My 2013 Audi S4 has covered 66,000 miles since new, and I’ve got little to no service history about it. I know it’s been relatively well cared for and these cars and engines are fairly bulletproof, but the 7 speed DSG, if not cared for well, is the weak link in the chain. Audi reckons you should change the DSG oil at 35,000 and 75,000 miles, and since I’ve got no record of this being done, I’m doing it today.
The process is relatively simple. You can go for the “easy” route and do it how Audi would do it, just empty the fluid and replace the external filter, but I’m going for the complete refurb route and replacing the internal filter too, so you’ll need a new pan gasket and either way new crush washers for the drain and fill bolts, which by the way here is the Audi part number for that. I couldn’t find these anywhere, except at my local Audi dealer for a fiver. You’ll also need between 6 and 7 litres of fluid, and a way to get it into the gearbox.
So, how do you do it? Well, you’ll need to get the car in the air. I don’t have a lift, so a couple of jacks and four jack stands will do. We had a bit of fun working out where to do it, and tried to push the car, but gave up and drove it to a more flat area. You’ll want the car as level as you can get it. Then take the undertrays off, you’ll need a philips bit for the VAG half turn screws, and a T30 for the rest. The gearbox tray is also held in by two plastic clips which seem absolutely impossible to remove. Luckily, my one is ripped on one side so we just slid it out the way.
If you are doing the ‘standard’ service, you can skip straight to removing the fill plug, then the drain, although since I’m doing the complete service you’ll need to remove the cross-brace which is four 18mm bolts that are ‘Guten-Tight’, and two M12 spline/triple squares that are even more stiff. Wrestle those out, then remove one 10mm that holds the heat shielding on at the side, and that’s it out.
Now, remove the fill plug. It’s a 10mm allen (hex) bolt. You need to remove the fill first, as if that’s stuck or stripped and you drain it, you are up a creek without a paddle. Have your drain pan ready, as DSG oil (which absolutely reeks by the way) may spill out. Then you can remove the drain bolt and let it empty the old oil out. Mine has been done fairly recently, as the fluid was insanely clean. While it’s draining, use a 17mm socket to open up the external filter housing and remove the filter. This was also very, very clean so I guess I didn’t need to do this as much as I thought. Ah well.
You can fit the new filter, and replace the O-ring on the housing. Use a pick to remove the old one, then lubricate the new one with some of the oil in the cap and work it on. Make sure its lubricated, then you can fit it back up. That gets tightened to 8nm.
Once all the oil is out, wipe the surface down, put your new crush washer on the sump plug and fit it back up. It gets tightened to 45nm. Again, if you are just doing the standard service you can skip to the refilling section. In my case, you’ll need to remove the pan. There are 15 T30 bolts to remove, try aren’t overly tight so a small impact driver works fine. Leave two in so it doesn’t fall on you, then carefully remove the last two while supporting it. Lower it down gently, then you can pull the internal filter out. Pop it towards the back of the car, a lot of fluid will gush out to keep the pan, or your drain pan, under it.
Next fit the new filter, lubricate the orange o-ring, making sure the old o-ring isn’t still in place, then push it up and in, using the nob on the top to align it in place. Then you can replace the gasket, it’ll likely be stuck down pretty tight so use a plastic tool to prise it up. You don’t want to scratch or chip the pan here, hence the plastic tool. The old gasket may leave some rubber, so use a cloth or scourer to get it as smooth as you can, then use the locating dowels to drop the new gasket in place. Make sure to clean out the magnets in the pan, and make sure there aren’t any contaminants, then it’s time to put it back up.
Put all the screws back in, they get tightened to 10nm, then it’s finally time to fill it back up. Pump fluid in until it drips out the fill hole, put the fill plug back in, then start the car. Change through the gears spending 20 seconds or so in each gear. This is helping to bleed air out the filters, so we don’t need it on for long. Then you can top it back up, again waiting until it dribbles out. Now is the fun bit. Fire up your scan tool, in my case I’m using VCDS, go to select module, 02 auto trans, advanced measuring values, then find what’s now called ATF temperature. Start the car and let the temp rise to 40°c, turn it off once it gets there, head back under and open the fill plug. Fluid should be dribbling out, if it isn’t fill until it does, then you can tighten the fill plug to 45nm too.
Then it’s just putting the brace back on, and the undertrays, and that’s it!
