My transmission died today. I was passing someone and heard a "thunk" and a few other noises like rattling. I had it towed to my mechanic and they have diagnosed that the transmission needs to be replaced. They called the local Audi dealership and were quoted roughly $4,500 for a rebuilt transmission. The mechanic will charge roughly $1,000 for labor.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to the direction I should take? Such as any other better deals for a rebuilt transmission or have my own transmission rebuilt or...?

Any ideas welcome.

Please help in Fallbrook, CA.

2000 Audi A4 Avant Quattro 2.8L V6 with 141,000 miles
Automatic Tiptronic Transmission
EKD - OE Part #: 01V 300 046H
5HP19FLA

I understand ZF can be helpful and I will contact them to see about rebuilding my transmission. Any other suggestions?

 

I can tell you from experience,that you have to do lots of research to find a tranny for a decent price,i replaced my transmission on my 01 Audi A4 AWM automatic tiptronic ,my tranny code is FAL,you need your code to track down a used tranny. Look in your maintenance manual that came with the car,your tranny code is written there.

My tranny wouldn't shift into 4th gear,only from 1st,2nd and 3rd,when my TCM instructed the tranny go into 4th gear,i would get a jerk and the tranny would shift back down to 3rd gear.

I finally found a independent shop,that said they charge 400.00 to install and 1000.00 for the tranny with 70.000 miles. plus automatic transmission fluid with gasket ect...

Total was 1588.00 not bad,considering i paid 5,300.00 for it over a year ago,i wasn't willing to let her go and lose my investment,been shifting perfect for 3 months so far.

Check out these sites,i did some digging and found lots of trannies for decent prices,if you want to go with a rebuilt tranny,opposed to a used one,expect to pay way more,anywhere from 2-4000.00 easy but if you want to just get her back on the road,couple hundred for a used tranny and labor with low miles will suffice.

http://www.car-part.com

http://www.automotix.net/index.html

 

Ouch, sorry to hear about your transmission. Personally, I wouldn't spend $5500 for a used tranny for an 11 yr old A4, but that's just me.

Hopefully you'll be able to find a cheaper one like Morpheous did. If you can't, it might be time to think about a newer A4.

 

The transmission he's referring too,isn't used. Audi doesn't rebuild transmissions,they replace them with refurbished transmissions,from sub companies like shokan.com

He would have warranty and piece of mind but like you said,that the amount that he would have to pay,is probably more then what the car is worth,it comes down to if he has sentimental value for the B5 and has the money to throw around.

I'm sure he won't have a problem,finding a transmission,if not in his home town,he can easily get one shipped from anywhere across the country,for a couple hundred bucks plus shipping for around $90.00 give or take,depending on his and the replacement trannies location

 

I chose to go with a new transmission. My mechanic told me to look online and research as much as I could... so I did.

First my mechanic said they could get rebuilt transmission through Audi direct for $4,425 and charge roughly $1,000 for installation.

I found that a rebuilt transmission after installation would be roughly $3,000 from a ZF distributor plus $1,000 through my mechanic for installation (Add on this shipping costs of $250 to/from San Francisco/San Diego and 1week+) --- Total = $4,250. --- 2 year warranty.

After much internet research, I decided to go with the dealer since they will charge roughly $5,500 for a brand new transmission from the factory and installation included and a 1 year warranty.

I noticed that ZF distributors are not getting good deals they once did as Audi now discourages them selling to anyone but Audi.

I think this is why it made my task difficult to try to find a good transmission with a good warranty.

There were plenty of EKD transmissions at salvage yards with many miles on them. In the end, I decided that since I would like to own my car for a long time, to choose a brand new transmission. Thank you everyone for the great suggestions and I know many people would have done something different.

If I had listened to family members, I would have bought a new (used) car. My perspective by keeping this car and fixing it is that I will be spending $5,500 and will have a new (used) car...

Any new (used) car someone I could buy most likely will have some future problems.. I just know I love this car and will keep paying cash for my little expenses here and there rather than expensive monthly car payments.

 

Congrats on your decision,i kinda figured you had the money to spend,by the way,Audi doesn't make "new" transmissions for B5's anymore,they are out of production.

They do however,sell refurbished/rebuilt transmissions for the B5,just letting you know,it won't be "new" from the factory.

Keep us posted on the tranny swap.

 

I'm in the same situation as you Dector22. Was contemplating on selling the car or parting it out but, could not do it. My car is at Peter Schimd Transmissions, MZF in Burlingame. Getting my 2002 S4 transmission rebuilt. This was the only place in my area that deals with these transmissions. These transmissions are so expensive.

 

Do you have any pictures to post of your car?

 

There are pictures of my car in my Album if you click on my username.

 

call a local junk yard give them the tranny code if they have it and but one lol. theres lots of audi junk yards out in my area hell i just picked a tranny up for 350$ same code and better shape then mine. mine had 180k the one i got now has 30k but thats just my opinion. its takes about 13.3 hours if you know what your doing to put the new one in.