Gearbox issues

[sven_bcn]

Hi everyone,

Unfortunately, I had to bring my car into the dealership 2 days ago with gearbox issues. I just dropped off my daughter at kindergarten, left with a cold engine, and suddenly the car seemed to have issues with shifting. It shifted a couple of times from 1st to second and back while coming to a stand still at a crossing. A couple of seconds later, a warning popped up on the dashboard, telling me there was an issue with the gearbox...
At that point, I turned of the engine, waited a couple of seconds, restarted, and the warning was gone. Nevertheless, I decided to bring the car in.

2 days later, I just received a phone call from the technician working on the car. They found that there was not enough transmission fluid in the car! According to the technician, the fluid is supposed to last a really really really long time...The car has 80000km now.... They couldn´t find a leak though...

So, does this mean there was never enought fluid in the car from the start? Or is the car somehow "using" this fluid? Any thoughts out there?

I must say, I´m starting to lose confidence in the car... First year of owning it, I had air suspension issues. Last year, the water coolant leak was discovered, and now this...

Cheers,
Sven

[anemeth]

The gearbox is one sealed unit. If there is no leak, there was not enough fluid in it in the first place. There is nothing in the gearbox which can "consume" any fluid.

[FortyPlus]

The gearbox is one sealed unit. If there is no leak, there was not enough fluid in it in the first place. There is nothing in the gearbox which can "consume" any fluid.

+1 to that. Had a similar ZF gearbox in a previous 3.0tdi VW and in the course some major engine work I discussed with the Service manager if the gearbox should get any attention. He was a competent chap and was in no doubt it was best left alone. It is in theory sealed for life.

Some would suggest changing fluid at high mileage, maybe 100,000 miles, but some say to leave it alone....

I sold the car with 160,000 miles ( 250K Km) and the gearbox had never been touched and was working fine.

Assume you see no leakage under the car, on drip trays, etc

[Scott K]

ZF themselves suggest an oil change at between 80 and 120,000 kms. If I was keeping a tiptronic long term, I would get it changed.

[Alan02]

They are not sealed for life. On speaking with a ZF approved gearbox specialist, he mentioned everyone thinks they are `filled for life`, but that only applies (if I remember right) to the warranty period of the `box.