2005 T5 transmission weird behavoiur .

[Sunny43.5]

Hi all our T5 transmission did something bizzare today , I had just returned home from a trip to the shops stopped the van for five minutes then went down to the servo as we live on the side of a steep hill I had reversed out and then engaged forward drive went forward about 5 metres uphill and the engine revs suddenly went up to about 3000rpm with very slow forward motion , I backed off quickly and then put my foot down again and it did it again then took off as normal . It has never done this before although we have had some other strange behavior off and on . Sometimes as you are slowing down under brakes the down shift is very clunky and some times the up shift is a little clunky . Then with out doing any thing the auto works perfectly for a few days or more , I have mentioned before that if I just turn the ignition on with out starting and hold the accelerator flat to the floor for 30 seconds this is supposed to clear the tranny memory and usually this makes it smooth again . I had mentioned this to VW at one time when without warning the tranny would go into limp mode whilst going up our hill [ hasn,t done this for more than a year ] anyway these people are absolute idiots as there response when asked for a repair option was to say oh we just replace the whole gearebox because its sealed for life !!!! Anyone got some ideas would be appreciated ?

[buzuki]

could be a valve body issue.

[Sunny43.5]

Would changing the tranny fluid help or hinder ? van has 121000 kays on board . Howard PS I found this guide on the BrickYard website
how to change T5 Auto Gearbox Oil - The Brick-yard

[Cousin]

Sunny your auto sounds similar to mine towards the end of last year
I had the fluid changed earlier, and it did smooth things up a bit, but the inevitable happened with the auto dying on the freeway couple of days before Xmas
Just get your wallet ready and have a plan B for getting around, cos there's a good chance the auto will spit the dummy in the near future
And many of the auto rebuilders are fitting larger US valves when they redo these autos, so they should be more reliable and hopefully give much higher ks


M

[Tornado T5]

They're right about replacing the box versus any repairs. Mine did the same, flaring between gear changes and eventually going into limp home mode while on the way to the dealer for the c/o. VW Australia authorised a change over under warranty. Funnily enough this all happened after I requested a service to a previously perfectly working box based on a thought that I could help extend it's life by preventative maintenance, lol..

[Transporter]

Funnily enough this all happened after I requested a service to a previously perfectly working box based on a thought that I could help extend it's life by preventative maintenance, lol..

Yeah, it was probably too late for that. Many AT's fail with the original oil in them around 100k km. Ideally, I would change oil at first 20k km, then every 40k km and still wouldn't be surprised if the AT would give up to the ghost.

[Sunny43.5]

I,ll hark back to my previous misgivings about the tranny in T5,s as VW say its sealed for life my question is what is "life" and do they really expect transmission oils to keep its viscosity over this same time without degredation of its operating ability . I still stand by what I have said before VW should bear some responsbility for repairs if they believe it never needs servicing .Nothing last forever and tranny fluids must bear some enormous degredation whilst in use .
Back in the good old days trannies were easy to repair and it was almost mandantory to change the fluids to prevent the fluids being burnt and not working properly . I am afraid that I am not a big supporter of some of todays technology in modern cars , I remember some years back when a 1 year old BMW came into our workshop it had been driven into a freshwater creek during a flash flood . Our job was to dry out the interior trim seats carpets and door trims , we only just got started when the mechanic shop rang and said that the insurance company had written off a $50,000 plus car because the computers and electrics alone were costing more than the car was worth to replace . I just shake my head in disbelief .
Do we really need a transmission that is sealed and cant be serviced or a transmission that has two speed settings and a manual mode that I have only used twice in 6 years if I wanted a manual I would have bought one ! what a waste of technology . The very first time I used the manual mode was descending down Cunninghams Gap here in Southern Qld the van was only about a year old , I was following a semi trailer down and decided to use the manual mode to stay at a set speed it was drizzling at the time when an opportunity to pass came I pulled out and took off suddenly I realised that the mongrel wasn,t changing up and quickly I flicked it back to normal drive mode and kept going . When I got to the bottom of the range the van had gone into limp mode and would not accelerate normally , eventually after driving like this for another 40kays I pulled up and turned the engine off and on again and that reset it back to normal . My point is aren,t "we" the driver why should manufactures put all this expensive technology that tries to think for us , we are creating a whole new generation of drivers who cannot think for themselves . They are too reliant on the car to think for them , give me the some of the good old days please .

[Umai Naa!!]

They've just recently ammended the service schedule to include an oil and filter change on all autos at 60,000klms.

With the pan off, your mechanic will be able to see what's damaged. If the oil is burnt, and full of swarf (metal shavings), you'll be up for a new transmission. If all that is ok, you may be able to get away with a new valve body.

[Transporter]

as VW say its sealed for life my question is what is "life" and do they really expect transmission oils to keep its viscosity over this same time without degredation of its operating ability .

120,000km or 5 years as per German TUV. They probably don't give the rats about the rest of the World and assume that you change your VW vehicle every 5 years or even sooner. As I said earlier I always change the gear, diff A/T oils after run in which is at 10k km-20k km and then every 40k km. Power steering fluid every 20k km. The oils are cheap, components not.