I believe Audi changed their stance on that back in 2012. Its standard operating procedure to drop pan, clean magnets and replace the filter, at least here in North America.
Not here in Europe, unfortunately, per my dealer rip-off receipts and offers. I knew they didn’t change the internal filter or clean the magnets, but somehow thought they dropped the pan anyway and at least changed the all 7 liters.
I never double checked before, as I assumed they did the procedure you are explaining. I bought myself an electric engine oil drain pump that runs off the battery. I will do the change myself per your instruction video, at a self service shop, and try to use it. VAG original ATF is fairly inexpensive at 6 liters at under 100 USD.
Wow that’s unfortunate on the no filter change policy. I mean if you drop the pan, it’d be stupid to not clean the magnets/change the filter. Takes 10 mins tops at that point.
I have to go look again, but pretty sure the VAG factory fluid here is like $30 a liter or more. The rear diff transfer case fluid (ATF side) is about $50/liter with tax! Thank god you only need one bottle…so six liters at under $100 is exceptional.
They don’t even drop the pan.
It is the dealers price here as well about 27-30 a liter, but the ATF for the tranny is used across many models with the 40000 mile service, so it can be found significantly cheaper online, if you’re fast enough.
Do you guys do the calibration, as explained for VCDS here
There are accounts on the other forum and instructions imo less clear.
Does anyone know if it is included in Audi’s standard service? One youtuber claimed it was enough to with the engine off to floor the gas pedal and this should somehow reset it gearbox/tranny.
This could be useful info for people having issues with their transmissions
Basically yes but we don’t have the start/stop feature so you skip that step. I believe, at least in the U.S., when the transmission is serviced on the ATF side, they initiate adaptation which’ll adjust the friction points since it’s a wet clutch with new fluid.
It is not enough to do it with the car jacked up into the air. It takes a good bit of driving to complete the adaptation. It doesn’t have to be done all at once, you can drive the car for a bit, park it, and it’ll pick up where it left off until the adaptation is done.
Now there is a separate learning function where it’ll learn how/when to shift based on your inputs. I’m not 100% certain if that is reset during the adaptation procedure or not. There is a way to reset that but I’ve not tried the procedure myself. Maybe someone else here has.
1 Like
Here’s a video but again, you skip the first two steps in this video as it’s not applicable to the RS5 B8.
1 Like
Cheers, great reminder as it has learnt your input you might not be keen to reset it. I also wonder if the pressure values being a bit out of spec could be due to that and if it is really that serious.
In that case, Probably first step: check if I got the right TCU software.
Step two flush ATF without detergent and take a sample for analysis
It probably is just down to wear given Audis incomplete ATF service, but if I don’t notice fuel consumption or performance issues if ATF analysis comes back ok not sure why I should take further action. It is premature to have to replace the clutch, haven’t done a single launch control launch (counter at 0)!
What issues are you experiencing now if any?
There were multiple updates from Audi for the TCU calibration over the years. If you’re able to get the analysis done, that’d be fantastic. I’d planned on doing it my last service but never got around to it.
I have at least 80 launches on my car and JHM’s car has over 500, it’s a stout gearbox package when maintained.
On the pressure values, low or high and which solenoids?
I send every engine oil change to Blackstone for analysis, I’ve thought about sending in an ATF sample from a couple of my vehicles and I’m sure Blackstone has some standard ATF samples to compare but not sure on the DSG ATF.
Probably I am just blowing smoke or was, about normal wear, but this is what the expert said: Clutch pressure low and highs are out of spec as read using VCDS ie advanced measurenents -> Clutch 1 lower adaptation point,Clutch 1 upper adaptation point and same for clutch 2. They should be in the lower 2 bar and 7 bar ranges respectively. Issue would be slower shifts than perfect, but I can’t confirm. I am at about 3 and 8-9
None of the other basic settings helped, but I in the end got “kiss adaptation” to finish. Quick adaption (for a ), the steps are described here: https://mhhauto.com/Thread-Dl501-clutch-long-adaption will try next week, probably
I read sometimes (not rs5 specific) there is coolant (I believe it was) mixing into the ATF somehow. If the ATF analysis is OK, shouldn’t hurt the more expensive mechatronics, which I do not want to replace again. a new clutch should be 1k and I can accept if that needs to be replaced at some point. I don’t see why not just let it wear out then.
