Hey guys,

I have a A4 and this weekend my tranny blew . Little confused on how it happened though. My car has only 42K on it and I lost 3rd and overdrive :mad . Last summer I put in a set of 3.90's but have only had them in for around 2000 miles. haven't dragged yet. I haven't heard of many people losing there high end gears though. Anyway it's blown know so what should I do. Do I have this one rebuilt stock, do I buy aftermarket to rebuild, or do I just by a after market built tranny, and since it is torn apart is there a better shift kit I can put in it. I all ready have a yank 2800 stall torque converter in it should I switch that out. I'm a little a stopping point of to do right now. Can anyone give my some opinions Please!!!! Thanks


Ok guys now I am really confused!!!!! Like I said before the tranny blew out, but now it works????? It blew while on vacation and I had to drive about 250 miles home in 2nd. That's under 50 mph. Anyway I moved the car this morning to get my other car out and when I went back through the gears 3rd and overdrive work now. They didn't work the whole trip home, and yes I did check. I even let it cool down for awhile at one time casue the tranny fluid was at 126 ( must edit here and sorry to those of you that have posted it was 226)degrees. What the hell is going on???? One other thing that sparked my memory..... for quite some time now I could feel a light slip. When in overdrive there is a certain point when the car would do a light slip and bounce up maybe 2-300 rpm then shift back down. I beleive there is a like a lock in each gear (not sure though) was it slipping out of that. This might have been happening not to long after the gears where installed. Could that be any reason. I'm really confused on this and could use some inputs.....

 

Did you get a ses light, have you checked for any codes that are stored? Also check the fluid level. Thats where I would start. Ron B.

 

Trans is probably on it's way out... 3/4 clutch pack is most likey burned to some degree.. Running a 2800 Stall is going to create alot of heat.. I would make sure to be running the largest trans cooler ever.. stop go traffic with that stall will fry a trans no problem.. I would also have a few other things done to the trans such as a trans go shift kit and there vacuum modulator setup that replaces the Line pressure solenoid.. it helps with pressure rise issues especially if your running some engine mods or a higher stall converter.. there is also a list of internal components I would upgrade.. call FLP performance Chuck Johnson over there builds a mean 4L60E..
-Rick

 

Exactly. Between all of the extra heat generated by the larger stall and the extra stress from your other mods your A4's days were numbered.

Mark

 

so should i not rebuild this one and put in the cooler. Would that last or is going to blow out again eventully like that anyway?? ans why did all the sudden start working again?? I mean I know it will blow again but how is this possible. I thought if it was broke then it was broke

 

3-4clutch pak went out in mine and I lost 3rd and 4th gear. Based on how you say its behaving, it wouldn't be a surprise at all if you needed a rebuild. Check Rodney "Crashed 94" right here on the Forum.

From the little I know about shift kits, if you decide to go with one, be sure that they don't crank up your line pressures too high in the programming.

 

With 3.90's and a 2800 stall TC your tranny temps must be fairly high. High temps are the death of any A4. The FLP Level IV with a tranny cooler would be the way to go. My tranny temps seldom go above 215 with this setup. :flag

 

High stall and low rear end gears plus heat kills a stock tranny. IMO, you must at least install a shift kit and cooler before making these mods.

 

Huh? I recently had ECS install 3.42's & an SS3600 T/C, the tranny temps have NEVER exceeded 223* for more than 5 mins. Normally in heavy stop-n-go driving the tranny runs 192 - 206*.

All this without the benefit of an aftermarket cooler. I know my days may be numbered with 487rwhp coming from my D1-SC, but until I start seeing "consistently" high temps OR something starts acting funny..... I'll leave well enough alone.

Could your problem be coming from the tranny controller? I don't know much about this stuff, but thought I read/heard someplace that these can sometimes be the culprit. I'm all the more suspicious given the fact that your tranny starting working again just fine the next day.

Look forward to hearing how things pan out for ya!

 

I really wish I would have know all this 3 years ago when I did all my mods minus the gears which were done last fall. Would have saved me a lot of @#$ pain now!!!!

 

Dad, 223* is steep. 192-206 is not all that great long term either. I generally run 169 and never ever above 183 with my 2600 stall Pro Torque and 3.42s. Now that its summer, I see the occasional 170-172. I'm running the Hayden cooler. I don't know what 190 looks like. What are the outside temps where you are?

Coming from the track this past friday at around midnight in 69-70* weather and about a 35 mile drive, I was around 160* for my tranny temps. I remember seeing 159* most of the way home. This was after 5 quarter mile passe each nearly 45-50 minutes apart, and then getting on the road back home for the 35 mile drive.

