All the Audi 5000 auto tranny I saw have coolers on them. And they still get
hot enough to dry up the gear oil. They had a recall to replace the gear oil
with synthetic and a big red sticker to check it every 30,000 miles.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Robert Fisher
Sent: Friday, April 23, 2010 7:35 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Question about the fluid cooler on the auto tranny

So I was thinking about what I had read / been told about the Audi 5000
(turbo) tranny; specifically that it didn't have the fluid cooler on it. I
was wondering why a larger, turbo'd motor from the same era wouldn't have a
'cooler' on what is essentially the same tranny that has it in the WBXer,
and I thought perhaps it isn't there to 'cool' the fluid so much as it's
there to bring the fluid up to operating temps and keep it there (and maybe
cool it if it starts running hotter).

It seems to me that the WBXer tranny is sort of in a wind tunnel to begin
with; I understand the van is a fair load but I wonder if it really needs
much auxiliary cooling (other than on long uphill climbs, possibly?).

Any thoughts?

Cya,

Robert