How do you know if your torque converter is bad?

[ju1ce]

Your wisdom is appreciated.

[awdjunkies]

You get the dreaded P0741 code = TORQUE CONVERTER PERFORMANCE OR STUCK OFF/NO POWER TRANSFER Or something to that effect. Sometimes you won't ven feel a difference in driving but you may hear a clunk when shifting in reverse or from parking to ?? .. Sometimes you may even have a delay in going from drive to reverse or vice versa.

[Charles.waite]

Or you don't get a code at all and you feel the revs bounce 1-200rpms when the trans fluid is cold and the engine is under light loads. Basically the TC won't properly lock up and it'll feel like its slipping ever so slightly. Hard shifting is also another symptom, but that is usually a Valve Body issue more than a TC issue.

[ju1ce]

Or you don't get a code at all and you feel the revs bounce 1-200rpms when the trans fluid is cold and the engine is under light loads. Basically the TC won't properly lock up and it'll feel like its slipping ever so slightly. Hard shifting is also another symptom, but that is usually a Valve Body issue more than a TC issue.

Do you feel the revs bouncing in all the gears?

And as far as delay when going into reverse, etc. how much are we talking about?

[2.7taudi]

Or you don't get a code at all and you feel the revs bounce 1-200rpms when the trans fluid is cold and the engine is under light loads. Basically the TC won't properly lock up and it'll feel like its slipping ever so slightly. Hard shifting is also another symptom, but that is usually a Valve Body issue more than a TC issue.

Wouldnt this happen in all conditions/ all the time and not just when the fluid is cold?


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[Charles.waite]

Wouldnt this happen in all conditions/ all the time and not just when the fluid is cold?


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It does for me. My B7 has this issue and when I had a faulty Thermostat and the car was running cold all the time, it happened all the time. Immediately after I replaced the thermostat, the issue almost completely subsided when the engine is warmed up, but when its cold it still happens. Its kind of strange but it makes sense I suppose.

[Charles.waite]

Do you feel the revs bouncing in all the gears?

And as far as delay when going into reverse, etc. how much are we talking about?

Yea it happens in all gears for me.

I actually have an issue as well where shifting from R or P to D and back takes so long the car rolls forward on hill and can be really unpredictable unless you give it some gas, and then it lurches really badly into gear. Its really freaking annoying and makes it look like you don't know how to drive.

[daihashi]

Or you don't get a code at all and you feel the revs bounce 1-200rpms when the trans fluid is cold and the engine is under light loads. Basically the TC won't properly lock up and it'll feel like its slipping ever so slightly. Hard shifting is also another symptom, but that is usually a Valve Body issue more than a TC issue.

damn you and your descriptions of potential doom (j/k). I noticed this when I'm in 2nd gear. It will drive normally up to 2800 RPM and then dip to about 2400 RPM or so and catch again. You don't feel or notice a loss of power, and you can only notice it on the tachometer if I'm accelerating slowly (like a grandma). With my foot on the pedal it goes to fast for me to be able to notice visually or feel it.

[Charles.waite]

damn you and your descriptions of potential doom (j/k). I noticed this when I'm in 2nd gear. It will drive normally up to 2800 RPM and then dip to about 2400 RPM or so and catch again. You don't feel or notice a loss of power, and you can only notice it on the tachometer if I'm accelerating slowly (like a grandma). With my foot on the pedal it goes to fast for me to be able to notice visually or feel it.

Yea thats about right. When you're on it hard it locks up just fine, or the fast climbing revs mask it. But grandma driving is what makes it the worst strangely. Some have said it doesn't happen to them in Sport or Tiptronic mode, but I notice it in both.

Don't shoot the messenger. I'm pretty pissed about this issue. How a 5 y/o car (my 2006 B7) that has been completely stock all its life and probably driven by soccer moms has a failing transmission is beyond me. I am thinking about calling AoA and lodging a complaint as I've got no CPO on it and don't have $3k to replace my transmission. I would say Manual swap, but my GF likes having the tip, when its working at least.

[daihashi]

Yea thats about right. When you're on it hard it locks up just fine, or the fast climbing revs mask it. But grandma driving is what makes it the worst strangely. Some have said it doesn't happen to them in Sport or Tiptronic mode, but I notice it in both.

Don't shoot the messenger. I'm pretty pissed about this issue. How a 5 y/o car (my 2006 B7) that has been completely stock all its life and probably driven by soccer moms has a failing transmission is beyond me. I am thinking about calling AoA and lodging a complaint as I've got no CPO on it and don't have $3k to replace my transmission. I would say Manual swap, but my GF likes having the tip, when its working at least.

