[Razzi94JettaGL]

Hey Vdubberz,

So I have a 94 Jetta GL 4 speed automatic. When I bought it 3 years ago I was told to change the tranny fluid cuz it was dirty. It took 3 years but I finally changed it but since I did it hasnt been the same. I was told that the old MK3s dont like having the fluid changed because they need the thicker viscocity. So last night I was driving and The car wouldnt shift out of second. I parked it, reversed it and then put it in 1, 2, 3 , and D but all I got was second. So I parked it and started it this morn and put it in D as opposed to 2, 3 or 1. It shifted fine minus what I detect to be slight slippage. So my question is this. If I add some lucas tranny fluid additive to thicken the oil up, will this problem go away, or is my tranny finished? Help!

R:banghead:

 

[zero.]

Unless you noticed a bunch of fine metal shavings when you drained it, you probably just didn't put the correct amount of fluid back in. You need to follow Bentley procedure and use and IR thermometer to check: http://faculty.ccp.edu/faculty/dreed/Campingart/jettatech/atf01m.htm

 

[Razzi94JettaGL]

Hey man

Actually the mechanic said he was surprised with how little shaving there was on the magnet. Also, theres enough fluid as I checked but I think maybe too much. Would emptying some fluid out do the trick? If theres too much fluid would that cause the problem?

 

[zero.]

Too much or too little can cause problems. You're supposed to check the level at a certain temperature and fill only until the fluid just starts to come out of drain hole. If you had someone work on it that doesn't know how to properly do it on a VW, then they may have messed up. I'd take the car back if it didn't have shifting problems until they changed the fluid. Yours has a dipstick, so you should be able to easily tell if there is too much or not. On an 01M you can only tell by following the procedure on the last pages of this: http://faculty.ccp.edu/faculty/dreed/Campingart/jettatech/01m.pdf

Only other things I can think of if level is fine is to try a TB adaptation or recoding the transmission with VAG-Com (VCDS). If there's a fault code stored in TCU or other electrical issues with TB, it can prevent shifting out of gear and cause hard shifting.

 

[Razzi94JettaGL]

FIXED

So after a lot of advice I did a couple of things. I was told that old jettas like the thick oil so I added some Lucas oil Tranny fix and emptied out about 1.25 Liters of oil and she works now. Crazy or what? Thanks for the tips man.