[Nhr908]

Thought I'd start new thread because I'm noticing different symptoms than those described in this similar thread: http://www.clubtouareg.com/forums/f62/transmission-hard-down-shift-12203-12.html#post240969

- 2004 V8 Touareg
- 150,000 kms (93,000 miles)
- Air suspension, navigation

Here's my story: just purchased my first Touareg (and first VW for that matter) last weekend. As I was driving it back to where I live (500kms) it started developing weird/hard shifting symptoms like those described by others (really not fun considering I just purchased it and haven't even been able to get it safetied for registration in my province yet).

I took it to a very good third party transmission shop here in the city and went out on a test drive with their VW tech. We were able to consistently replicate the issue.

Here's what's happening:

- When applying significant throttle pressure (torque) the transmission will appear to attempt to shift to the next gear up, but will instead leave it in the equivalent of neutral (this is what I haven't seen described in the previous thread).
- We can see this because all acceleration is lost and the tachometer quickly blips up to redline.
- We then remove our foot from the accelerator; allowing the engine to reduce RPM.
- When the RPM lowers to a certain level, the transmission will then slam into the next up gear it was originally trying to shift to.
- We were able to replicate this symptom when shifting from 2nd to 3rd, 3rd to 4th, 4th to 5th (so not just one gear).
- The tech has a Snap-On branded scanner attached to the vehicle; but cannot see anything showing up in live mode while driving. Also there are no error codes stored.
- We can replicate the issue in Automatic mode, Sport mode, as well as Tiptronic mode (as well as in both Auto and Sport modes on the suspension damping).

Here's the operating environment:

- Vehicle has warmed up to operating temp.
- Ambient temperature is 0 to +10 degrees Celsius.
- Suspension damping in automatic mode; height set to street mode.
- Transfer case is in high range
- Different sized tires on back vs. front (Previous owner did this; I haven't changed to four exact same tires yet).
- Transmission has been serviced within the last 20,000 kms (pan dropped, fluid changed, magnet cleaned, new seals on transmission pan).

What I would like to know is if anyone on here has seen this issue where the transmission seems to miss the next gear while up-shifting and put the transmission into neutral, before then slamming it back into the next gear after RPM is reduced.

 

[Nhr908]

Thanks for the reply! I'm getting the tires changed to four identical winter tires tomorrow. They're also used, but I will see if that helps the issue. I'll make sure the technician measures the tires to confirm that they're within spec.

 

[Nhr908]

Thought I'd post a reply. I've replaced the tires with four new Yokohama Geolanders (for the winter) and it hasn't fixed the shifting problem.

I've had it in to a 3rd party transmission shop and they recommend that I replace/rebuild the transmission valve body to rectify this issue. The shop tech test drove my Treg and commented that he feels that the mechanicals of the actual transmission still seem very tight (once in gear there's no slippage at all; only when shifting), so that is why he thinks the valve body is the culprit.

So now I'm looking into rebuilding the valve body, but find issues here too! Turns out there's no one around that can rebuild this valve body because no one wants to get into testing the TCU (which has to be tested when the valve body is rebuilt). Now I'm stuck either buying a new valve body (min $1,300 + labor) or trying my luck with a used one. And this isn't even guaranteed to fix the issue!

Anyone have and comments and/or recommendations?

 

[Nhr908]

Thanks for your replies.

I got a quote from my local VW dealership for the valve body: $1,700 plus 3 hours labor.
I see on ecstuning.com that a new valve body is $1,270 plus $20 shipping plus unknown duty. See: http://www.ecstuning.com/Search/09d325039a/ES288140/.

Does anyone on here recommend AGAINST purchasing from ECStuning? I'm assuming it would be the same valve body as I would get from the dealership.

I'm also looking into buying a used valve body from somewhere.

 

[Nhr908]

The valve chest problem is usually dleivers a HUGE thump as the car changes from 5th to 4th on a low throttle just as the engine is starting to labour on a slight incline or somesuch.

Yes, I've read in the other threads about the common issue with these transmissions shifting rough in high gears. I think my issue is different. The big difference I see is that my transmission will appear to disengage the output shaft (feels like revving the engine in neutral) when shifting between gears under high torque. I can cause this when shifting between any two gears. Tiptronic works better when I shift the transmission like a manual (take my foot off the throttle when shifting).

The serviceman at the dealership speculated that maybe it could be a computer malfunction that the techs could diagnose in the shop.

As a side note - its quite annoying that the dealership service department charges an hourly rate to help me diagnose problems with my VW while I can take it to a third-party transmission shop in the city and spend an hour with the tech diagnosing the issue *free of charge*.

 

[Nhr908]

Just thought I'd post an update since I originally started this post. I finally had my transmission valve body replaced, along with a new oil filter, new synthetic oil and it's completely fixed my shifting problems. The transmission shifts like a dream now!

I originally priced out the job at the local stealership and it was going to cost me approximately $3,200 (parts, tax, labor incl.) to do the job.

I took another route and ordered all the parts from ecstuning.com and had a local transmission shop install the valve body. This ended up costing around $1,900 (incl. parts, labor, tax, import duty) and saved me $1,300 from the price at the dealership. It should be noted that I still used completely OEM VW parts with a 12 month warranty from ecstuning.com.

I thought I'd comment on the transmission oil issue. Ask someone who repairs transmissions for a living (import models included) what they think about 'lifetime oil' and they'll say that unless you plan on throwing out your transmission at 150,000 kms, no transmission oil is lifetime sealed!