It seems that my transmission is fried according to a local foreign vehicle repair shop. Last Wednesday it would go straight to the fifth gear and all the gear indicators lights were lit in the dash. When it finally does slip into a gear, it jerks harshly. What does anyone recommend?

 

Get another opinion, it could be a simple electrical problem causing it to go into limp mode.

 

Auditech79, I really appreciate the response. You are absolutely correct in getting another opinion. I went back to the repair shop on Thursday to ask in person what the status was.

After having the car for a week all he could tell me was, "it's the transmission." I thought that before I brought the car to him. Completely disgusted I had the car towed to a transmission specialist.

The only trans specialist in my city that belongs to the Automatic Transmission Rebuilders Association (ATRA). After they had it for the rest of the week and throughout the weekend he informed me that there were no codes coming from the transmission. He drove it around and it would drive fine and then go into limp mode. Once it went into limp mode he would simply cut the car off and restart it to and it would drive fine again. He has a few people he wants to contact on Monday to find out what is making it go into limp mode.

I spoke with a New Mexico Audi dealership who recommended a transmission flush and if that didn't do the trick to try to get it up there (3 hour drive for me).

All weekend I have been searching through all the Audi forums. I found several threads of Audi owners with similar issues. I have read about torque converters, dirty injectors, vacuum leaks, check valves, and the mass airflow sensors. I know what limp mode is now, which is what the Audi service shop said it was doing.

I read somewhere about shutting off the engine, turning the electronics on, stepping on the gas, holding down the accelerator, turning the key off (without letting off the accelerator, and once you hear a clicking sound to let go of the accelerator.

I also read about the software level of the transmission possible being an issues.

The ATRA transmission shop has all of Monday to come up with something and then I will attempt to tow it to the Albuquerque Audi dealership. I was informed that a transmission flush with the "blue" stuff would run me $1k alone. Cheapest transmission I have found online so far is $2,145 w/shipping and 2 year warranty, unlimited miles if I go that route.

What do you think?

 

The transmission flush will do nothing, when you have an electrical fault 9 times out of 10 it will be electrical. If the fluid was the problem, it would drive irregularlly all the time. They don't know what they're doing so they are "shotgunning" the problem by performing the basics first, wasting your money.
The problem with buying a used trans is that you have a D2 A8 (96-03) which are known to have several internal issues if not taken care of properly.
I would say you either have a bad TCM (transmission control unit) or a bad transmission range switch. Either of these will cause you to go into limp mode if there is a failure or electrical malfunction.
You really have to find a shop that is familliar with ZF transmissions, which is the manufacture.