My transmission just started acting up recently and I have to be honest. I went from love to hate. Maybe hate is strong but it is a world of difference in what kind of car I feel like I am driving. So here is my point. If you haven't fixed your transmission then maybe I can tally up who needs this repair done, locate a shop, negogiate a small volume purchase on rebuild parts and repair with a central shop to all in the area. We may be able to save money and if it is scheduled right we could just drive our cars to the shop. Power in numbers. I may even go as far to go on a crusade to reach out beyond this forum to find other people who have been transmisionized by their A8 and talk to an attorny face to face about what our options may be. I saw repair bills on here from 2200 to 3800 posted and for 70k miles on a 70k car I dont think you could argue it as a maintenance task. Where was the King transmission that did it for 2200 and how long did it take? I would take a small vacation there and get a rental just for the life change back to the A8 I love. Please post.

Thanks for listening :-)

I payed $6,500, maybe $7K on a car with 52K miles on it.

If you go on a crusade, count me in.

Still enjoy the car.

I spoke with my local Twin Cities dealers - they said that Audi has not and likely will not step up to the plate to address these issues, regardless of what ZF concurs is a problem design...

Scott B

Kinf=g Transmission overhauled my tranny about 6 months ago and it is still working great-- but I did have to take it back for a new valve body when I first picked it up due to low speed clunk at stop still being there. I paid $2200 PLUS I needed to replace the front radiator hose which crumbled when they were working on the car. It took them 4-5 days to do the whole job and they give you a free "beater" car to drive as a booster!

After a week in the beater car, driving the audi with a rebuilt trans felt pretty good.

King Transmission is on Grand Avenue in Elmhurst just west of York Road.

If you are going to take a small vacation up here, be sure to arrange a GTG so we can get a bunch of us together to share war stories.

I just finished the fuel line repair on the high pressure fuel line following Paul's Audipages. That saved me (if it works) TONS of money-- I mean like $1000 or more. I have a good indy mechanic who did the oil cooler for me, as well as the rear output seal. I also did the valve covers last weekend (that is how the fuel line got to become a problem I am sure) and spark plugs.

These cars are very interesting from an assembly point of view. Everything is really packed in there, but unlike unibody cars, everything comes apart somehow. It is amazing.

The most amazing this is the engine longevity and power-- even at age. I just hope I can keep getting away with one-time affordable DIY or Indy mechanic repairs. I'd much rather be bicycling or running than working on the car all the time.

I deal with some large companies on a fairly regular basis and I think there would be a way to pay a sum to save face at some point. I just need to see how many people there really are that are reachable.

Hi every one i just thought you should know some important info...

I have a 1999 Audi A8 with about 70000 miles on it and the transmission was having some of the same problems you were all talking about. I took it to Audi and they told me that if the problems persist to take it to a local trans shop. I waited a little while and ended taking it to Ammco. By then they said I needed a rebuild costing me about $5000 and said it was due to the fluid not being changed. They let me take pictures and such because it was really bad. I tried to contact Audi because it is supposed to be a lifetime fluid. They told me there wasn't enough complaints to them and that they would not take any action in the matter. The best thing I can tell you is to get the fluid changed every 30000 like every other car. That should really take care of most of the hard shifting. Audi wanted to charge about 500 bucks to change the fluid, even though they didn't recommend it. I just need some feedback on the matter because I want audi to pay for at least some of the cost because the trans should not go bad because of the pump getting clogged with debris.