Coolant can mix into the ATF at one point, the stock transmission cooler which is located in the left hand side of the radiator. This is one of several reasons why I developed a transmission cooler kit that’s fully divorced from the original OEM cooler. Leaks don’t happen often but when they do, you can indeed get coolant contamination into the transmission on the ATF side.
The kiss adaptation is the one you want. That’ll adjust the clutch kiss or friction points and can make things smoother overall.
1 Like
Correct, it would trigger a code. The ATF side heats up much more quickly, and to a higher level, than the MTF side. Normal driving, the two sides are very close in temp so there’s some sort of heat exchange happening between the two sides.
Hi @Ape_Factory
I’m about to service my 0B5 S-Tronic on an S5 B8.5, I’m quite clear on the steps involved in doing the ATF side and I just had a few questions with regard to the procedure for the MTF side
Blockquote
MTF Side
Drain plug torque specification is 45Nm
Fill Plug torque specification is 45Nm
My drain plug doubled as a temperature sensor and was depicted wrong in any of the workshop manuals. Comes off easily and very accessible but it is a 26mm socket (short is fine) so make sure you have one of those before starting.
-Make sure the new gear oil is at about 68 degrees F, room temperature
-Slide the used oil collection unit underneath the gearbox drain which is located just aft of the ATF pan.
-Place a cloth over the tunnel cross member to keep oil from getting into the cast pockets when the fill/inspection plug is removed.
-Remove the transmission fluid level inspection plug first. Fluid may come out of the inspection port so be prepared.
-Remove the transmission drain plug and drain the fluid into a container.
-Install a new transmission drain plug and torque to specification or reinstall the temperature sensor.
-Fill with new transmission fluid until it begins to run out of the hole and let it sit for at least 15 minutes so the fluid settles internally.
-From then, add 50ml every 15 seconds until the transmission is full. The MTF must be up to the lower edge of the check/fill hole.
-Tighten the fill plug to specification (45Nm)
After filling MTF up to the lower edge of the fill hole, would it be a good idea to turn on the car and shift through the gear modes, and check/fill in more oil if level goes down?
Or is what you are suggesting, to wait 15 min for oil to settle and check level will suffice?
Is there any need to bleed the MTF side by running the engine with the fill hole open (while adjusting oil level?)
Ideally I would like to follow the procedure used by Audi technicians, unsure if anyone has access to the Audi workshop manual pertaining to the 0B5 service.
I’ve also been curious about why you mentioned making sure that the oil is at room temperature. In which situation oil wouldn’t be at room temperature? And in such situation, what would realistically happen if you filled with oil that is above/below room temperature? Just trying to understand the reasoning behind this recommendation.
My OEM MTF oil is sitting in my garage and it does get hotter than 68 degrees late afternoon. Should I store my oil inside my house maybe?
Thank you
Hey there, out of town on vacation so going to answer this somewhat quickly otherwise I’ll forget!
You’re fine letting it settle for 15 minutes. Factory service manual specifies this method. I followed the FSM. I can get you a copy, just send me an email, sales@redmistracing.com and I can send you a link to download it from my google doc folder.
On temp, oil will expand/contract depending on ambient temperatures. So fill as close t0 70-75 degrees. If you’re filling in the middle of winter, and it’ s cold in the garage, it can throw off the measurement. Same if it’s hot. The metal inside the transmission expands enough to affect how much oil can be added before it begins to dribble out the fill hole.
In your situation, you’ll be just fine 
-Michel
Exactly what Ape said. I have a '13 S5 & a '13 RS5. The S5 just has a regular drain plug (replaced mine with an ECS Magnetic drain plug). The RS5 has the temp sensor in the drain plug, so that is a difference. Filters and filling procedures for the two are identical.
Thanks for the reply and the insights.
I’d love a copy of the FSM if it’s not too much trouble. I’ll send you an email.
And now I understand better why the temperature-related recommendations, I didn’t know oil expands/contracts on ambient temperatures, super interesting!
Thanks and enjoy your vacation, I have everything I need to get started now
Anyone see a problem with doing the transmission service on a 4 post lift and removing the subframe brace while the wheels are down? I would not have thought twice about this but it was mentioned in a youtube vid.
At 6:06
Thanks!
I do it on a 4 post lift. I use a tall transmission jack under the rear of the transmission/center Diff to support the back before I pull the transmission subframe.