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01 Carbio Automatic Trans Help Adptive Trans

Wife complained that VW was almost stalling out when coming to a stop and also when moving from a stop. I happened to be in the car with her when it happened again and it can best be explained as if it were a manual when first learning to drive. It's like coming to a stop and suddenly realizing that its a manual and you need to put the clutch in to keep it from stalling out, in other words I think the trans is staying in gear and not shifting to neutral properly. The tach drops from around 900 to 3 or 4 hundred then its like it goes up to normal after almost stalling out.

The car died completely coming to a stop about 3 months ago and the dealer put in a fuel relay and reset the throttle body. When I took it in this week they reset the adaptive trans by turning on the ign and holding the gas pedal to the floor for 5 secs then turning off ign and restarting. The car now downshifts hard when coasting to a stop, if braking its hard to tell the as the downshift is not as noticeable.

Car has 40,000 miles on it and has VW certified used car warranty. Is this a problem to be concerned about? How long does adaptive trans take to relearn. What is an adaptive automatic. I've never felt this kind of hard downshift in any automatic I've owned before. What next steps do I take since its under factory warranty? Dealer did a complete 40K service at 38,900 when I had last oil change. We've had car since about 34,600 with no prior trans shifting problem at all its been smooth as silk.

Reply to
cstoddard
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It sounds like the car's torque converter might not be releasing soon enough.

I'm not sure about all VWs but on Eurovans (also adaptive transmission) the procedure is similar but a little different so I wonder if the dealer got it right.

This is the procedure I know of (I have a Eurovan):

  1. Turn ignition on.
  2. Turn ignition off.
  3. Turn ignition on again, floor gas pedal for at least 5 seconds.
  4. Release pedal and start the car. Done.

Maybe try that? Heck...it's free and costs only a few seconds of your time.

The adaptive automatic basically just "learns" your driving style and when reset it reverts to factory default shift points. After reset it should be smooth...it should just be shifting at the factory-default revs, etc. between gears.

I would say that you might want to try the procedure above first (try to reset it one more time). Then, if that doesn't work, it needs to go back. You might have a dirty valve body. VW will like to tell you that its autos are sealed for at least 100K miles but that isn't always the best advice. Dirty ATF fluid or low ATF fluid can cause poor shifting. They should check the level and condition of the fluid and change it if necessary as well as any filters in the transmission and clean the valve body. if the ATF is low, you have a leak somewhere and that should be covered by warranty.

If that doesn't work, it could be a defective torque converter that isn't releasing properly. That's more complicated.

Reply to
Matt B.

A final thought too...if the transmission is really shifting properly, you might have a bad or loose engine mount that is transmitting the vibrations and movement of the engine to the car instead of properly insulating the car from the movement.

Reply to
Matt B.

Reply to
cstoddard

Don't know about checking the converter (don't know enough about them to know if it's controlled electronically or by vacuum or...?).

Reply to
Matt B.

Could be as easy as low on trans fluid!

Reply to
Lost In Space/Woodchuck

that's true, but if it is it means there's a leak b/c it's not normal for the level to drop. If the level is low, look for a leaky seal.

Reply to
Matt B.

Update on problem.

Reset according to prior message from Matt B., problem continues - hard downshifts coasting to stop and occasional drop in revs when starting out from stop or coming to a stop. Discussed with dealer - they admit have seen problem with torque converter not releasing. They said it was an electrical component and will have to check. Also indicated that trans fluid can only be checked by draining and measuring the amount of fluid.

Two questions come to mind.

Is there any other way to check trans fluid level and is there really an electrical part that controls how the torque converter functions to shift into neutral.

Thanks for any help before I take to dealer for check out next tuesday.

Reply to
cstoddard

The converter clutch is controlled by the electric solenoids inside the trans valve body. The only "correct way" to check the trans fluid level is when the trans is cold because it must be checked when the fluid temperature is 33*C. In the pan is a stand tube which looks like a soda straw and as the fluid heats up it expands some. Fluid must be added so the fluid starts to drip out of the tube. First your dealer must make sure the RPM issue is indeed caused by the trans and not the engine having an issue.

Reply to
Lost In Space/Woodchuck

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