go with amsoil you need to completely flush the old oil out of tranny for some reason amsoil doesn't work well with OEM fluid still left in transmission (torque converter, cooling lines) , and weird things happen people reported issues with transmission function,
when they did replace filter and went with aftermarket fluid , usually it is recommend to flush the system once or twice after the work is done,

if you go with OEM usually do not need to flush the system, to get everything out..

I have replaced with OEM fluid, twice already in 13 years , next cycle is due next year will do it again with OEM fluid.. so far it is flawless after 158k

jseklund

On my mom's car, I flushed it out, dropped the pan, cleaned it, replaced filter. On my car and my gf's car, I just dropped the pan and replaced the filter - no flush. This probably explains the difference between my mom's looking brand new and mine looking a little less than brand new. But I would have no worries about NOT flushing it entirely out of the TC if you're going 50,000 intervals.

If you are the A student, you'd flush it anyway and make sure you had all new fluid, or do it at least two times to get 70-80% of it new as Audifirst had said.

Transmission fluid is a funny topic. I don't think there is any magic elixir - and Audi fluid isn't anything super special. I've seen people run Mobil 1, Amsoil, Audi, etc. - you just want something high-grade in my opinion, and you want to change it before it wears out.

I think the problem most people have with transmission fluid and changing it is that they don't change it often enough. This leads to a bunch of myth/rumors about the great unknown. The most obvious being the "don't change your fluid if your car has so many miles on it, or it will kill your transmission."

This myth of course is based on the fact that someone's friend had a million miles on his car and changed their transmission fluid and then the tranny crapped the bed. Their reasoning is that it made it a million miles with no change, and then died after the change - so it had to be the new fluid. This myth forgets the fact that a person who goes so far without changing it didn't just wake up one day and out of the blue decide they should give it a try for FUN - they were having a problem, the fluid change was a hope to cure the problem, and it was too late.

I think the same could be said of the mixing OEM and other fluids in this case. Many people wait until they have OEM fluid that is toast, then mix in the Amsoil, Mobil 1, etc. Half theif fluid is bad at this point....so they start developing problems from the diluted amsoil 5,000 miles after...and blame the mix.

IMO, the bottom line is that if you have less than 100,000 miles on your car, use quality fluid and change it every 50K - I think you'll be happy. If you do as Audifirst suggest and go the extra step of flushing the system or doing multiple drops everytime you change the fluid....you're going to have a vehicle that's even better maintained and maybe you can get 75-100K on the fluid.

For me, I just feel that I can drop the pan 1X per year for my car and bang in a new filter without much stress. Flushing it means disconnecting lines and either vacuuming/power feeding fluid through the system or starting the car to have it pump through. This is incredibly messy, time consuming and anti-lazy (not that this job isnt' all of these things already). But it is more thorough and better for the car probably.

4Driver4

Confused here. Why do we think that the Amsoil is better than the Audi stuff?

Is this really worth the hassle? We change ours with ZF spec fluid every 75k. Never had a problem.

jcman

I suggest as many members do "not to flush", unless you are rebuilding a trans ensuring that all the spent build-up is gone in all the places that flushing kicks up otherwise.

I knew this before my gap years from Audi with the daughters Jetta when a very reputable trans shop owner mentioned we do not flush any VW/Audi cars
"period" and his point was clear when he said that these cars will have problems with limp mode codes or seal leaks five out of ten within the first year and we learned from a few. So far the Jetta then and her 01 A6 have have been fine with a drain, clean pan and new filter/fluid.

Blending fluids? Can't comment on that, I would stay OEM spec based on my
version of the fluid filter change.

The main point here that we should consider with a transmission is "something has to give" band material wears and pressure is against all seals.

jseklund

I'm not saying it's better necessarily...just suitable and at least equal.

And often less expensive.

audifirst

I wouldn't wait to 100k to change the oil you are stretching , I stopped believing claims of oil lasting up to certain amount like Aud/VW do with their tranny oil is for lifetime , but when something happens they are not there to help you and will blame wear instead oil was caused of failures..

it is your choice if you want to stay OEM fluid or go aftermarket, if you go with aftermarket you need to flush the old oil out , the first time when you change filter and put amsoil oil , you will need to do drain the fluid again in couple weeks and put new fluid in until you almost completely removed the old fluid , and then from that point you stay with Amsoil fluid.

4Driver4

Less expensive on a per liter basis perhaps, but a ton more work to swap over to it. Plug if you only change it every 50 - 75k, how much money are you really saving?

No reason to deviate from the recommended fluid, IMHO.

Just Me

ZF is pretty clear about using the esso stuff and only the esso stuff.
Its apparently quite good.
i would just do the service every 30-50k. Easy enough

G