A customer brought in a 2001 Audi A6 4.2L Quattro with a transmission that has lost all forward gears. After diagnosing the vehicle we came to the conclusion that the transmission was toast (nothing surprising on 4.2L A6's). I gave the customer two options, a used transmission or a rebuilt transmission from Audi. After informing the customer about the huge risk of getting a bad transmission with the used route, he still decided to go ahead with the used due to finances.
After a quick car-part.com search I found two transmissions in town, one was at United Auto Recyclers with a little over 100k miles for $1900, and the other from Kosiski with 168k miles for $1700 with a TCM. We decided that the extra 200 was worth 60k miles and went with the lower mileage one from United Auto Recyclers. After waiting for two weeks the transmission arrived (was suppose to be here in 3 days).
The transmission was paid for and picked up from their location and brought to S-Line Motorsports. It didn't look to be very fresh at all, and came with a severely dented oil pan and broken upper driveshaft flange shield, completely snapped off from the transmission housing. No big deal we would just swap the parts over from the original transmission.
After replacing the tail shaft seal, torque converter seal and flushing out all lines we installed the transmission into the vehicle. Now it was time to swap the oil pans. When we pulled the oil pan, there were larger than normal metal shavings and the oil smelled a bit burnt (which are clear signs of a failing transmission), but with the transmission 90% in we decided to go forward and test our luck. I called Cameron at United Auto Recyclers right away to let him know that this transmission will probably not work because of the excessive metal particles in the oil pan. We replaced the transmission filter, oil pan gasket, cleaned the oil pan, and refilled the transmission with fresh Audi transmission fluid.
We warmed the transmission up to 35 Degrees C and topped off the fluid. Shifted through gears at a standstill and it seemed to have gears. We then put it in reverse and backed the car out. As soon as we moved forward, it slipped, slammed into gear, and the gear indicators lit up. We knew immediately that this tranny is just as bad as the one we pulled out.
Code Retrieved : 17114/P0730/001840 - Gear Ratio Monitoring: Incorrect Gear Ratio
We parked the car outside and I told Cameron we need a replacement ASAP to get the customer back into his Audi. After Cameron attempted to convince me that the TCM needed to be reprogrammed at the dealer in order to work, the replacement transmission was finally on its way. After a week has passed I decided to call and check up on the progress, turns out the tranny has been there two days after he ordered it from his "supplier". He then said he tried calling me twice but I received no phone calls. Weird, I thought, especially considering that the other one took two weeks to get here, and this transmission was supposedly still in the car and needed to be pulled. On a side note, when Cameron found the second replacement transmission, he told me "It says it Shifts Smooth". This rang a bell in my head because when I was looking on car-part.com at the beginning of this journey, the transmission at Kosiski with 168K miles was described as "Shifts Smooth".
This is when I decided to give Kosiski a call, to dig a bit deeper at this unethical situation that was beginning to take shape from United Auto Recyclers.
Me: Hey this is Alex from S-Line Motorsports, can you source a transmission for a 2001 Audi A6 4.2, code ECF.
Kosiski Rep: Are you sitting down? I can get a reman for 5k, and a used low mileage one for $2500.
Me: What about the one you guys had with 168k miles? Did you sell it?
Kosiski Rep: Yep
Me: Last Week?
Kosiski Rep: Yep
Me: To United Auto Recyclers?
Kosiski Rep: Yep
Me: Ok, Thank you.
At this point I am furious, that these unethical human beings are trying to pull a fast one and give me this high mileage transmission for the price of the lower mileage one that I wanted in the first place without notifying me about anything. Best thing is, this transmission was supposed to be right around the same mileage as the last.
So I call Cameron, the "smart guy" over at United Auto Recyclers, who thinks he tricked the system, and call him out on it. He does agree that they bought the transmission from Kosiski, with 60k more miles, and is "warrantying" the
I told him to go talk to his manager because I am not paying over 1500$ for this high mileage transmission, even though it is tested and shifts smooth, especially not after dealing with them for the last 3 weeks. He calls me back and tells me that best they can do is $1700 because that's about what they paid for it. (I'm sure they got it for less because Kosiski usually knocks off at least $100.00) At this point it's not even about the money, they are an unethical business. STAY AWAY! read more