Re: Small leaks of hydraulic fluid.

[Eliot Lim <eliot@lanmola.engr.washington.edu>]

> Greenish fluid is a sign of the transmission fluid mixing with the
> transaxle fluid.  The seal between the two units is a common failure.

just happened to me a few weeks ago..
 
> I just finished replacing both units with a factory re-built
> installed by the dealer for $2400 ($1800 + labor).  This was at 80K
> miles and I drove my `86 5000S until the noise became "unpleasent".

i never noticed anything though, but the mechanic did when he was doing
an oil change...  they discussed it for 5 mins, then ordered me a brand
new transmission.

> The service mgr. said if you detect this early while it's under
> warranty, the warranty company will insist on just replacing the seal
> which is about $1500 (99% in labor), but there may be other damage done
> which will cause another failure in say 20K miles.  So driving it until
> it quits is not a bad option.  I priced an aftermarket
> transmission/transaxle through Skohan (sp?) and it was ~$1100.

the v8 (ZF) transmission cost the dealer $6K, almost $7K.  Audi only
pays the dealer 6 hours labor to do this, but they ended up taking 2
days to do it

final dealer cost after paying mechanic was in the 7 grand range...
i don't think i will keep this car after the ext. warranty runs
out at 100K.  :-(   oh, this was done at 36K, btw.


eliot