I remember reading that 175-185* was where you want to be in normal driving. It was a bit cool that night though.

I am a bit , but I would worry if I were seeing 190s and 200s.

My original transmission went to 230* before it gave up the ghost the first time, so 200s scare me. I haven't seen 200s since that fateful day.

I used to drive around with my MPG displayed on the DIC, but I am so paranoid about my tranny temps, I roll with them displayed at all times now. I have a 170* thermostat, if this makes a difference and my tranny temps closely parallel my coolant temps.

You need a cooler Dad. Sooner rather than later.

Something starts acting funny??? When something starts acting funny with these transmissions, thats generally the signal that it will require rebuild. Its too late for "preventive" steps at that point. The 4L60E gives little to no warning when it is ready to crap out.

 

Ok so it seems everyone is agreeing to get it rebuilt (replaced actually) and add a tranny cooler ( what do those cost) I guess add a trans go shift kit also then. Do i need to think about adding anything else. I'm running decent HP and always thinking about more so..... Should I think about keeping my gears cooler also? I mean I'm going to be down there with everything ripped out so I might as well look at all the options, coolers, shift kits, better torque converter for that will hold more HP, beef up what I can and where, what about a beefer drive shaft. I guess I would just like to keep this and anything else from happening again (or for a long while)

 

Transmission coolers are cheap insurance. $75.00 will get you a nice one. Mine is 24000 GVW if I remember correctly.

http://www.haydenauto.com/transmis.html I got the middle one.

This chart was interesting too http://www.partshp.com/Hayden.htm

 

Hey EB,

Those are some pretty low temps you're seein' there. I spoke with the guys @ ECS, their advice was if you start seeing 240 - 250* regularly then it's time to start thinking about the tranny cooler.

I too keep the DIC on tranny temp all the time, I'll keep my eye on it and will hold off a little longer..... Looks like I'm in the market for a line-lok and cage before my next track day! :blush:

 

Agree with Dad and some of the other posts above about tranny temps. When I installed my 2800 TC and 3.42 gears, I spoke with both Precision Industries (Vigilante) and a couple of other TC manufacturers and all of them said that until you go above 3000 RPM TC's, you don't need supplemental cooling.

I've got a 19K GVW tranny cooler sitting around that I'll install when I get around to it but, according to the tech support folks, it isn't necessary.

Just my $.02 worth.

 

so if i might not need this cooler for having a 2800 tc why would my tranny go. Is it because I have 3.90 gears then???

 

OK...I talked to both FLP and PATC Speedshop. I got two different prices and two different stories. Now I don't know what to do. I'm going to be honest and say I don't know much about trannies and need help so I get what is best for me and my car. FLP said that I would need there LVL 4 tranny which is $1995 plus there $60 cooler and some brake line that I would have to find to run a vaccum line. They said that should be just fine for the 450hp and 500torque I have at the fly wheel. Those are the only reading I have cause I got it dynoed here in germany and that is the translation they gave me after words. Anyway....they said that, that tranny should be all I would need now and even later if I dedcided to supercharge. I would just use my old torque converter also.

PATC quoted me for there best tranny they make @ $2532 minus a couple hundred if I decided to use my torque converter I have all ready or I could get a much better thn I have now (yank 2800) do I need a better one? I asked them what else I would need and he said nothing. He said my vet should have came with a cooler (his did, but might have been option), but if i did need one that was no extra charge because of a deal they have going on ( a cooler or a shirt, avery expensive shirt they said), and I don't need this vaccum line either. He said that I don't want the tranny to run off a vaccum so the FLP one was a definte NO.

I need to know if anyone else out there has done tranny work and who or what they went with. I really have no idea so I could use some help here.

 

The other day I drove 50 miles at 70-80 mph with a 4000 stall and 3.73's, my tranny temps never exceeded 200 degrees. And I don't have a trans cooler. The only time I've seen them hit 210+ is while hot lapping at the track.

 

Did you check for codes?With the gears and TC you have you will get a cod that indicates that your trans is slipping(unless you have already taken care of this with programing) and this puts the tranny in second gear.The fact that it is now running ok further supports this.CHECK FOR CODES BEFOR YOU SPEND ANY MONEY.Let us know what the codes are and we can then make a better recommendation.

 

I posted the codes under the thread called Many Codes!!!!!

I had a custer computer built from west coast corvettes when I installed my 3.90's since there isn't a handheld for that type of gear ratio (ecpesiall(sp) a 98)