Flush the transmission or only change the fluid

[kstrohm]

At what point is it recommended for the Tiptronic auto trans to change out the fluid.

I realize some dealers (and Audi of America) will say that it is lifetime fluid.

Is 55K a good time to change it?

If so, should the trans be flushed or just the fluid changed?

Any deals out there for OEM Audi fluid?

[bluetori]

If its not discoloured its fine.

[k9lovr]

I was wondering the same thing...

At what point is it recommended for the Tiptronic auto trans to change out the fluid.

I realize some dealers (and Audi of America) will say that it is lifetime fluid.

Is 55K a good time to change it?

If so, should the trans be flushed or just the fluid changed?

Any deals out there for OEM Audi fluid?

[kstrohm]

I would think its similar to the B7 recommendations? Maybe there are not enough B8 owners which have got to the 50K miles+ point yet ....

[Blake P]

Meh, I'm at 90k on the original fluid and don't plan on changing it.

[Liquid Smoke]

If anything just the fluid change, I've heard that flushing the transmission can do more damage than good, it's not meant to be flushed and supposed to last lifetime so I don't know if I'd do that unless you were having transmission issues and a dealer/mechanic actually recommended flushing it.

[kstrohm]

Maybe I'll just hold off for awhile. I just do not want to eventually pass up the ~55K mark and find out I should have switched out the fluid...

[Blake P]

Maybe I'll just hold off for awhile. I just do not want to eventually pass up the ~55K mark and find out I should have switched out the fluid...

The only good reason to do it would be if your service advisor really needed the sale to meet his quota for monthly/quarterly/yearly sales goal and his family would not be able to survive without that bonus. Otherwise, you're just wasting your money.

[Dan_Q]

Well when you drain an automatic transmission you won't get out the fluid in the torque converter so it will be pretty incomplete if you just drain and fill. Normally you'd drain it-refill it-drive it. Driving it will mix the fluids so if you do that 3X in a row you will have changed out about 90% of the old fluid.

I do my manual trans fluid every 30k miles and would do the same if I had an automatic. But that is probably overkill and 50k is still reasonable.

If you're gonna keep it till 120-150k miles then it is probably easier to spend an hour and $75 on fluid every 50k miles than it will be to spend $5000 on a new transmission. If you are going to sell it before that mileage then it probably doesn't matter. If you sell it, most buyers won't even know what transmission fluid is or why you would want to change it.

[Blake P]

Well when you drain an automatic transmission you won't get out the fluid in the torque converter so it will be pretty incomplete if you just drain and fill. Normally you'd drain it-refill it-drive it. Driving it will mix the fluids so if you do that 3X in a row you will have changed out about 90% of the old fluid.

I do my manual trans fluid every 30k miles and would do the same if I had an automatic. But that is probably overkill and 50k is still reasonable.

If you're gonna keep it till 120-150k miles then it is probably easier to spend an hour and $75 on fluid every 50k miles than it will be to spend $5000 on a new transmission. If you are going to sell it before that mileage then it probably doesn't matter. If you sell it, most buyers won't even know what transmission fluid is or why you would want to change it.

No more overkill than the guys who change their synthetic oil every 5k because it makes them feel better about maintaining their cars. Trust me, Audi is in the business of making money and if they think they could get away with recommending and charging for changing ANY fluids before they have to, they would do so.

[Dan_Q]

No more overkill than the guys who change their synthetic oil every 5k because it makes them feel better about maintaining their cars. Trust me, Audi is in the business of making money and if they think they could get away with recommending and charging for changing ANY fluids before they have to, they would do so.

Yeah they could charge for it. Customers would just buy cars from other manufacturers who say it isn't needed. Not recommending maintenance keeps a car's cost of ownership lower and avoids the hassle of having to bring it in. Let's face it, many luxury car owners are wealthy people who know nothing about cars. They don't want to have to drive in and drop their cars off on a regular basis and of course they wouldn't want to have to pay for it if they did. They're more likely to keep the car for 25k miles than they are to keep it for 125k miles which is the time frame when the affected parts would actually wear out. If you told them engine oil would last forever then half of them would no doubt believe it.

Every auto technician I know regularly replaces the "lifetime" fluids in their own cars. But like I said, if people don't plan to keep their cars for very long then the only people who benefit by doing additional maintenance are the owners in the future.

[gdawg'05a4]

FWIW, usually "lifetime" means lifetime of the component. If your transmission dies at 100k, then there's your "lifetime" fluid. Mercedes use to do lifetime transmission fluid for the longest time until customers started having their transmissions crap out before 100k miles. Now, transmission fluid changes are at 39k mi intervals. IMO, no fluid is lifetime...they break down at some point.

I sometimes am weary of Audi's intervals. Look back at the B6 1.8Ts. The timing belt service interval started at 105k miles when they first came out. When water pumps started seizing and belts were breaking before the 105k interval, they came out with a TSB and maintenance booklet insert that revised the TB interval to 75k miles.

[FSures]

Change and DON"T flush the trans. There are little particles from the clutches that coat the inside one the trans, and you don't want to disturb them. The fluid is very expensive. I will be doing mine at the 55K service. Remember, " lifetime " is until the trans fails. Heat will kill any oil and that is why it is good to change the fluid even if you can't get it all out. My BMW trans lasted over 236,000 miles because I serviced the trans. The first change, the fluid looked like s**t and smelled awful.

[kstrohm]

^ I'm leaning towards changing the fluid. Probably around the 55K - 60K mark ... I just do not want to deal later on selling a car that has never had the fluid changed.

[parm104]

Audi NEVER recommends a transmission fluid flush. Since the B5 model, they've never recommended a transmission flush. According to Audi, you won't ever have to flush your transmission.

The only time I had to do it was on my B6 A4 when I put in a new valve body.

[tilhas]

I'm wondering the same thing. I've got an Automatic B8 and when it's cold it feels rough to change. Can changeing the oil do any harm?

[AofC_RR]

CVT's it's recommended at 35-40K

[Vinhouw]

Quick question, for a transmission service on a 2011 B8 A4 CVT, do you only change the fluid or you have to change the filter + gasket? I was quoted $350 for it at the dealer(not sure if it includes everything in the service,which is fluid, gasket and filter) . The kit on ecs comes with everything for $296.75. Read a DIY for it, and the guy just changed the fluid, no gasket no filter... so is it mandatory to do filter + gasket? if so, might as well pay the $50 more and get it done professionally.

i got a 2011 B8 A4, automatic transmission

[B44]

[QUOTE=kstrohm;7331919]At what point is it recommended for the Tiptronic auto trans to change out the fluid.

I realize some dealers (and Audi of America) will say that it is lifetime fluid.

Is 55K a good time to change it?

you can do it around the 60 to 70k mark all the way up to 90k is fine. another thing to remember is you do not want a flush because thats bad all you want to do is drain the old fluid and replace the new trans filter and put in the new fluid. also while doing this you could drain and fill the differential fluid aswell to keep things running efficiently again for both the differential and the trans just drain and fill do not flush. check with your local dealer on how many quarts the trans and the diff require.

this link will give you a pretty good understanding.

http://www.audizine.com/forum/showth...n-Fluid-Change

[S4'ed]

If you change it regularly (no more than 50,000 mile intervals), there is no need to flush. Also, if you flush, you should ONLY use OEM ATF, I would not use any "flush" products/additives...who knows if they are truly compatible with the trans and the OEM ATF.