A4 revving issue while at low speeds?

[sysadlight]

I've had this exact problem for a year and a half, and the couple times I mentioned it to the service advisor, he went on with the line about the engine being cold, and the fuel system doing something blah, blah....Im gonna take a video as well and show them and mention the TC as well. Bugs me that I have lived with it so long and been dismissed about it. I still have a CPO in effect until October of this year, and while the weather is still cold, I think I'll make sure it can be replicated and show them with a cold start and run...with the video as backup in case it doesn't.

[wildcat333]

I've had this exact problem for a year and a half, and the couple times I mentioned it to the service advisor, he went on with the line about the engine being cold, and the fuel system doing something blah, blah....Im gonna take a video as well and show them and mention the TC as well. Bugs me that I have lived with it so long and been dismissed about it. I still have a CPO in effect until October of this year, and while the weather is still cold, I think I'll make sure it can be replicated and show them with a cold start and run...with the video as backup in case it doesn't.

Nice dude... ya, get it checked out again for sure. FYI, even though Stratham Audi is closer, I took it to Audi Nashua, because I bought it there and the issue started within a week of buying it. Good luck. Post updates here if they fix something.

[rune]

I have done another oil change on the Tranny(Audi recomandation). But it's still the same(rpm jumps). I will go back to Audi next week and hear their opinion. I think i have to change my TC also.

Will report back later on..

[wildcat333]

I have done another oil change on the Tranny(Audi recomandation). But it's still the same(rpm jumps). I will go back to Audi next week and hear their opinion. I think i have to change my TC also.

Will report back later on..

That stinks. Even though it will be pricey $$$, it will feel like a brand new car for you. Plus, you've already replaced a fair amount of other parts, so you'll basically have a new car under the hood

Let us know how it goes.

[rune]

Today Audi service called me and told me they will cover 50%, so they have ordered new TC. i have accepted this and hopefully in May they will change it.
I am satisfied with their offer and we split 50/50%, since i really don't have warranty. Car has run 108Km.

[AudiBoy69]

Same problem here and i brought the car to the dealer last week and they didnt fix it but claimed they did... They didnt even tested the car so i brought it back today and got a brand new 2011 A3 TDI as a loaner :) now they can keep the car as long as they want until they actually fix the problem...

[wildcat333]

rune - 50/50 sounds like a real fair deal. it will still be a lot of cash, but better than nothing. keep us updated!

audiboy69 - I'm jealous of your a3 loaner car! that sounds like a lot more fun than the q5 that I had as a loaner for a while.

[AudiBoy69]

It was great car to have but just got mine back and the problem is fixed this time. The problem that was causing the RPM fluctuation was the throttle body. THey said there was carbon built up in there so they just cleaned it and problem disappeared. Same thing told me my mechanic when i went to him before going to audi ;) I loved how the A3 handled and it was sport tronic so gears shifted super fast..

[A4_Ti]

I have a MT and don't have any of these problems, but excellent thread, great work keeping everyone updated this will probably help a lot of people

[AudiBoy69]

so guess what... they didnt fixed the problem cleaning out throttle body... now they claiming that for car at this many miles (41k) is normal to have rpm fluctuation... they stupid or something ? im bringing it back for the third time :(

[wildcat333]

so guess what... they didnt fixed the problem cleaning out throttle body... now they claiming that for car at this many miles (41k) is normal to have rpm fluctuation... they stupid or something ? im bringing it back for the third time :(

That sucks, man. FYI, I am at about 39,500 miles. So you very well may have the same problems as I was having. Be sure to check the entire thread though - a couple people had different things fixed besides the torque converter (which worked for me), and they are good now. Tell the shop you know people w/ the exact same issue, and their dealerships actually did something about it. Make them go for a test drive w/ you like I did. Best of luck. Post your results back here.

[AudiBoy69]

i did went for a test drive already with mechanic and saw the problem so they cleaned throttle body and claimed that there is no more issue.. but there is when i took the car.. so now i left it today at different dealership so i'll see what they do about it..

[DUCTMON]

I have had rpm's jumping around for a while now , mostly when its cold. Has any one used ZF LifeGuard 6 fluid in their tip. I was thinking of doing a filter and fluid change. I know some of the bmw guys have tried it on their ZF's. Any concerns about using this fluid on an audi.

[kaklexicon]

Hey wildcat,
I'm curious if you ever had an issue when you were at a stop in idle, where your revs would drop below the standard idle revs (700 - 800) from time to time? This has been happening to me. The car never stalls or anything but you can feel it.

