Getting a used B6 Multitronic. Gearbox concerns?

[Radler]

Hello guys!

Looking for used cars I have come across a used petrol Audi A4 B6 2.4 S-Line (168hp). It is from November 2002, has 282.000km and it is pretty well equipped and well taken care of.

However, it mounts a Multitronic automatic gearbox and I have read pretty bad stories about these Audi CVT gearboxes dating from 2002-2006. The current owner said he had it rebuilt around 35.000km ago for 3.700€. My question is; does the reparation solve the problem or will it eventually come back? What does the usual reparation of these gearboxes consist of? What’s its lifespan?

Additionally, he mentions that while driving a subtle noise can be heard. In his opinion it comes most probably from the differential. Do you think it could be related to the gearbox? What kind of failure on the diff could it be? How expensive are these reparations?

Normally I would not even consider buying a car prone to expensive failures, but the fact that the gearbox was repaired not long ago and that the car is, in general, really well taken care of makes we reconsider. It’s for sale at 3.100€, so it’s a pretty good chance.

Thanks in advance.

[Deerhurst]

Good looking wagon! Is that front bumper euro specific?

I'm a little biased to a manual so take what I say with a grain of salt.

CVTs fail more frequently than other types of transmissions. Audi, Nissan and Subaru have or have had suits against them due to their CVTs and the rapid failure of them.

I would assume as long as you take care of it, regular maintenance, and don't beat on it it should hold up OK. For a while.

[Cybersombosis]

From what I have read, it is the control module that goes on the CVT and unfortunately it is located in the transmission, so a removal and reinstallation is necessary which is the big cost. If you can do it yourself, you would save all that labour. Don’t know what the cost of a TCM for the CVT is so that is something to look up and think about. Do you get a lot of snow in Germany? If so, Quattro is the way to go IMO.

[Tahoe3.0]

Good looking wagon! Is that front bumper euro specific?

That’s the ultrasport(USA)/s-line(EU)bumper

[Deerhurst]

That’s the ultrasport(USA)/s-line(EU)bumper

Now I know! I like it!

[Gosser]

I would quattro swap that thing so fast! Good looking wagon, interesting interior colors with the black dash and grey/tan lowers.

There are many failing points, fixeuro.com documented a pile of failure and fixed them, but their links are all dead now unfortunately:
http://fixeuro.com/2012/Transmission...cvt_-01j-.html

The one repair that remains, is actually a diff that shredded the pinion gear due to a poor rebuild/missed shim:
http://fixeurotransmission.com/blog/...-transmission/

I had a CVT with 208,000km on it and drove it for 20,000km with out any issues. I then 5spd/quattro swapped it, but I'm sure it would have kept going. The swap isnt for the faint of heart, but a fwd manual is much much easier, its just hard to find those gear boxes over here.

[EuroxS4]

CVTs in europe weret that problematic as they had different software. Here in the USA they were programmed to feel like they had gears or shifted gears. In Europe they were programmed much differently. More or less the more gas you gave it the harder it pulled, this was a major difference in the longevity of these transmissions in europe vs USA. Either way any automatic transmission from that era is bound to develop problems sooner or later. Personally I would convert to quattro and swap in a 01E as it's a good solid transmission thats been used for well over 2 decades with very little issues.

[Gosser]

CVTs in europe weret that problematic as they had different software. Here in the USA they were programmed to feel like they had gears or shifted gears. In Europe they were programmed much differently. More or less the more gas you gave it the harder it pulled, this was a major difference in the longevity of these transmissions in europe vs USA. Either way any automatic transmission from that era is bound to develop problems sooner or later. Personally I would convert to quattro and swap in a 01E as it's a good solid transmission thats been used for well over 2 decades with very little issues.

x2, full quattro swap. If done properly, it would double the wagons value, well over here at least a clean USP 6spd wagon commands a steep price tag.

Those are all the parts you need, I bought a donor car, pillaged everything I needed and parted it out an made more than what I bought the donor for! 99% bolts up, just need to weld in the center drive shaft support brackets.