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View Full Version : Gearbox TC Seal wear - Causes?



Piers1989
21-04-2009, 12:04 AM
My cars being looked at tomorrow to diagnose the ATF leak but by now im pretty sure its the seal.

Just wanted to know if there was anything that might cause this to occur or significantly accelerate as once its replaced i dont want it to happen again.

I dont drive horribly aggressivley all the time, spend most of the time cruising in drive at lowest possible revs in highest gear.

I usualy rag off at lights, sometimes with a full throttle start, and occasionally when im with my friend with an audi S3 put it through its paces right up to end of 4th gear, but hes normally away at uni and ive only really done that twice for about ten mins.

Just thought I'd check to see if theres anything i shouldnt do that would possibly have caused the seal to go.

Kieran
21-04-2009, 12:08 AM
Whilst we don't know what causes the failure in every single case, it is probably no coincidence that the replacement seals one buys have a stronger steel reinforcement spring in them so that they hold their shape better.

It's a common fault but not a guaranteed one. There doesn't seem to be rhyme or reason to it and I don't know of any aggravating factors.

bradc
21-04-2009, 08:45 PM
Lowest revs in highest gear isn't a good idea because you get the torque converter to slip more, which in turn heats up the gearbox oil a LOT.

You are best to keep it above 2250rpm or so at all times, and don't shift into 5th below 70-80kmh

Kieran
21-04-2009, 08:51 PM
Lowest revs in highest gear isn't a good idea because you get the torque converter to slip more, which in turn heats up the gearbox oil a LOT.

You are best to keep it above 2250rpm or so at all times, and don't shift into 5th below 70-80kmh

Only if you've got it on full load Brad - It'll only slip as much as it needs to in order to deal with the torque being thrown at it - All that torque has to be converted into something. So yeah, if you're at, say, 45mph and you floor it and hold it in a high gear, you'll heat up the ATF more quickly. However if you're on just light throttle, it won't actually be slipping that much - Torque input will be closer to torque delivered to the wheels.

In a nutshell Piers - Leave it in 'D' and it'll be fine. The gearbox ECU knows what's good for it and what's not. :)

Piers1989
22-04-2009, 05:07 PM
I never use the tiptronic i jsut leave it in drive, but i tend to drive using my foot to "provoke" it into changing asap.