[wildcat333]

DUCTMON - Honestly, I'm not even sure about the tip fluid, or how that would be changed.

kaklexicon - No, I never had an issue while it was at an idle. Someone earlier in the thread did have an idle issue though, and I'm not sure if they ever got the resolved. My main issue was while my car was driving at around 40 mph (even though the video on page 1 of this thread was at 60 mph). Do you have a CPO warranty?

[kaklexicon]

Oh yea, def got the CPO so i'm not too worried about it. Just curious if it was a similar thing.

[rune]

hi Wild,

I finally got my torque converter replaced. The car is running perfect

[wildcat333]

hi Wild,

I finally got my torque converter replaced. The car is running perfect

Rune, I was just wondering about your repair. Excellent! Just in time for some nice summer weather.

[rune]

Rune, I was just wondering about your repair. Excellent! Just in time for some nice summer weather.

Yes,ready for summertime

I feel the car is shifting smoother and better. Feels like a new car.

[nectop]

rune
Thank you!

And thank all of you guys! I spend about a year to find this thread!!!! None in Europe has fixed this problem, non of Audi dialer in Russia has fixed this issue. I spend a lot of $$$ to try to fixed it. Now I know, I have to spend more $$$ but at last I'll fix it!! Thanks for posting this info, great job!!

[wildcat333]

rune
Thank you!

And thank all of you guys! I spend about a year to find this thread!!!! None in Europe has fixed this problem, non of Audi dialer in Russia has fixed this issue. I spend a lot of $$$ to try to fixed it. Now I know, I have to spend more $$$ but at last I'll fix it!! Thanks for posting this info, great job!!

nectop - glad this thread helped! I'm very happy now that my car drives properly. Good luck on the repair. Post updates here if you want. P.S. how is Russia these days? And do you like Chelsea (English) soccer/football because of Roman Abramovich? He's the man!

[nectop]

wildcat333
Thank you for posting your experience. I'll keep updaing on my repair, I don't have warranty on my 2007 A4, and repair at dialer is very expensive, so I have ordered this part 09L323571G at one of Russian's tuning company, it's expensive, but the other possibility is to repair is, but it will not allow it to run smooth for a long time, so I decided to replace it. I hope it will help, now I'm going to change ATF every 45-60 000 km, because Audi don't recommend to change it, they said it lifetime, maybe we should bring an action against them? Because they do it for us to buy a new tranny or a new car!!!

P.S. I'm not a soccer/football fan. I like to play with my son, and that's it :-)

[nectop]

Dear colleagues, I want to ask you to write a claim to your local Audi headquarters, they should contact Audi AG Germany and think about modifying some parts of the tranni, or will contact us for a free/discount repair. I wrote to our Audi Russia, they said, that they have passed my claim to Audi Headquarters in Germany, they will investigate the case.

[Avant Eh]

First thanks for starting the discussion. It'a a big help seeing what's happend to others dealing with the same issues before diving in myself. I bought a 2008 A4 wagon this past summer and noticed the RPM fluctuation issue driving through the many school zones in my neighbourhood when the car is cold. With colder weather upon us here it seemed to be more prevalent. I had Audi look at the problem about a month ago and they ended up changing out a recycle valve which apparently wasn't actuating when they bench tested it. I knew it wasn't fixed as soon as I drove away. Back in again for the past week and they told me today that they got a software update related to the transmission from the Audi mothership and will test the car out tomorrow. Cross my fingers.

[wildcat333]

@Avant Eh - good luck, hopefully they find out the issue. Be sure to post back on here what the solution was. This was my first thread ever, and the reason I caught the "mod-bug" here on AZ!!

[Avant Eh]

The software update apparently didn't work. They left a message and the torque converter is enroute. Will update with results next week.

[Charles.waite]

The software update apparently didn't work. They left a message and the torque converter is enroute. Will update with results next week.

I'm having this same issue with my car. Are you guys getting this covered under any sort of warranty? I've got nothing, my car was just over the mileage to be a CPO when I bought it last year and its been having this issue since I noticed it in February. Its really minor, but under really light load, from about 1400 to 2200 rpms it will just blip up and down. Obviously its the same thing just wanted to see if you guys were paying out of pocket for this work, or if the dealers been taking care of it. From everything I've read, a new TC is the only way to fix this unless you want to tear the transmission apart and start replacing solenoids and valves yourself, which while that might be fun for 5 minutes I have nowhere near the space, tools, or resolve to possibly do that.

