A/T fluid for my 2005 Audi A6

[BlueSander]

Originally Posted by newa6er So from researching this and other threads, the general consensus is that earlier transmissions had the bownish/amber fluid(Lifeguard 6). This was replaced by green/blue fluid(Lifeguard 8) along with a software update on newer cars. Older cars with the brown stuff might have had the software updated and the brown stuff flushed out for the blue or green stuff at the dealer if were complaints of transmission performance. My car is an early 05 with the brown fluid(physically checked), however, according to CVDS it has had the software update. I have the "service records" from Audi and see nothing related to transmission updates or service or repairs. It's possible that Audi somehow serviced the fluid when updating the software. But considering it is the wrong color for the software I will assume they did not. therefore, I will assume my car 80k miles has original fluid in it and want to change it. Can I drain and refill with the blue/green stuff? Or do I have to flush? Mixing does not sound like a good idea. But considering my local Audi dealer charges $58/liter and 16 are needed for a flush plus labor(I can not flush at home), we're talking $1000 plus. Or maybe I should just drain/refill the brown fluid (Lifeguard 6) for $120? You are looking at a lot of money there. 1st, if your car is late 05-06 model, you are running on the old brown color fluid. It's around $27/quart at any Audi/VW dealer. The new blue fluid is a lot thinner which will cause your trans to hard shift if the car isn't programed to run it and potentially damage the whole thing in the long run. The new fluid is 2x as expensive as the old one also. If I was you, I would start out flushing the trans with old fluid. When you flushing out your old fluid, you should have a good idea of what is in there. There is a very high chance that it is still running on the old fluid. Follow the proper oil flush procedure, you will only have to carry it out once! Do not waste your time & money trying to flush it couple times. Do a throttle adaptation afterward or else you might experience some hard shiftings.

[newa6er]

Draining and refilling is not flushing, flushing uses a machine to inject new fluid into the transmission while it's running and dumps out all the old fluid. That is why the TSB calls for 16 liters when the transmission only holds 9.something liters. Drain and refills will always leave some of the old fluid.

Originally Posted by haloguy628

Which means three to four drain and refills. That's the only way to get all of the old fluid from the passages and the torque converter. So it gets really expensive really quick.

[haloguy628]

Originally Posted by BlueSander

NO, there is no need to do that! Just follow the standard procedure for trans flush. I don't have the steps handy but I got it here in this forum.

If he is going to switch to the Blue/Green fluid from the old Gold fluid then he needs to repeat the flush cycle three or four times in order to get all of the old fluid out of the tranny.

When you just do drain and refill then you only get out approx 4 - 5 quarts changed. Since the tranny holds 9.5 quarts and the two fluids are incompatible the old fluid must be purged completely.

The only way to do that is to repeat the process numerous times and run the tranny in gear between each drain cycle.

You also can not reuse the new fluid that was mixed with the old so you will be adding new fluid every refill. So do the math.

[haloguy628]

Originally Posted by newa6er

Draining and refilling is not flushing, flushing uses a machine to inject new fluid into the transmission while it's running and dumps out all the old fluid. That is why the TSB calls for 16 liters when the transmission only holds 9.something liters. Drain and refills will always leave some of the old fluid.

Yes, and as I understand he will do this in his garage. I doubt he has the ability to do the flushing.

[BlueSander]

Originally Posted by haloguy628

If he is going to switch to the Blue/Green fluid from the old Gold fluid then he needs to repeat the flush cycle three or four times in order to get all of the old fluid out of the tranny.

When you just do drain and refill then you only get out approx 4 - 5 quarts changed. Since the tranny holds 9.5 quarts and the two fluids are incompatible the old fluid must be purged completely.

The only way to do that is to repeat the process numerous times and run the tranny in gear between each drain cycle.

You also can not reuse the new fluid that was mixed with the old so you will be adding new fluid every refill. So do the math.

I was responding based on his original intention of not wanting to switch the oil type. Anyways, doing it your ways would mean flush, refill and DRIVE it to get everything mixed up. Then repeat it a couple times. Without the vehicle driven a couple miles, the oil won't be mixed properly. Also, regardless what you do, I don't see anyone wasting less than 5-6 quarts of new oil. You would never want to reuse the oil from the 2nd flush anyways, that's 50:50 old:new.

Here is a tip. If you want to do a complete flush. There is a trans oil line cooling right behind the radiator, have the car running, keep pumping in new oil via bottom trans drain plug and letting it drain via one of the valve on the cooling line. Once you see there is no more dark color oil coming out of the cooling line. Your trans is completely filled with new oil. As I know, oil is pumped directly from the torque convertor through that line so there isn't a better way than this.

