Help me please!! Audi not engaging to gears

[Audier1991]

So short story long:

I forgot to mention my car is a 2005.5 A4 B7 CVT Transmission

My check engine light was on for over a month because of code P0722: No output speed sensor. Get it checked at Audi Dealer, they wanted $2700 for replacing the TCM (common problem in a4 b7). I didn't have that much money so decided to keep driving it (it was operating normally) while saving up some money.

Last week, my PRNDS started to flash, my car was in limp mode. Get it checked, new code appeared P0730: Incorrect gear ratio. The Transmission Repair specialist told me that this code was caused by my P0722, the car simply did not know which gear to kick in to. They recommended to replace the TCM at Audi Dealer.

Since I am still in college, I don't have that much money in hands, I was looking up online and found Xemodex. I decided to go that route because the total cost (expected $700) is way cheaper than the stealer ($2700). I had my mechanic removed the TCM, also draining the Transmission Fluid. I shipped the TCM to Xemodex and got it back 2 days ago.

Upon receiving it, I gave it to the mechanic expected to get the car done the same day (Friday). I also bought 5 quarts of ATF from Audi dealer for refilling. He then gave me a call and said the car is not ready yet. At first, it couldn't communicate the TCM, he reseted it. Now it does, but the transmission is not engaging into any gears. He has no idea why and how to fix this.

Please anyone help me! I am desperate now :(

[aluthman]

So short story long:

My check engine light was on for over a month because of code P0722: No output speed sensor. Get it checked at Audi Dealer, they wanted $2700 for replacing the TCM (common problem in a4 b7). I didn't have that much money so decided to keep driving it (it was operating normally) while saving up some money.

Last week, my PRNDS started to flash, my car was in limp mode. Get it checked, new code appeared P0730: Incorrect gear ratio. The Transmission Repair specialist told me that this code was caused by my P0722, the car simply did not know which gear to kick in to. They recommended to replace the TCM at Audi Dealer.

Since I am still in college, I don't have that much money in hands, I was looking up online and found Xemodex. I decided to go that route because the total cost (expected $700) is way cheaper than the stealer ($2700). I had my mechanic removed the TCM, also draining the Transmission Fluid. I shipped the TCM to Xemodex and got it back 2 days ago.

Upon receiving it, I gave it to the mechanic expected to get the car done the same day (Friday). I also bought 5 quarts of ATF from Audi dealer for refilling. He then gave me a call and said the car is not ready yet. At first, it couldn't communicate the TCM, he reseted it. Now it does, but the transmission is not engaging into any gears. He has no idea why and how to fix this.

Please anyone help me! I am desperate now :(

I'm a bit fuzzy on the automatic stuff, but I believe it takes MUCH more than 5 quarts of fluid to fill the Tip transmission.

[Audier1991]

My A4 b7 is a CVT Transmission, my mechanic said it only needs 5 qts while Audi said it needs 6.

[aluthman]

Did a quick search:

-6 liters according to Phil
-9 quarts according to multiple other sources (maybe they were flushing?)

[aluthman]

My A4 b7 is a CVT Transmission, my mechanic said it only needs 5 qts while Audi said it needs 6.

Oh ok. You definitely still need more though, maybe that's your problem (other than having a CVT).

[Audier1991]

I just gave my mechanic a call and mentioned this. He said it's already top off. Maybe he was wrong?

Oh ok. You definitely still need more though, maybe that's your problem (other than having a CVT).

Is a CVT really that bad? I truly wanna keep this car for a while longer. It has 108k miles now.

[noslackft]

The TCM's are known to go bad. There is a guy on Ebay who will rebuild them for under $300. Only thing is, I believe the TCM for the 2005.5 is internal, I am not sure about this however. I have a 2005.5 with a CVT and while it is really noisy (whiny) it shifts smooth at 163,000 miles.

[Audier1991]

The TCM's are known to go bad. There is a guy on Ebay who will rebuild them for under $300. Only thing is, I believe the TCM for the 2005.5 is internal, I am not sure about this however. I have a 2005.5 with a CVT and while it is really noisy (whiny) it shifts smooth at 163,000 miles.

I had my TCM repaired at Xemodex in Canada already. But hey, that's a lot of miles, have you done any major repair, replacement yet?

[vce1232000]

CVT are a hit and miss. There are guys on here BT stage 3 and holding up like a champ.

[aluthman]

CVT are a hit and miss. There are guys on here BT stage 3 and holding up like a champ.

Who? I think there might be a K04 but that's all I ever remember seeing.

[vce1232000]

Who? I think there might be a K04 but that's all I ever remember seeing.