[wildcat333]

I'm having this same issue with my car. Are you guys getting this covered under any sort of warranty? I've got nothing, my car was just over the mileage to be a CPO when I bought it last year and its been having this issue since I noticed it in February. Its really minor, but under really light load, from about 1400 to 2200 rpms it will just blip up and down. Obviously its the same thing just wanted to see if you guys were paying out of pocket for this work, or if the dealers been taking care of it. From everything I've read, a new TC is the only way to fix this unless you want to tear the transmission apart and start replacing solenoids and valves yourself, which while that might be fun for 5 minutes I have nowhere near the space, tools, or resolve to possibly do that.

I had my torque converter replaced under factory CPO, but it would have cost approx $4k out of pocket from what I recall.

[Charles.waite]

I had my torque converter replaced under factory CPO, but it would have cost approx $4k out of pocket from what I recall.

Thats about what I would expect but still...

[SidewinderX]

Interesting thread ** my '08 CPO A4 seems to have the same issue. I've always just chalked it up as a problem becuase of the cold ** it usually dissapears when after the engine warms up a bit.

I guess after reading this I'll go take it to my audi dealer ** kind of a pain though because it's about an hour away from where I live. I'd rather make as few trips as possible **- any keys words to use when I talk to them? It seems like the torque converter is the worst case scenario, but I'd rather not go through a couple weeks of them "fixing" it before actually getting to that (if that's the real issue)...

[Charles.waite]

Honestly, I read over and over that none of their proposed "fixes" ever did anything. Its possible they need to perform all that in order for the warranty claim with AoA to be kosher though. Theres a 99% certainty that its the TC, unfortunately. Sucks, but at least you have the CPO warranty.

[wildcat333]

Honestly, I read over and over that none of their proposed "fixes" ever did anything. Its possible they need to perform all that in order for the warranty claim with AoA to be kosher though. Theres a 99% certainty that its the TC, unfortunately. Sucks, but at least you have the CPO warranty.

Exactly true. The dealership had to try certain "fixes" before AoA would approve the costly TC replacement. Just tell the dealership what's been happening, and reference my video on page one of this post if it is similar to your issues, and it your dealer doesn't understand what you're saying.

[Charles.waite]

If I ever address it (not sure if its worth the hassle) I'll have to use my gorilla pod with a little point and shoot and take a video. Dealers around me are somewhat useless I'd rather show them the problem in a video since its fairly hard to reproduce without knowing exactly how to do it. Mine is so minor you probably wouldn't notice it if you weren't as anal about cars as I am... I've had enough issues with a piece of loose trim on my old Infiniti the the dealer was never able to reproduce even though I drove with a tech and pointed it out to him. They apologized and said the roads around them were too smooth to reproduce the loud clank from behind the dash. Riiiiight...

[wildcat333]

Yup << my first road test didn't reproduce the error, then I whipped out the video on my phone, then they believed me.. haha.

[Charles.waite]

Yea, theres a hill by my house that is the perfect incline to trigger the behavior, but its too far away from the dealer to make a trip there worthwhile. Plus the car would be warm by then and not likely to reproduce the issue...

[esm]

This issue happens to my car when its cold AND I am using APR Stage 1. When switched back to stock, the issue goes away. How many of you experience this with stock vs stage 1? That may explain some of the problem.

[wildcat333]

I am stock (not chipped/not tuned).

[Avant Eh]

Got my car back just before xmas after they changed out the TC and have put some miles on it. Seems to have done the trick. Driving around town cold and revs are as steady as my foot. It was all covered under warranty which ran out the day before I finally got the car back. The dealership was great and even gave me a loner to get my shopping done the last weekend before xmas. Glad it's done and dealt with. Hope things work out for everyone else.

[fammd]

I got the same problem now. No codes, just the fluctuations on cold mornings. I didn't really notice it till these past winter months since I bought the car last September. Probably won't have it fixed since it doesn't bother me and the nearest dealer is 2 hours away, and it finally goes away after the engine gets warm. As far as I know, from the forums, that it won't really damage anything if I leave it alone, right?

[Charles.waite]

This issue happens to my car when its cold AND I am using APR Stage 1. When switched back to stock, the issue goes away. How many of you experience this with stock vs stage 1? That may explain some of the problem.

I have the problem and I'm stock. It seems to be getting worse as it gets colder out.