[hrc4u]

took out a sample today...
just to confirm before order...
this is the blue fluid? ( i recall seeing somewhere the green and that where much lighter green..? almost yellow green.)
soo what pic tells the truth.. ....the oil looks blue/green in real life..
cheers!/H
edit: btw....where in us is the cheapest place to order audi oem oils online?....that ships to europe?...or can any nice audi fellow over there be at assist for shopping...
/H

[aligzaidi110]

Originally Posted by BlueSander

Here is a tip. If you want to do a complete flush. There is a trans oil line cooling right behind the radiator, have the car running, keep pumping in new oil via bottom trans drain plug and letting it drain via one of the valve on the cooling line. Once you see there is no more dark color oil coming out of the cooling line. Your trans is completely filled with new oil. As I know, oil is pumped directly from the torque convertor through that line so there isn't a better way than this.

BlueSander is right, I have done this method flushing my 4Runner twice in last 10 years. Basically you need to monitor how much old oil comes out and same new amount should go in. But i will think twice before doing this on my 2005+ A6. BlueSander have you done this on your Audi?

[KnappAttack]

I suppose I should think about changing the trans fluid in my 05 4.2 with 145,000 miles on with all this talk of different fluid and the sky will fall if not done prior to 75K and such. I thought I was **** about stuff, but talk of trans oil changes at 30-70 thousand seem a little crazy to me. If I change it at 150,000 I figure I might make it to 300,000 without doing it again till then!

So whats the thoughts with Ford ATF from the guys who have used it? If the drain only takes 4-5 qts on a drain and refill. Another 4 Qts or so must remain in the Converter. I'd say its going to need 2-3 changes to replace most of the fluid with that much in the converter.

[pocketchange]

Somuchforlookingatthespeconthebacklabel...!
pc

[ProtoFly]

I've used the Ford Mercon SP, as my transmission had the original brownish fluid, and no software update applied. Prior to the PARTIAL change, I was having sever problems with 'judder', which started out initially as a feeling that the car was vibrating slightly at 50 mph/80 kph, and it progressively got worse to the point that it was a constant feeling of going over rumble strips.

I had ZERO success of getting any confirmation from the dealer that they would do the job correctly, and couldn't even get them to research the TSB for the controller update for me, and they wouldn't confirm or deny whether my car had ever had a transmission service done (keep in mind I bought it used with 127k miles on it). The car was a two-owner car, the second owner purchasing it as a 'certified pre-owned audi', so at least in theory, it was dealer maintained for a good part of its life.

Given the complete lack of dealer response, I decided to purchase the Ross-Tech VCDS software and their better cable, so that I could do the job myself. (side note, it was a VERY good investment). Discovered indeed that I had revision 0 of the transmission software, thus, good chance that the fluid had never been changed.

At that point, having nothing to lose (trans is already acting up), I picked up 6 quarts of Ford Mercon SP fluid at the dealer, for a whopping $6.95 a quart, total cost of about 44 bucks, jacked the car up and leveled it, and drained as much as I could out. Followed the instructions (found online) to refill and get the level right with VCDS monitoring the temp of the fluid, and took it for a drive.

After about 1 mile, the juddering was almost completely gone. After five miles, it was like a new car. Smooth shifts, no juddering.

I did this at about 129k miles. I now have 148k miles, and while I really do need to order up the proper trans filter and gasket to do the job completely, I have no doubt that the Mercon SP fluid is CORRECT for any car that HAS NOT HAD THE TC UPDATE.

The fluid I drained from the transmission was smelly and dirty. Anyone who actually believes that Audis are 'lifetime' filled, well, you've been warned. They are quite happy to sell you a new transmission, or hey!, since that's SO EXPENSIVE, how about trading it on a new car?

-Darryl

Originally Posted by KnappAttack

I suppose I should think about changing the trans fluid in my 05 4.2 with 145,000 miles on with all this talk of different fluid and the sky will fall if not done prior to 75K and such. I thought I was **** about stuff, but talk of trans oil changes at 30-70 thousand seem a little crazy to me. If I change it at 150,000 I figure I might make it to 300,000 without doing it again till then!

So whats the thoughts with Ford ATF from the guys who have used it? If the drain only takes 4-5 qts on a drain and refill. Another 4 Qts or so must remain in the Converter. I'd say its going to need 2-3 changes to replace most of the fluid with that much in the converter.