You got me Adam. I was mistaken. It was guys running stage 3 BT on tipronic's AT's like mine. Not CVT's

[Audier1991]

So am I dead here? Someone helps me pls :(

[aluthman]

Is a CVT really that bad? I truly wanna keep this car for a while longer. It has 108k miles now.

They fail at a much higher frequency than a transmission should IMO. Some never have issues though. If you want to keep it, just keep up on the maintenance and flushes and stuff and maybe you'll be ok.

[aluthman]

I don't know how to fix your problem, but you could always consider buying a used transmission.

[kegobeer]

It's cheaper to find a used CVT that will come with a TCM, than to just replace the TCM. Start looking around for a used CVT. Everything about the CVT is more difficult than the Tiptronic, just in case you didn't know that.

[vce1232000]

2006
Transmission
Audi A4 76,000 A 14038 $1500 Alpha-Omega Imports USA-TX(Kennedale) E-mail 817-516-8710

[kegobeer]

The TCM's are known to go bad. There is a guy on Ebay who will rebuild them for under $300. Only thing is, I believe the TCM for the 2005.5 is internal, I am not sure about this however. I have a 2005.5 with a CVT and while it is really noisy (whiny) it shifts smooth at 163,000 miles.

Removing the TCM on any of our CVTs is a pain in the ass. But, considering that guy will rebuild it for under $300, I'd seriously consider dropping the transmission, pulling the TCM, and getting it rebuilt.

[kegobeer]

2006
Transmission
Audi A4 76,000 A 14038 $1500 Alpha-Omega Imports USA-TX(Kennedale) E-mail 817-516-8710

Where do you do your part searching? You post a lot of good finds.

[LINDW4LL]

Where do you do your part searching? You post a lot of good finds.

Looks like car-part.

[vce1232000]

Looks like car-part.

That and Insurance salvage parts database

[Audier1991]

My mechanic has been working on my car for 2 days now and still no solution yet. Is it Xemodex's fault? The TCM is supposed to just plug and play thing. Or did my mechanic do something wrong? Who would I blame if he still couldn't find a solution and give up? Considering my car was still driving in limp mode before the TCM was removed. But I'm gonna wait a day or 2 more and see what he can do.

[kegobeer]

Is this mechanic someone with a lot of experience with Audis? If not, find one. And since this is a transmission issue, start looking for a transmission shop that has experience with Audi CVTs. That will solve quite a few issues I think.

[vce1232000]

My mechanic has been working on my car for 2 days now and still no solution yet. Is it Xemodex's fault? The TCM is supposed to just plug and play thing. Or did my mechanic do something wrong? Who would I blame if he still couldn't find a solution and give up? Considering my car was still driving in limp mode before the TCM was removed. I'd say it's the mechanic who must have messed up something when he puts it back. But I'm gonna wait a day or 2 more and see what he can do.

Sounds like the mechanic misdiagnosed the problem

[Audier1991]

he has been servicing my car for a quite a long time now so I believe he knows what he is doing. I thought this was simple, just remove the TCM, get it repaired and then plug it back in. I don't know what is so hard about this. Do I have to reset and program anything? The TCM comes from my car so I don't need to reprogram it. But is there anything else I'm missing?

[kegobeer]

The TCM is inside the transmission, so there's a lot more to just removing it and replacing it. Any number of things can go wrong if you don't know what you're doing with a CVT. That's why I asked if your mechanic has experience with Audis - just because he's worked on your car for a while doesn't mean he has years of experience with the B7 that will help him get this repaired. Just doing a fluid exchange on a CVT takes a couple of hours and a VAGCOM - and you can fuck up a transmission if you don't do that right.

[allstock]

You stated that your mech couldn't communicate with it at first so he had to reset it. What exactly did this mean? I'd like to believe he was using a vagcom and has the proper literature on the procedure.

When the cvt tcm is flashed I'm pretty sure that the transmission needs to go through an adaption procedure. The problem is you mentioned that the car won't even get into gear.

Just to reiterate what others may have mentioned, the 4.5 to 5 liters of cvt fluid is for preliminary/dry or after major repairs. The cvt is especially reliant on fluid pressure, so if you drain a working cvt there will be more fluid still in the system that will not easily drain. So once your mech fills the preliminary 4.5 to 5 liters he has to run the engine at low rpm to get it up in the system. In a nutshell, after doing so he would've stopped and filled again after reaching 40C* +/- 5. At that point none of the fluid would be dripping past the inlet and he would've had to pump more into the system. Ultimately a full system at 40C* would be leaking just slightly and he would've kept count of how much he puts in. I don't remember exactly how much is in a full sealed system, but its definitely more than five liters.

He also wants to blow pressure through the external one way filter, this is also done after any/all repairs and changed if necessary.

Of course all this is yet relevant if there's no communication between the ecu and tcm. I'd contact the company that did the reflashing for assistance on this matter.