Yeah, I was just kidding about the Doom comment. Sorry about your issues, mine is so minor that I only noticed it because I've really been paying attention to all my gauges to do a 'Fuel Efficiency/MPG' write up. It's so minor that I can barely even say it's a problem. If my trans starts to get really bad then I'll either try to buy a 2.7/2.8 wrecked (rear ended preferred) S4 or A6 from an auction and do a full Engine/ECU/Trans swap; if I don't go that route then I'll probably do both a Valve body and TC upgrade from 517. Oddly enough both would probably cost close to the same amount, maybe $500-700 difference between the two.

On a side note, yesterday on the way home from work I noticed some whining coming from the area that my fuel pump is at. The fuel filter was changed in the last month, so that leaves the pump itself as a potential problem. :(... It feels like everything on my car has been breaking since this year kicked off (really end of last year). Oh well.

[Charles.waite]

My pump is making a really faint, high pitched whine (sounds like capacitor whine) coming from the fuel pump also. Kindof sucks. Not excited about having to shell out for a pump for my b6 and my b7 this year...

[daihashi]

My pump is making a really faint, high pitched whine (sounds like capacitor whine) coming from the fuel pump also. Kindof sucks. Not excited about having to shell out for a pump for my b6 and my b7 this year...

mine is the same type of whine. I also have some other odd quirks that make me think that my grounds have a bit too much resistance due to heat and age, vacuum drop/surge from power windows, since I installed the TSI coils I notice an occassional miss (doesn't register in any measuring blocks, but I know a miss when I hear it), a few other minor things. Vacuum drop is very noticable with electrical load on my car.

I'll be re-doing the big 3 in 1ga welding wire. Also considering giving each coil it's own independent ground instead of the shared common ground that they have. May redo the G12 ground also in larger wire, I get a weird error from time to time in my auto trans module (18265 - Load Signal: Error Message from ECU,P1857 - 003 - Mechanical Failure - Intermittent). That one only happens on a rare occassion and I only notice because sometimes I do a full scan of all modules.

I'll let you know if redoing the grounds get's rid of my fuel pump whine. I doubt it but I'm hoping all these other minor "issues" are related to a common source; we'll see.

[Charles.waite]

Interesting. My windows definitely bog my engine a tad at idle when I roll them up before shutting off the engine. I've got an almost brand new Optima RedTop so the battery isn't the issue. I wonder if cleaning up my grounds would solve this. Is there a good way to test them with a multimeter?

[daihashi]

Interesting. My windows definitely bog my engine a tad at idle when I roll them up before shutting off the engine. I've got an almost brand new Optima RedTop so the battery isn't the issue. I wonder if cleaning up my grounds would solve this. Is there a good way to test them with a multimeter?

You could but if working by yourself it would be limited to testing the car with all electronics off, and then all electronics on. If you have someone to help then you can test for voltage drops across each electronic component (for example, on my windows I only notice the drop the second that the regulator has finished rolling the window up or down to whatever position I choose.. does not occur during the roll down). Less voltage drop the better.

Corrosion itself can be verified by measuring the resistance on the ground cable. When I rewired my #1 coil pack this weekend I noticed that the ground pin wire was green and if I fanned out the copper wires and ran my thumb across it, white dust would shoot up (both colors are visual indication of corrosion, which definitely increases resistance). I noticed the same build up on the coil shared ground, where the copper wires meet the crimp.

You can try just cleaning up the wires, sanding/cleaning the grounding surfaces and bolt it all back down. I hate doing things twice, so I'm just going to replace/upgrade the big 3 with 1gauge welding wire, and other grounds that I deem "important" with 4awg or 8awg wire. I haven't decided if I will really give each coil pack it's own ground.... sounds like a good idea in theory.

[Charles.waite]

You could but if working by yourself it would be limited to testing the car with all electronics off, and then all electronics on. If you have someone to help then you can test for voltage drops across each electronic component (for example, on my windows I only notice the drop the second that the regulator has finished rolling the window up or down to whatever position I choose.. does not occur during the roll down). Less voltage drop the better.

Corrosion itself can be verified by measuring the resistance on the ground cable. When I rewired my #1 coil pack this weekend I noticed that the ground pin wire was green and if I fanned out the copper wires and ran my thumb across it, white dust would shoot up (both colors are visual indication of corrosion, which definitely increases resistance). I noticed the same build up on the coil shared ground, where the copper wires meet the crimp.

You can try just cleaning up the wires, sanding/cleaning the grounding surfaces and bolt it all back down. I hate doing things twice, so I'm just going to replace/upgrade the big 3 with 1gauge welding wire, and other grounds that I deem "important" with 4awg or 8awg wire. I haven't decided if I will really give each coil pack it's own ground.... sounds like a good idea in theory.

