B5 Tiptronic Info and FAQ

[blacka4]

Ok as many of you know us tiptronic owners do not have the support for bigger turbo’s and high torque making cars all because our transmissions just cannot handle anything more then just the stock numbers. I have been busy compiling information, technical manuals, and other recourses to come up with something to help our problem and create a transmission that can handle anything thrown at it. Well I have been in contact with a really helpful guy from ZF North America and he gave me some information that was really helpful.

Transmission Photos:







As I have found the A4/S4 transmission (5HP19FL (front-trac) and the 5HP19FLA (Quattro)) are both the same in torque ratings. the factory torque rating for both of these transmissions is 310Nm or approximately 265 ft lbs. I no longer wonder why the S4 tip can’t handle even a chip. ZF is given a torque rating by the car manufacture and in the case Audi told them to make a transmission that can handle the factory torque rating of 155 ft lbs for the 1.8. Well it would be useless to make a transmission that can handle just that rating so they made one that could handle double that or close to it at 265. I was asking about parts to make it stronger and ZF doesn’t make any parts to beef up the transmission. So there went my idea of getting parts from them. They also had no idea who makes any parts to make the Tip stronger. ZF only makes stock parts to replace any parts that might have broken.



Here is the 5HP19FLA application guide



Here is some of the technical information and gear ratios. however this is for the front-trac. the quattro ratios are the same except for 5th gear that is .74






information about the 5HP19FLA

Here is the transmission Oil Reference guide




In regards to the Audi lifetime fluid. That is a bunch of crap. ZF recommends that you have the fluid changed every 60 thousand miles. No where did they tell Audi that the fluid is lifetime. If you don’t change your fluid you will actually end up doing more damage in the long run because the fluid will get burnt and not flow correctly and cause you to burn up the valve body, and friction plates.



The only place I have found and most if you already know about Level 10 in New Jersey. They seem to know what they are doing but I am going to keep my personal views and opinions about them out of this article. I also have found IPT that does transmission rebuilds as well



I will also be adding information to this article when I come across new information If you have any other questions concerning the Audi Tiptronic transmission please feel free to PM me.

[CamrideA4]

Considering the research that you've done on the Tiptronic, how do you feel about changing the fluid at high mileage if it's never been done before? I have always heard for automatics this is a death sentence, usually because once it's gone over 120k miles (about twice what you'd go on a normal fluid change) it's more dangerous to change it because it may stir up that burnt crap and clog the valve body.

I ask because I've got 154k miles on my Tip and the fluid has never been changed. At one point around 100k miles (shortly after I got it) it developed a rear shaft seal leak. The shop I had fix it said they topped off the fluid that had been leaking out (I think it had been leaking since I got it), but I'm not sure how low it was or how much fluid they replaced. I do worry about the trans since I've added more HP and because of the obvious neglect to the fluid. But it's not hiccuped once so far, so I'm nervous to do anything to it.

[Corrado_Guy]

It will cause more harm to leave worn fluid in the transmission than draining it and replacing the filter and fluid. As stated above ZF doesn't recommend leaving the fluid in the transmission for its life span which is probably why a number of these have really short lives. Make sure you use the OEM fluid when you change it as there is always a fair bit of fluid left in the torque convertor and transmission and it is not something you want to mix with the wrong fluid. If you are asking my opinion it would be to change it, if it were my car this is one of the first things I would do.

[70 eliminator]

what are the differences internaly between emp and faq code transmissions. and how do places like ipt claim holding 700 hp. if the factory rating is so low
i know they up line pressures and timing but the hard parts like shafts can only take so much..

and is the zf rating a 100k rating . for example the ford t5 has a rating of 330 ft lb at a wear levell of 100k on the trans. new can and does hold more but borg warner designed a worn trans to hold the 330 ft lb

just trying to add detail to the thread with questions .