The 7 speed cvt and 6 speed tiptronic are completely different animals so be careful with procedures/specs. Good luck man

[Audier1991]

You stated that your mech couldn't communicate with it at first so he had to reset it. What exactly did this mean? I'd like to believe he was using a vagcom and has the proper literature on the procedure.

When the cvt tcm is flashed I'm pretty sure that the transmission needs to go through an adaption procedure. The problem is you mentioned that the car won't even get into gear.

Just to reiterate what others may have mentioned, the 4.5 to 5 liters of cvt fluid is for preliminary/dry or after major repairs. The cvt is especially reliant on fluid pressure, so if you drain a working cvt there will be more fluid still in the system that will not easily drain. So once your mech fills the preliminary 4.5 to 5 liters he has to run the engine at low rpm to get it up in the system. In a nutshell, after doing so he would've stopped and filled again after reaching 40C* +/- 5. At that point none of the fluid would be dripping past the inlet and he would've had to pump more into the system. Ultimately a full system at 40C* would be leaking just slightly and he would've kept count of how much he puts in. I don't remember exactly how much is in a full sealed system, but its definitely more than five liters.

He also wants to blow pressure through the external one way filter, this is also done after any/all repairs and changed if necessary.

Of course all this is yet relevant if there's no communication between the ecu and tcm. I'd contact the company that did the reflashing for assistance on this matter.

The 7 speed cvt and 6 speed tiptronic are completely different animals so be careful with procedures/specs. Good luck man

I really appreciate your thoughts on this Allstock. I'll let him read this thread.

However, you mentioned that

"At that point none of the fluid would be dripping past the inlet and he would've had to pump more into the system"

. How exactly can he pump more into the system? And how much more? Is it safe to redo the whole procedure?

You stated that your mech couldn't communicate with it at first so he had to reset it. What exactly did this mean?

He told me he unplugged the battery.

[Audier1991]

My mech mentioned that when he switched gear from P to D, it shows which gear he was on (from 1 to 7) but the wheels did not roll at all. In addition, he said that when he switched the gear to manual mode (the one that has + and - sign to shift up or down), the transmission could not sense any signal. He was using some scan tool to read any error code that could show up but there were none. He has no idea what goes wrong.

If anyone in the forum knows exactly the complete procedure to reinstall the TCM as well as refilling the transmission fluid, please let me know. I need all the help I can get now. I couldn't find any Audi specialist in my area (Arlington, Texas).

[kegobeer]

My mech mentioned that when he switched gear from P to D, it shows which gear he was on (from 1 to 7) but the wheels did not roll at all. In addition, he said that when he switched the gear to manual mode (the one that has + and - sign to shift up or down), the transmission could not sense any signal. He was using some scan tool to read any error code that could show up but there were none. He has no idea what goes wrong.

When in drive, gear selection does not appear. When in sport or manual, gear selection appears. Contact the company that repaired your TCM.

[Audier1991]

When in drive, gear selection does not appear. When in sport or manual, gear selection appears. Contact the company that repaired your TCM.

Yeah, I will call Xemodex on Monday and see what they say. However, if he didn't put enough transmission fluid (only 5 quarts now), can it be the reason why the car can't move?

[kegobeer]

Low fluid can screw up your transmission - it can definitely make the CVT not operate correctly.

[Audier1991]

Thank you so much for your quick reply here kegobeer. You mentioned that At that point none of the fluid would be dripping past the inlet and he would've had to pump more into the system. I think he is at that point now, after putting 5 qts of ATF in the transmission, he said the inlet doesn't take anymore so he thinks it's full. How would he pump more fluid into the system if the inlet can't take no more?

[kegobeer]

That wasn't me saying it, that was allstock. I have never serviced my CVT, so I can't answer that question. Your mechanic should know how to fill up a CVT. If he doesn't, he should stop working on it and you should find someone that does - or else he'll end up destroying your CVT and have to pay to get it replaced by someone who knows what he's doing.

[allstock]

I really appreciate your thoughts on this Allstock. I'll let him read this thread.

However, you mentioned that . How exactly can he pump more into the system? And how much more? Is it safe to redo the whole procedure?

He told me he unplugged the battery.

I don't think having him read this thread is going to do him any favors. In all honesty, he may even take it as an offense.

At this point, with the car not being able to get in any of the gears, it might be pointless get more atf into the system. There could be lack of fluid pressure.

I visited that Xemodex website and they definitely talk a good game. The little info they give says it's a plug and play scenario with their work. Either way their guaranteeing it for a year so best for you to get on the horn to see if they can shed a little light on the situation.

