I have a B7 A4 Quattro Tiptronic with 157000 miles on it, and ever since it fall started to hit and it became way colder I've been having issues with stalling.
It only does this in morning startup after its been sitting all night in the cold. I start the car and let it warm for about 3 minutes. Then, I drive up to a stop sign down the road. When I come to a complete or near complete stop, the car either stalls or drops down all the way to 200-300 rpm then shoots back up to normal. This only happens during morning startup and goes away after about 3 minutes of driving. Never happens throughout the rest of the day, even after letting it sit for a 6 hour work shift and then 6 more hours of college classes.
However, I have found a way around it. If I shift into neutral before coming to a complete stop, it won't stall or choke on itself. Then I shift back into drive and it takes off just fine.
I scanned my car at work but found no codes for either the engine or the trans. But I have a suspicion it could be trans related with the whole shifting into neutral to get around it thing. I'm nowhere near fluent with automatic transmissions, but I am 90% sure the transmission fluid has never been changed. And I do know that with all the buildup of crud in it over the years that the fluid can get sticky. Just a shot in the dark here but is it possible that the fluid being old and cold from sitting all night can make the torque converter stick, causing it to stall? Stalling aside there have been some other questionable things with the trans such it vibrating a bit when stopped at a light but not in neutral, and (not sure if this is actually the trans' fault but) vibrating while at 1000-1800 rpm while the car is cold. So I'm wondering if they're all related to the torque converter and/or trans fluid.
Also I'm pretty sure it's not fuel related as I just got the HPFP, LPFP, and cam follow replaced from a stalling issue at 153000 miles. But I might run some injector cleaner in it because why not. Spark should also be good as I just put new plugs 2 months ago. I do know that my valve cover gasket is starting to leak though, but I don't know how much that would be applicable to the specifics of the situation.
I'm kind of stumped and I don't have much money to work because I need to pay tuition. Does anyone have any thoughts of what might be the problem?
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Originally Posted by Hugh@EuropaParts
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