I'm a 4 year proud owner of a 1992 Auto 3.6 Dark Blue V8 which unfortunately has no forward drive in the auto gearbox. I have been quoted prices to have it repaired or replaced but to be honest nobody seems very enthusiastic to carry out the work as it is an "old" car (only just run in as far as I'm concerned though)
I would prefer to convert it to a manual 5 or 6 speed if possible as I know these gearboxes are available elsewhere in Europe. I realise from reading the owners manual that the 5 speed manual had a torsion centre differential instead of the electronic "on or off" version fitted on the auto. Therefore I would really love to have the full conversion to what would probably be quite a unique right hand drive car.
I have already thrown a pile of money at my car keeping it on the road for 68K blissful miles and I am prepared to throw even more at it to get it back on the road again.
I am willing to travel to get the right deal or car no problem.
I had the same problem with my 1990 v8 automatic. I had it rebuilt locally here in boulder colorado by Transmission Technology Services. cost was 3800$ with a 4yr 48k warranty, they did excellent work, no problems at all....... well worth the expense for these cars....
A company called Gearchange, who advertise in the Audi Driver magazine, claim specialist knowledge in re-building gearboxes. They are located in Bridgewater on 01278 722359.
Thanks mate I will be ringing them tomorrow. I actually live in Bridgwater and I cant believe I've had it sat on drive for last 3 years nearly with place just round the corner.
Re the 3.6 auto box - mine lost drive at approx 160K miles (moisture got in at some point in its past and this disolves the friction plate adhesives!) and i had it rebuilt by an independant trans' specialist (it's just a ZF unit so lotsa firms will do it) - but £3500 !!! Crazy money, for sure, but but still cheaper than audi and bloody imposible to find in the breakers (!) and i've a similar attitude to investing in the cars rebuild and running it forever! (now on 190K miles). The trans' specialist co's seem to be around most major towns (got them in Swindon & Newbury near me) - I would guess somewhere like Exeter / Plymouth etc would have similar - yellow pages jobbie!
Back to your thoughts - the swap to manual sounds interesting but my concerns would be the combined cost of a s/h manual g/box + accessories+ possible electrickery + labour could be as much as a rebuild. (but it's only a guess). Bear in mind the autobox electronics communicate with the engine management processor and cruise control, dash computer & suchlike, so there are likely to be a few sub looms & black boxes to delve into!
Booked it in for Monday 17th March - £3183 to be spent and should be getting my baby back in 2-3 weeks. Cant wait cos it's been off the road for 2 1/2 years.
Thanks for your link mate, the company is about 3 miles away from me!
I have finally bit the bullet and they are picking it up Mon 17th March and I will get it back in 2-3 weeks, I can't wait as it's been sat on my drive for the last 2 1/2 years.
Hi Paul, Just a bit of advice from somebody who had to deal with the infamous ZF4HP24 transmission: go get a second hand with a low mileage and replace the old one. Do shop arround since prices vary a lot. Changing to a manual transmission doesn't make too much sense if you consider all the additional costs.With an automatic (or automatik) you still have a fine car. On the other hand, you will never turn it into a 2.7 RS, even if you get a chip from Intel. Remember, this was the first charge that Audi took at Mercedes and BMW. It was 1988 and it took them about 10 years to match them. I still drive my V8 and I still think that the technology was not matched (at that time) by quality. That's why on warm days I drive my 1976 MB 300D. Best regards, Florin (the only car that I was able to drive@235 km/h was my Audi V8, I didn't have the money for faster cars).
Hi! I can't believe you sacrifice so much money for your V8!
I live in Latvia and it so much cheaper to fix cars. I had my gearbox broke down last year. Actually it was front differential block. I think it ran out of oil. Now I check it every oil change. So I bought another gearbox (gearbox and front diff are joined together) for 500USD and swapped it. I found out that new gearbox doesn't shift so smoothly. So I decided to take old gearbox and new front part of gearbox. So basically i replaced gearbox 2 times and labour costed only 600$ !!! Change of timing belt was about 100$ last month
It Goes like this : If you read further down the page and see that the guy is willing to spend over three thousand quid on an old car then you wonder what he is willing to pay for a simple F*** and place a few adverts in this Forum . Its called buisness enterprise.
