I have a Jetta 2003 1.8T with 63,000 miles. In the past few weeks I've noticed that the car when in low revs doesn't engage the next gear and doesn't accelerate. At highway speeds the car is fast and accelerates just fine, I can pass other drivers with the gusto the T in the engine is supposed to do. It seems to be the low gears. Especially noticeable at stops and on hills. (I live in a hilly area AND there's a stop sign at every corner, so it's annoying.) I'm not an aggressive driver so I don't like to dig into the gas pedal when at a stoplight, etc. The car is definitely lethargic when coming off a stop or going up a hill. Anyway, the car will rev around 2500-2700 rpms and not shift unless I back off the gas pedal a hair, and literally just enough that engine isn't accelerating, and then it shifts. Like I said, only in lower gears. Also, from 1-2 (and possibly 2-3) the shift causes the car to buck a bit, not too badly, but enough for me to notice the change. The sluggishness of the car has been more noticeable in the past week or so. My mileage is also not as good for the past 3-fill ups. I just had an oil change 2-days ago, and I've noticed that nothing has improved if it isn't a little worse.

Based on my lurking on several forums, it sounds like to me that I might have a transmission issue. I know that a suitable diagnostic can't be given by reading a 1-paragraph description, but does this sound like it just may need a transmission fluid flush, or is this going to get really expensive? How much does a flush and visual inspection usually cost? I really don't want to have it rebuilt.

**Don't know if it's useful info, but I've kept up on all the regularly scheduled maintenance and oil changes, always with the dealer except when I had the alternator replaced. And have always used high-grade gas.

 

Also, when I bring in the car for oil changes they do a 27-point inspection check which includes checking the transmission, U-Joints, etc. Not sure how thorough it is. Is it possible that this is all just my car getting old? I also considered that the decline in power might be from a bad ignition coil.

 

Hi!

Sorry about your problem! A faulty coil pack would normally trow a MIL light, also cause a misfire or even worse engine failer, that may be what your experiancing since these coils are on each cylinder and not actually a pack of them all together. From what your saying it does sound like you may need a gasket or two replaced in the 'ol tranny. I have a '03 1.8t 108,000 miles but manual transmission so I'm not too fimilar with your issue.

Best of luck to you.

 

Thanks for the reply, JettAMaster. My Jetta's with a local VW/Audi shop (I now only go to the dealer for oil changes...no more repair work). Within 4-hours they were able to tell me what was wrong with my coolant light going off in colder weather (something the dealer wasn't able to do since last winter). So thus far, I trust these guys. My mechanic said that he thought the car was fine. He did feel a bit of a buck here and there, but didn't think it was anything to be concerned about. I tend to be a bit gentle with my car, so after discussing with him, I may just need to push the car more upon accelerating and that might be the power issue. He's going to check the transmission fluid levels, have me drive it some and see how I feel about it. Otherwise, it's time to flush it.

Oh, and just in case anyone else ever has the same problem with the coolant, here's what my situation and resolution was:

The coolant light would go off whenever the coolant was cold, usually when the outside temperature was @ 50° or below. If I let the car idle for 10-minutes OR if I drove it 1-mile, then killed the engine and started it right back up there would be no warning light. The dealer's fix last winter for this was to pour more coolant in it. Even though the levels were fine and I didn't see any coolant loss, this seemed to do the trick. Well, here it is the start of the cooler weather again and on the first day that it was about 52° if that dang warning light didn't go off again. Drove it 1-mile, killed the engine, started up the Jetta again and the light didn't go off. I suggested a sensor issue with my non-dealer mechanic. He looked into it. I have a bad sensor which he's replacing with a green one (whatever that means), in addition to having a damaged reservoir. Not sure why the dealer didn't figure that out.

 

sounds very similar to what i was experiencing with my 03 Jetta 2.0L. the only light that came on was my check eng. tho. it usually happend to me after it rained but that doesnt sound like your issue. it ended up being a burnt out coil so i had the lot of em replaced and havent had that problem yet. hope it gets better!!!

 

Sassylassy
did you ever get your transmission fixed or find out whats wrong it
my transmission is doing the same thing

 

Hi Roman,

After my mechanic drove my Jetta and discussing it with him, he didn't think that anything was wrong with the transmission. He suggested that I drive it some and see how I felt about it. I am a bit hypervigilant about my car and particularly so because of the Turbo and it being a Jetta! So I may have been reading too much into how the car was operating.

If you really feel like your transmission is on the fritz, I would recommend getting it flushed and a new filter. About a couple hundred $$. I've read elsewhere that it tends to help out a lot. However, if it's really far gone, you might need to get it rebuilt. That's about $$$$$$ more than a flush!

I'll probably go ahead and get the flush and filter done somewhere around 80K. I really don't trust VW's recommending of anything. So the fact that they say your transmission fluid and filter is good for forever....that sounds ridiculous. VW recommends my original timing belt was good for 100K miles. Errrr...my mechanic said 70K since that's about where he's seen them all break. I'll go on his experience rather than what it says in a book.

Good luck, and let us know what becomes of your situation.

 

The symptoms youre describing indicate a clutch that is slipping while under a heavy load/ high power output. Start with the easy things and change the oil with something you know. The wrong oil can cause the problems youre describing. Unless the POs used the bike on a track or just didnt know how to shift, clutchs usually last well past 50k miles. You shouldnt be having those issues now at that low mileage.

 

Could you give him more feeds during the day? I know youre all for routine etc, but maybe you could just pop him on every time he peeps...?

sall I have in the ways of advice, sorry sweets.

Hope youre feeling better soon too.
Call me when the sniffles have gone.