Audi A6 Quattro 2.7T automatic gearbox will not change gear

**nigelbb** · 16-03-2012,09:03 AM

The Tiptronic automatic gearbox on my 2001 Audi A6 Quattro 2.7T won't change out of second wherever I put the lever. In drive it has to rev up a bit higher than normal before pulling off & no matter how hard I rev or kick down it doesn't change gear. Thankfully I can still engage park & reverse. Any ideas?

**nigelbb** · 28-03-2012,09:24 AM

Just had a call from my garage & the bad news is that the error codes are coming up as internal automatic gearbox problems which are beyond their knowledge or ability to fix. They suggest that I take it to Audi or a specialist automatic transmission place:-(

**nigelbb** · 31-03-2012,09:35 AM

I have the car booked in with Jack Dain in Norwich who are apparently the best automatic transmission specialists in East Anglia. Sadly they couldn't look at it for another two weeks.

The good news is that when I went to collect the car from my regular Audi specialist yesterday afternoon that the problem had gone! It changes gear up/down auto/manual just as it did before the problem started. Even better I found a garage with fuel & no queue so was able to fill up with petrol on the way home.

Goodness knows what caused the fault or why it has now cleared itself but I am still going to get the specialists to give it the once over. I have read about the sealed for life transmission needing to be topped up after a high mileage & as mine has done 185K it could well be a candidate. Fingers crossed that the problem doesn't recur as I had visions of a mega-expensive gearbox repair/replacement.

**nigelbb** · 11-04-2012,01:35 PM

I took the car into the transmission specialist today only to discover I was a day early as I got the date wrong. Happily they were happy to take it in & promised to take a look if they had time today. I just had a call & the verdict is that it's the gearbox ECU that sits under the carpet on the drivers side. Evidently it got damaged by water a couple of months ago when I had the battery compartment drains clogged & it filled up with water. I had thought that it was only the rear carpet that got soaked but evidently the front underlay had got damp even though the carpet remained dry.

The cost for a new ECU is going to be over £500+VAT+labour. They did offer me the option that if I found a used ECU on eBay/breakers then they would fit it for me. I had a quick look around & couldn't find anything cheaper so have told them to go ahead although they can't get the part for 5-10 days.

Even though it's going to be expensive it's still worth doing. I had visions of needing a new gearbox & the cost of repair being higher than the value of the car.

**ceilidhalfie** · 11-04-2012,05:27 PM

Originally Posted by nigelbb

I took the car into the transmission specialist today only to discover I was a day early as I got the date wrong. Happily they were happy to take it in & promised to take a look if they had time today. I just had a call & the verdict is that it's the gearbox ECU that sits under the carpet on the drivers side. Evidently it got damaged by water a couple of months ago when I had the battery compartment drains clogged & it filled up with water. I had thought that it was only the rear carpet that got soaked but evidently the front underlay had got damp even though the carpet remained dry.

The cost for a new ECU is going to be over £500+VAT+labour. They did offer me the option that if I found a used ECU on eBay/breakers then they would fit it for me. I had a quick look around & couldn't find anything cheaper so have told them to go ahead although they can't get the part for 5-10 days.

Even though it's going to be expensive it's still worth doing. I had visions of needing a new gearbox & the cost of repair being higher than the value of the car.

Might be worth e-mailing andy coggan <motorsinmotion@hotmail.co.uk>. I have used Andy a few times for used parts. He offers 3 months warranty. He could save you a bit of money.

**nigelbb** · 23-04-2012,04:50 PM

Just to complete the story I collected the car last Wednesday after paying the bill for £770 drove around 20 miles & then the fault returned. As I was only a couple of miles from the transmission specialist I called in & they read the fault codes which told them that there was a problem with the solenoid. Apparently if the ECU detects any sort of problem it will enter this default state so it's not the problem per se but the ECUs response to an actual problem. They cleared the error codes & then the car drove OK for about two miles then entered the default 'error-detected' state of not changing gear agin. I immediately stopped & called up the specialist to arrange to bring the car in on the following day. I restarted & the fault had cleared & stayed clear. They replaced the solenoid anyway & made no charge.

It seems to be driving OK now but it will take a while before I am 100% confident again. This car is a dream to drive but has let me down more times in 15 months of ownership than any other car I have owned in 40 years of driving!

**swurv** · 17-02-2013,09:36 AM

Hey what's going on man I have a 2000 Audi a6 2.7t and it seems to have the same problem just bought it and dont really now if it's the same problem but it takes off really slow and sluggish but when it reaches about 20-25 it flow as should but no gears are changing throughout this whole process and I'm kinda glad I found this now I think I have a clue to what's causing my baby to take off so slow...
I live in NewYork and i dont really know of and audi transmission specialist around and so can i take it to anyone to have my codes reset because i do have some error code readings or should i just take it to audi?

**nigelbb** · 17-02-2013,09:51 AM

You don't need to take it to Audi but you will need to take it to an automatic transmission specialist who is used to working with Audi & can read out the error codes.

**swurv** · 17-02-2013,10:04 AM

Thanks I'm gonna try to find one close to where I'm at. And question will driving it like it is cause any damage to anything?

**nigelbb** · 17-02-2013,11:01 AM

You should be OK to drive it. When it happened to mine I was concerned that the whole transmission was totally buggered but as it turns out if the automatic transmission 'brain' detects any problems then it switches to this default state where the car can be driven but it doesn't change gear. Hopefully in your case the underlying problem will turn out to be something minor. Please do report back what happens when you take it in.