Automotive Forums  Where Car Enthusiasts Go to Discuss Cars Online

Ok I got one more horror story about Audi's CVT transmissions. I'm the single owner of an Audi A4 2002 with a CVT transmission. Love the car, nevertheless at about 75K miles I was experiencing the infamous shifting hesitations (shuddering and jolting) in my transmission. I took in the car to Audi for a check up, Audi couldn't determine what the problem was. They tried different things, sort of guessing and hoping they could fix the problem by luck. They cleaned the throttle body, fuel pump was checked, etc... yet the root cause of the problem was never found, Audi told me to keep driving the car for a while and to return to them if the problem persisted (but of course i had to pay $280 for the diagnostics and the stuff they did while trying to guess what the problem was). The car did not feel any different than when I took it in, yet I decided to drive it for a while. Eventually, took it back and Audi finally told me it was my transmission. They gave me 2 choices, 1) To drive the car as it was, until it completely broke and then replace the transmission and 2) Replace some of the soft goods and other replaceable tranny parts. They recommended me to drive the car until it broke. I didn't like that idea, so I decided to overhaul the tranny for $1,300 bucks. 3 months later my tranny completely broke down in the middle of the street. While driving at about 40 MPH the tranny suddenly locked up and the car came to a sudden and complete stop. Locking up the transmission was alarming and very dangerous. I took the car back to Audi and they told me that a new transmission was going to cost me between $7K to $8K and they weren't going to honor that I had just paid them to fix it 3 months ago. After a lot of calls, confrontations with the service advisors and a lot of frustration, between the local dealership and Audi North America decided to give me a new transmission and all I had to pay was only $1000. Well after 18,000 miles after the new transmission was installed, I am experiencing the same hesitation problems again. Yes again, I can't believe it. I will be taking my A4 back to Audi and the whole ordeal will start all over again, let's see what comes out of this mess again. I will update post when I get a resolution and I'm more cooled down...  

i'm looking at a 2002 Audi A4 myself but i'm not sure if it has the CVT.  it's a 3.0L AWD Automatic with 51,000 miles on it and a clean carfax (a lot of "checks" but no accidents and not one "vehicle serviced").  took it for a test drive and it felt great but then again i'm far from an expert.  should i be worried?

it's at a dealer on consignment for $12,900 (blue book value is $13,300), i actually made an offer of $11,600 which was turned down.  it makes me feel a little better since i figure if it was really a piece of crap ready to break down any minute the seller would probably jump at any reasonable offer but i'm not sure.

carfax does show 2 "manufacturer recommended maintenences" but i'm not sure what that could mean.

thanks in advance for any help/advice  

Can you please share the guy you have in Tampa. I want to be optimistic!  They told me I need a second cvt first at 67k, now at 83k.  I baby my car, change oil more than called for, and have always serviced it at the dealership.  They are no help standing up for you, more that they throw you under the bus.  I'd love to find a mechanic that might outsmart these idiots that keep doing the same things and expecting different results.  I'd sign on to a class action law suit in an instant.  

Anyway, don't mean to rant.  Just would love to find someone that might try flushing out the transmission fluid, if it is something that could work. Also need a new cv joint.  Thanks!!!  

Dirtybirk:
I have a 03 A4 1.8 convertible with 47,000 miles.  Transmission went out last week.  I called Audi USA only to get the generic book answers.  Take it to Audi and have it diagnosed and then they will see if they will assist.  I purchased an extended warranty only to find out they will only cover $3,000 and then the warranty is over.  My local Audi dealer says to call Audi USA as they can't do anything.  This will be the last Audi I purchase and will be selling this one once it gets fixed.



Heres an update.  My local Audi dealer rebuilds the transmissions.  The rebuild kit run about $1200 and about $1350 in labor.  The master tech said Audi made these kits and had the mechanics trained because it was costing them too much money to replace the transmissions under warranty.

Hello there,

I have the same exact car and was told today that I need a new transmission and they did not offer the rebuild kit that you mentioned. Which audi dealer helped you? I'd like to run this by my service advisor and see if they could give me the same deal. There's no way I'm paying the $8K that they quoted me with. Its very sad to hear that i'm not alone in this...even sadder that there's sooooooo many of us with the same issues