Interesting. I have a good buddy who is really into Car Audio and Audiophile stuff, (he builds tube amps from scratch among other things) so I'm sure he could help me out. We may meet up and do a little wrenching one of these days, if we do, and decide to tackle the grounds I'll be sure to post up some info and findings.

[daihashi]

People say that Audi's have great grounds. I agree for the most part, but Age and heat don't discriminate. I expect to 'feel' the idle smooth out slightly, maybe gain 1in/hg at idle with the engine under load, and maybe slightly more responsiveness.

Ricers and others say that you will get hp and fuel efficiency. That's kind of misleading, it's true but usually in high horsepower applications where you need all the help you can get for spark and fueling.

[evo_ski]

If either of you end up doing the big three and upgrading any other wiring if you can please do make a thread as I have been contemplating doing the same thing myself for some time. I would be very interested to hear if that made any significant changes as well as see some pics as to how you went about it.

[daihashi]

If either of you end up doing the big three and upgrading any other wiring if you can please do make a thread as I have been contemplating doing the same thing myself for some time. I would be very interested to hear if that made any significant changes as well as see some pics as to how you went about it.

Yep, I already planned on it. I'm hoping to have my weld cable and lugs in by this weekend. I'll try to get some before and after readings from various points on the car also; that way there's a bit more evidence that signal was improved as opposed to just "it feels better" type of conclusion.

If I manage to get this done by the weekend I probably won't have a write up for about another week; pretty busy with work related stuff.

[evo_ski]

That would be incredible. Your threads seems to very precise and have a ton of great info, so I look forward to it!

[daihashi]

That would be incredible. Your threads seems to very precise and have a ton of great info, so I look forward to it!

I'm pretty anal/obsessive... to be honest I feel that sometimes I give too much information, which can lead to confusion or incorrect assumptions. When I do this write up I'm going to spend a lot of time filtering out my side notes/comments and just provide the specifics and technical info.

[JonoF]

damn you and your descriptions of potential doom (j/k). I noticed this when I'm in 2nd gear. It will drive normally up to 2800 RPM and then dip to about 2400 RPM or so and catch again. You don't feel or notice a loss of power, and you can only notice it on the tachometer if I'm accelerating slowly (like a grandma). With my foot on the pedal it goes to fast for me to be able to notice visually or feel it.

My car has been doing this in second gear since I bought the car in October, except at a little lower RPM's. It's hardly noticeable, I think if my car had stock exhaust I wouldn't have picked up on it. At first I thought it was quickly shifting from second to third, but then I realized it wasn't actually changing gears. I didn't really think much about it until I read this thread, my transmission is perfect in every other way, I sure hope my TC is failing. I had the car inspected by an Audi specialist before I bought it, but I could see how it could be missed.

[ju1ce]

Yeah, I thought the same. Mines been doing it since 40k. Has 90 on it now. Not getting worse, so I think it's purely programming like the research I found says. No one has given me a definitive answer or fix in 5 years.

[harorider95]

Or you don't get a code at all and you feel the revs bounce 1-200rpms when the trans fluid is cold and the engine is under light loads. Basically the TC won't properly lock up and it'll feel like its slipping ever so slightly. Hard shifting is also another symptom, but that is usually a Valve Body issue more than a TC issue.

So what causes the problem to stop when the car warms up? the oil level rising in the trans pan, or the thickness of the trans oil getting thicker as it is heated? im confused

[Charles.waite]

So what causes the problem to stop when the car warms up? the oil level rising in the trans pan, or the thickness of the trans oil getting thicker as it is heated? im confused

Could be both. When the fluid reaches the proper temp, it has the proper viscosity and this operates in the range that the people who make the transmission calibrate it to.

[msharifi]

I had to change the Torque converter on my 2003 1.8. car had 127k and I never changed the fluid or filter which was my first mistake. I had bought the car used with 27000k and I kept reading ZF fluids on tiptronic transmission is lifetime.. Well at 127k miles I had issues... I had higher rpm while driving but I did notice while on freeway going 80mph I noticed RPM would be at 3k or over 3k. I would get the TC code while on 3rd gear turning right or if I reset the code the code would come back same spot meaning I would drive from location A to B same route and time. I wanted to save money and I changed the fluid and filter to see if this would fix the problem. the fluid was so dirty that you thought it was grease with oil mixed in. It improved it little bit which I didn't get the TC code for couple of days and it returned.

I finally did change the TC and main I can tell you how much it improved the ride... high rpm is fixed.. going from P to R no shaking and no spike to the RPM while going from stop to go. Install wasn't easy as I thought but someone that wanted to charge $3200 vs $ 500 that cost me.

Sorry for the long post :)