Think the ATF fluid is a life time fluid? Think again!

[PaulW]

JimR sent me the test results from his 99 A6 transmission fluid with 32K on it (he had it changed once before with 30K on the car, so it was its second change) and it was defintely in need of replacement.

Here's his test sample:



I have taken the before and after readings and put them on one sheet (literally cut and paste the pages) and I am trying to scan them, but my computer is so hosed up I can't get either of my scanners to work and now I can't even repair my computer with my XP disc because my CD rom won't work (or burn CD's).

Here's the results (I don't know if the units are PPM, parts per million, but I would guess that's what they are).

Key-

First number was New Audi ATF, second number is test sample, third number is unit averages from the oil test company (general acceptance criteria).

Aluminum 0, 75, 35 (out of spec high)
Chromium 0, 0, 0
Iron 0, 136, 68 (out of spec high)
Copper 0, 78, 39 (out of spec high)
Lead 0, 17, 9 (was not bolded on report, do not know if this is a problem)
Tin 0, 7, 4 (out of spec high)
Molybdenum 0, 0, 0
Nickel 0, 0, 0
Manganese 0, 8, 4 (out of spec high)
Silver 0, 0, 0
Titanium 0, 0, 0
Potassium 0, 3, 2
Boron 120, 92, 106
Silicon 2, 8, 5
Sodium 0, 4, 2 (out of spec high)
Calcium 27, 32, 30
Magnesium 0, 1, 1
Phosphorus 256, 248, 252
Zinc 1, 6, 4
Barium 0, 2, 1

Sus Viscocity @ 210 degrees F: 51.3, 47.4, 43-51
Flashpoint in degrees F: 410, 415, greater than 355
Water (%) 0.0, 0.0, less than 0.05

Insolubles (%) 0.0, 0.5, less than 0.1 (out of spec high)

Their recommendation read as follows:

This is an interesting comparison. If you look at the clean sample report, you can see where this ATF started out. Very clean, no metals. This used sample is abrasive enough that we recommend changing it out. We don't necessarily think your transmission has a problem (though we can't rule that out). Without knowing how long this oil has been in place, we can't say for sure what's going on. Metals and insolubles show the oil is oxidized and abrasive and should be changed out. Suggest resampling in 20,000 miles on fresh oil.

Once again, Jim has had no problems with his tranny and this is the 2nd time it has been changed during the course of owning the car.

Wow! What do you think Jeffery's oil will come out like? His A8 made the squealing noise for a month on cold start ups and his filter was totally collapsed. I bet it will have a lot of bad things with it.

Once I get my scanner working, I will scan the report and post it, also create a page for it on audipages.

Paul (who just came back from a LONG WEEK of travel!)

[RCBENZ2]

Hope you were doing something rewarding. Happy Spring. 58 degrees in Philadelphia today.

[PaulW]

With customers doing a nuclear seminar.....out with customers at night....back to the seminar (which I was presenting most of).....I must of been busy if I didn't post for four or five days!

pw

[TwoTrey]

He changed it first at 30k then again at 32k? Could it really go bad this incredibly fast???

[ryoung]

.
and I'll be changing mine every 25k.

Jim and Paul: Thanks for this information.

[JimR]

Based on the visual nastiness of the drained fluid, and these test results, I'm probably going to do a drain/refill soon.

The initial fill on this car is 9.8 liters. I used ~4 liters in changing the filter, so around 40% of the fluid is now "new". By some quick back-of-the-envelope math, I figure if I do it again, I get that figure up to around 2/3rd's of the fluid being new.

You start getting into diminishing returns after that. Another drain/fill would only get you to about 7.7L being new, or around 80% of the fluid. At $15/L, it's expensive using this ATF to flush the tranny.

[TwoTrey]

[ryoung]

.
this is probably more-or-less a 50:50 mix of 30k and 60k ATF.

[TwoTrey]

[JimR]

I'll be sending a sample of that off for testing, too, which will be an interesting addition to the database.