A4 B8 CVT Transmission Reliability Issues

[DougC]

I took delivery of a 2009 A4 a couple of months ago, and have recently been reading horror stories regarding expensive repairs of CVT TCU failures in the forum.

Needless to say, I am shocked at the prevalence of such a problem from a manufacturer like Audi and even more dismayed when I read of the lack of support provided by Audi to the poor punters who have suffered this problem.

I note that the problems discussed relate mainly to cars that are a few years old (eg. B6 model) and often with high mileage.

My question is, has the fault with CVT transmissions been ironed out by now with the latest model?

[nm2003]

I am not happy with the smoothness upon take off with my CVT, in my A4 B8 1.8T.

That being said, I borrowed a loan car the other week that had the same engine and transmission, and I was surprised how smooth it was upon take off. It did had a lag, but none of the jerky/clunkiness that mine sometimes demonstrates.

Maybe it is the way the car is run in, or maybe it is pot luck, if you get a good CVT. One thing is for sure, the dealers loan car would have been driven harder than mine was.

[DougC]

I am not happy with the smoothness upon take off with my CVT, in my A4 B8 1.8T.

That being said, I borrowed a loan car the other week that had the same engine and transmission, and I was surprised how smooth it was upon take off. It did had a lag, but none of the jerky/clunkiness that mine sometimes demonstrates.

Maybe it is the way the car is run in, or maybe it is pot luck, if you get a good CVT. One thing is for sure, the dealers loan car would have been driven harder than mine was.

Yep, I guess it is probably a case of the luck of the draw. What struck me as interesting was your experience of different behaviours of two equally specified cars. I guess unless you have the opportunity to drive a similarly spec'd vehicle for comparison, you'd have absolutely no way of knowing if your car was behaving "normally" or not.

[nm2003]

Yep, I guess it is probably a case of the luck of the draw. What struck me as interesting was your experience of different behaviours of two equally specified cars. I guess unless you have the opportunity to drive a similarly spec'd vehicle for comparison, you'd have absolutely no way of knowing if your car was behaving "normally" or not.

As stated, the CVT on this other B8 did not miss a beat, not once. I pushed the throttle a number of times, stop, start and it took off like a convention transmission, not once jerky and smooth every single time.

[DougC]

As stated, the CVT on this other B8 did not miss a beat, not once. I pushed the throttle a number of times, stop, start and it took off like a convention transmission, not once jerky and smooth every single time.

Now that you've seen how the CVT can perform and have a basis for comparison, have you gone back to the dealer and asked them to investigate why yours is not as smooth as the demo model you drove?

[nm2003]

Now that you've seen how the CVT can perform and have a basis for comparison, have you gone back to the dealer and asked them to investigate why yours is not as smooth as the demo model you drove?

I will be going in at the end of the month and will get them to check it out..

[DougC]

I will be going in at the end of the month and will get them to check it out..

Please let us know how you get on.

Cheers

[a8 tech]

I am not happy with the smoothness upon take off with my CVT, in my A4 B8 1.8T.

That being said, I borrowed a loan car the other week that had the same engine and transmission, and I was surprised how smooth it was upon take off. It did had a lag, but none of the jerky/clunkiness that mine sometimes demonstrates.

Maybe it is the way the car is run in, or maybe it is pot luck, if you get a good CVT. One thing is for sure, the dealers loan car would have been driven harder than mine was.

Ask the dealer to reset the adaption channels by the adaptive road test function in guided fault finding,that normally sorts the gear change issue.If the battery discharged before delivery then its likely the re adaption of the gearbox wasn't carried out causing similar symptoms as yours

[a8 tech]

I took delivery of a 2009 A4 a couple of months ago, and have recently been reading horror stories regarding expensive repairs of CVT TCU failures in the forum.

Needless to say, I am shocked at the prevalence of such a problem from a manufacturer like Audi and even more dismayed when I read of the lack of support provided by Audi to the poor punters who have suffered this problem.

I note that the problems discussed relate mainly to cars that are a few years old (eg. B6 model) and often with high mileage.

My question is, has the fault with CVT transmissions been ironed out by now with the latest model?

So far B8 has been fine,the new version of this box has been modified and some low mileage owners suffered delayed or no drive in isolated cases.It was found that small pieces of the valve body were blocking the oil gallery and once passed and lodged in the filter normal operation resumed.

[DougC]

So far B8 has been fine,the new version of this box has been modified and some low mileage owners suffered delayed or no drive in isolated cases.It was found that small pieces of the valve body were blocking the oil gallery and once passed and lodged in the filter normal operation resumed.

Thanks. Good to hear that at the moment the signs are positive. Hope it continues that way.