Gearbox failure at 90,000mls

[Spannerrash]

Well this was a little unexpected. I sent the pictures of the sump pan up to mackies just to see if they thought it was repairable, just to get a feel for it really. This was there reply.

Hello.

Sorry for the delay in replying, I have spoken with the transmission build manager and unfortunately this isn’t something we are looking at any longer. Due to a shortage in available parts for the transmission, it makes it very hard for us to rebuild any longer.

I am sorry we can’t help on this occasion.

Regards

Jamie Henry

Service Manager



Mackie Automatic Transmission Ltd

95 Causewayside Street

Tollcross

Glasgow

G32 8LT

[MikkiJayne]

Yeah, they've been saying that for a while. They can't get genuine ZF parts, and as a ZF dealer they're probably not allowed to use aftermarket stuff so they've just abandoned the 5HP altogether.

Parts are available for them from Poland and the US though.

[Spannerrash]

Well folks, the decision has been made and the car is gone. Made a package deal with prestige for the car and a few spares I had and she was picked up last Monday.

I'm gonna look back at this in time as a very expensive failed experiment. I bought the car almost 9 years ago as a replacement for my E36 M3 which I had gotten rid of a few years earlier. She was starting to suffer from corrosion and that is something I am not interested in dealing with. I was attracted to the A8's aluminium body and thought that if I keep her in good order mechanically she would be quite a rewarding car to own. Unfortunately, as I'm sure many of you are aware, finding parts for old cars is sometimes harder than dealing with corrosion. So for me, an expensive failure.

Rather than feeling sad, which I should do, I actually feel like an albatross has been lifted from around my neck. So that speaks volumes as to where I was at with it.

Moving on I have listed some expensive, hard to find parts in the for sale section. The information in the listing is very brief so I can get a feel for interest before I turn to ebay.

If you have any interest in any of the parts send me a PM and we can talk further and I will provide photos etc.

Thanks very much for all of your support over the years.

Frank.

[MikkiJayne]

Thats a shame but understandable. On balance, yes - it seems to be more rewarding to fix rusty BMWs you can still get parts for than run an aluminium Audi with no parts. M539 Restorations certainly is making a better living out of BMWs than I ever would have done from D2s

Will you replace it with something fun?

[Spannerrash]

I think I'm done with the whole car thing now. I've had some nice cars over the years as many of us have. I'm getting to a stage in life now where it's difficult to maintain them physically and too expensive to pay someone else to do it.

I do have an old Honda Xr600r from 1984 which I need to do some work on. Hopefully that might scratch my mechanical itch for a while. It's complete, just needs painting and putting back together. I actually bought it 10 years ago but then got distracted with the S8.

I wish you all well with your cars, they do deserve saving. It's a shame Audi don't seem to feel the same way.

Thanks Frank