A coworker of mine has a '04 A4 1.8t auto. The transmission sometimes shifts only when it reaches the red line. Not sure if his CEL is on or not. The automatic transmission for me is a mistery... I told him to take in to an audi specialist, but we are curious to find out what could cause this?

 

Does it do it when it's cold? Warm? Randomly? Your friend needs to take your advice and have it analyzed by someone who knows transmissions.

 

Could be 1) he's had it in tip 2) he's low on fluid 3) he needs his valves replaced or lubbed. They sometimes get stuck and either do really hard shifting or just won't shift til late in the gear. How many miles on the car? Seems new to have this problem already.

 

The car I believe only has 50k miles and I thought it was too soon for the transmission to have issues as well. He recently bought it from a non Audi dealership with 40k miles and we don't know anything about the maintenance of the car other than the clear carfax. I'll convey the message, thanks!