Audi says that all their TCMs aren't repairable, when they go they go. Even with a blank TCM they need to flash and code the darn thing with proprietary software. You can use a vagcom to do an adaptation I'm pretty sure, but that's about it. Chances are if you were to get a used TCM you'd have to code that as well.

FYI I think there was a campaign for the owners of 2006 and earlier model cvts. Much like all the other extended warranty items it had to be an issue for it to qualify. You should talk to AudiUSA about this and see if they can give you any assistance.

[80sGuy]

he has been servicing my car for a quite a long time now so I believe he knows what he is doing. I thought this was simple, just remove the TCM, get it repaired and then plug it back in. I don't know what is so hard about this. Do I have to reset and program anything? The TCM comes from my car so I don't need to reprogram it. But is there anything else I'm missing?

Servicing an Audi and familiarizing with CVT gearboxes are completely two different things. Almost any shop can do routine maintenance on an Audi (Oil Change, Spark Plugs, Fluids, Brakes, etc..) but when it comes to complexities of the car such as Cam Follower, Sensors, Engine and Transmission cures; you need to find a specialist that knows what he's doing. I recently replaced my CVT and the dealer barely knew what they were doing. The transmission was exchanged from one of their specialists with fluids sealed and all they had to do was to remove and install. This took two months and two transmission exchanges because one: they messed up the G-Plate between the engine and transmission, two: the Dual-Mass Flywheel (aka CVT Torque Converter) needed to be replaced.

If your mechanic doesn't know what he's doing which I assume ALL mechanics wouldn't when it comes to Audi CVT, be prepare to kiss your car goodbye. They can't treat this as an easy drain and fill. The car has to be cooled overnight, elevate off the ground, run the temp no more than 30c for inital checkup through Vagcom, let cool start the process: fill between gears at no more than 35-40c - shift, test, read temp, shift next fill to each so-called gear (PRND), repeat., etc...Not as simple it seems but just requires more work than the usual transmission service.

[Audier1991]

I just spent a few hours at the shop with him today. Apparently, he printed out the procedure to change the transmission fluid on Audi CVT. So it looks like he's doing it right. While I was there, I could switch gears normally as if there was nothing wrong with it, no weird noise, sound, no flashing PRNDS. Everything seems to be normally normal, only that it doesn't move. When we jack the car up in the air and put in D, the wheels moved very slightly but stopped once we hit the gas.
I also called Xemodex, they had no idea why the car doesn't move at all. Audi dealer also had no solution but asked me to tow it in for diagnostic.

What I think is this TCM is a plug-and-play. Then he filled the ATF, 5 liters. Worst case scenario that he did it wrong, there is still fluid in there. The car should move for the very least before it gives any error code or problem. I'm really lost now. I don't have much money left to afford this. I don't know what to do now..

[allstock]

These guys are very familiar with the all Audi trans, cvts alike. They do work for Audi dealers as well as the public. Give them a call, they're in Dallas.
http://fixeurotransmission.com/

I doubt your mech forced an error to cause this. Did that xemodex company diagnosed the tcm before you gave them the green to work on it?

[Audier1991]

These guys are very familiar with the all Audi trans, cvts alike. They do work for Audi dealers as well as the public. Give them a call, they're in Dallas.
http://fixeurotransmission.com/

I doubt your mech forced an error to cause this. Did that xemodex company diagnosed the tcm before you gave them the green to work on it?

I doubt it too. I mean, this is a simple procedure that anyone, who has free time, can do it in their garage. I saw a couple people here did it themselves and it worked.

But no, Xemodex didn't contact me when they received my TCM last week. They went straight to the repair process without letting me know the condition of my TCM. They received the TCM at 11am, repaired it and shipped it back to me at 5pm same day. That was quick, I thought, because they have done this repair for so many times.

Today I called Xemodex again, hoping the engineer who fixed my TCM can could have some insight, but he wasn't there. The technician I talked to, Tony, has been very nice and informative in assisting me, unfortunately, he also has no solution to my case. However, he offered a full refund (Include $85 shipping) if Xemodex engineer still couldn't fix it. That was nice of him though I'm still waiting on the engineer to call back.

Worst case scenario, I will get a full refund from Xemodex. Would you recommend me to send the TCM again to some other company in the US to, just maybe, get it fixed? Or should I tow my car to Audi dealer, and pray to god, they would offer me a 50% off goodwill discount, which is hard because I don't know how to bargain.

[B7Joe]

Especially considering your financial situation, sounds like your only option is to give it another shot (i.e., have xemodex try to fix it); otherwise get a refund and start over again, this time with an Audi specialist.

Keep in mind any Audi specialist (including a dealership) is not going to be cheap.

That's just the way Audi ownership goes sometimes, so you might also want to think about whether or not this is the right vehicle for you right now.

Best of luck. I really hope you get things worked out.