My tranny doesnt have 3rd or 4th. Dont know why. Thats a whole nother problem. Here is the one i am concerned with. I have all other gears. When i first crank the car up. I let it run for a min and then put it in reverse. it goes a little bit, but if i turn sharp and let off the gas it dies, unless i pump the pedal. Same when it is in a foward gear. Here is the problem. After a min or two I lose ALL gears, just Neutral. I cut my car off, and cut it back on and then i have 1st , 2nd, and reverse. Any Help?

 

Are you sure the trans is full of fluild? I would add about 1/2 quart reguardless of what the stick says and see what happens. The fact you mention this all happens when you first crank up the car would strongly point to a low fliuld level and bear in mind with a 4l60e 1/2 quart is alot low. And since fluid expands as it gets warmer the symptom of this would tend to go away somewhat as the car gets warm. That would futher indicate that theres a low fluild condition. I have seen more than a few 4L60E trans bite this dust quickly after being just a little low on fluild they dont fair well in that condition.
You should see what happens to the line presure when a little low we did some test recently with one of our trans with it just under a quart low measured about 1/2 inch below the pan rail. The numbers were surprisig not only did the presure go low from evacuation but when the filter picked up again it would spike to 300 plug PSI momentarily.Brought it to full Level with pan rail and all was completely stable imediatly.
So low fluid potentially can do 2 things it can burn clutches from low line but also break parts.pumps, drums from the resultant spikes also. Low levels are very bad for any 4L60E or really any auto much more than most people know. While and engine is forgiving of being a quart low a trans is not .

 

I checked the level on the stick and was in range, i added a full quart just in case and had the same problem. I dropped the pan and i didnt see any metal shard or anything out of the ordinary. The fluid in the tranny was a little darker then when poured straight outta the bottle. I tried to drive it down the street and i got another horrible sound and immediately lost all gears. as soon as i cut the engine and restarted the engine it worked fine. <<<<<<<<LOST, I would say itd be electrical but the noises throw me off.

 

Those are definatly some strange symptoms No trash in pan, Intermitant goes then dosent. Makes noise but then you turn it off all goes to normal. I need to think about that allmost sounds like many different issue at once. When you say lost all gears do you mean it wont move just revs in every position ?

 

Here are the videos

Cold start

This video I cranked up my car and you can hear the noise pretty good at the beginning, then a little at the end. Thats the sound that I dont know what it is.

Where it starts screwing up

At time 1:31 the tranny stops working, and every position it just sits and revs. At 2:00 I cut it off and restart it and it goes again, yoou can feel something vibrating this time. at 2:31 Same thing happens, at 2:57 I cut it back on and it wont go into any gear. I cut it off and cut it on one more time, and everything works.

 

I almost sounds like your torque converter maybe going out. My TH350 did the same thing before I had to get it rebuilt. Your car uses an electric lockup torque converter doesn't it? I dont know much about the A4s as my car is a M6. But if it is, then the computer maybe confused and locking then unlocking the torque converter randomly. I dont know, just my opinion.

 

I would definalty take a look at the flex plate/converter area some thing sounds very wrong on startup .

 

Almost sounds like the starter kicking back or like you have a missing tooth. Is the car running when we hear that noise or are you cranking it?

 

I think its both from listening then kinda goes away when goes into gear then comes back sounds clanky to me like something in the bellhousing. You know I have actually see the center break out of a flex plate and the car still start and do that before.

 

I am goin to pull it wednesday to check. If i did break the flexplate, should i go with a factory replacement or do they make a stronger one?