Thank you, turbo kraut. The shop we took it to was in Manhattan, a neighbor to Junction City, so that is not out of the question. How do I find this person?

 

Yo kraut if you're talking about Brad, he's in the land of steers and queers now. He got moved to Ft. Hood.

 

My husband said the reason the shop was adamant about the transmission fluid thing is because they see a lot of transmissions going bad in Audi's with this many miles.

 

if you have an automatic a simple 120 dollars job should do the filter and fluid change no problem.

Audi Automatic Transmission Fluid - How To Change Audi Transmission Fluid

although, if your tranny is slipping bad i heard it would not be wise to do so as the metal particles in your fluid are the only thing letting your trannsmission catch.

for a manual transmission i think it would be around the same. it is an easy job. i did it twice on two different cars. not bad for a DIY'er.

my mechanic specializes in porsche audis and VW's... he hates imports and BMW's... and his prices are about 200-300 less that yours. i suggest finding another mechanic. also, get your parts online. and just pay labor at a decent shop (when you find one). some mechanics charge extra for simple parts because they add warranty on to them. but tbh, if you find a mechanic who knows what he is doing it shouldn't be any trouble. it'll save you money trust me.

 

I had a 2.8 A4 with a 156K miles, 60k of them being HARD miles and my transmission never slipped. That mechanic is blowing smoke up your ***, but on the other hand, a fluid and filter change won't hurt anything.

 

Something else that the mechanic pressed on is the turbocharger. He said it is rare that turbos last that long, unless it has run synthetic oil or been replaced. We don't know anything about the car. Of course, he had to talk about how much money it would be if the turbo went out. Again, why is this mechanic really trying to scare us so badly? He said he works on these cars and likes to drive them, but he doesn't own one.

 

A flush is harmful but not a fluid and filter change. Also when you drop the pan check how much gray matter is on the magnets. I don't know why the mechanic is being this way towards your car but he seems to not know WTF he's talking about. I suggest you ignore everything he told you and just start gathering parts for the TB job.

 

Hi Julie,

Get a second opinion. It's doesn't matter what the motivation of the import mechanic is. Think of it this way...if you've been to the doctor and she told you that you have cancer and needed an operation TODAY to remove your right arm, wouldn't you want to get a second opinion? I know I would.

There are some basic truths to owning an old Audi A4:

1) Maintenance is frequent and frequently expensive, unless you have the time, tools and inclination to do most of the work yourself.

2) If you can invest in the proper tools, you can do most/all of these jobs yourself with the help of DIY's and the people on this forum.

3) Audi's are expensive to own and maintain. Period. The reason we all drive the A4 and put up with all the maintenance and repairs, is because we love driving them.

Unlike most of the young guys on this forum, I'm in my mid 40's and I don't have the skills or patience to do some of the tougher repair jobs. So I do what I can, and for the more difficult projects I went out and found a very good local Audi mechanic who does good work and has reasonable rates.

Best of luck. I hope things work out for you and your husband. But before you do anything rash, get a second opinion from another Audi mechanic.

 

This is exactly what we intend to you once we find one.

My husband is like you. He is in his late 40's, travels a lot for work and doesn't have the time nor the inclination to do the really detailed jobs - ie: timing belt/cam chain tensioner. We have already taken apart and worked on smaller things - ie: throttle body, windshield washer tank, oil tank sensor, o2 sensor (easy stuff). He was just getting ready to work on the turn signal relay and the antenna booster in the roof, but now it is all on hold. He justs wants these big jobs done right the first time and done quickly. I'm sure you understand.

 

You hit the Nail with that Statement. Good one.