Help Needed! Very Puzzled

My car has been acting very strange as of late and i am out of idea's as to what it is. I am wondering if there isnt someone in the brampton area that wouldnt mind taking some time to drive my car and give any thoughts as to what the problem could be.

While driving i am getting this clicking noise come from the dash, same kind of noise that u get when u turn on the indicator but it can be as fast as the normal click or even faster to the speed u get when a bulb burns out. Its very random on when it occurs sometimes i can get from point A to B without a hitch other times it clicks away for the entire journey.

The other problem i seem to be having is the shift patterns on my car are very harsh. Its an auto tranny but while driving normal city traffic moderate acelleration the car jerks into the next gear and under heavy acceleration sometimes it seems like it starts to shift to the next gear but gets stuck half way into some neutral state where the RPM's climb as if the car was in neutral then catches and the car trots along again. I would hate to think that i need a new transmission cause latley i've been doing a lot of traveling where i am putting on minimum of 1500 km per week and i need this car to run without problems.

If there is any guru in the area, or within a reasonable drive and wouldnt mind giving it a once over i'd love to get ure input.

thanks for ure time
Omegarenegade

sounds like time for a fluid change on the Jetta.

OmegaRenegade said:

While driving i am getting this clicking noise come from the dash, same kind of noise that u get when u turn on the indicator but it can be as fast as the normal click or even faster to the speed u get when a bulb burns out. Its very random on when it occurs sometimes i can get from point A to B without a hitch other times it clicks away for the entire journey.

Click to expand...

Had the same problem with my car.

Be sure that you are not talking of the glow plug relay. Does the clicking sound is produced only when car is reaching operation temperatur ( 90°C ) or at any time? Also, does the sound came from the hazard button, in middle of the dash?

If it is at anytime and from the hazard button, it could be the flasher / cruise control arm. Got mine replaced under warranty and problem went away instantly.

As for the clicking, where is it coming from exactly? If it's coming from the area near the hazzard indicator, that's a recall item at the moment. You should be able to go in and get it replaced, no charge, and no longer have an issue.

As for the tranny...when was the last time you had a transmission oil change? If never, then maybe it's time. I had this on an older automatic I had...turned out that the fluid level was pretty low. I just topped it up, and away I went (it wasn't a VW, so it was easier to check). The tranny fluid level in VWs has to be checked via Vag-Com or dealer computer.

As for the ticking it is comming from the hazard light button and it doesnt seem to matter weather the car is at its running temp or not... if its gonna tick it ticks from the get go.

the tranny fluid i got changed a while ago, i figured that tranny fluid was tranny fluid and got it done at a Mr. Lube. Once i started getting this problem i read up a bit more and everyones saying to stick with dealer grade oil. not sure if thats the reason its doing this or not but what i forgot to add in my original post is that with vag-com i am getting and intermittent malfunction, something to do with torque converter.

Toronto_vento, how would i go about checking the level with vag-com? i have the tool just not educated in the use of it yet.

I'm honestly not sure how to check the level with vag-com either. Actually, I just looked this up, and you need Vag-Com to check the temp of the ATF, but you still have to check the level physically. http://www.chickenfriedsteak.org/01m.pdf It's a writeup by drivebiwire from here. Explains the whole procedure for you (the whole fluid change procedure).

I can't help with the tranny issue, except to suggest that you check the condition of your MAF. If the MAF is failing, it can play games with the shifting of the transmission. I have no first hand experience with this, but have read testimonials from others who have had shifting issues cured by changing their MAF or doing the Cage mod. Do a search for the Cage mod & read his thread.

As for the ticking noise coming from the hazard flasher, it could be the turn signal indicator. I had this problem. I could replicate the noise by moving the arm half way, but not too far as to activate the signals completely. I had to take my signal arm off the steering column and clean the contact inside. My theory is that as the brass terminals wear out, tiny shavings get suspended in the grease. Perhaps this becomes semi conductive and allows some of the voltage to bleed accross the terminals. This allows a tiny bit of voltage to be transmitted to the flasher, causing the clicking noise, but not enough voltage to actually activate the turn signals? Anyway, a good cleaning fixed the problem. You could try to spray some contact cleaner in behind the signal stalk. It hs worked for some people, depending on the severity of the wear. I think there is a link in my how to thread in my signature.

EDIT: I couldn't find the link in my How-to's, so I guess I will have to do one and add it . In the mean time, here is a link to a lengthy discussion on the subject if you want to read about it:

http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=68699

Hate to tell you this, but tranny fluid is DEFINITELY NOT tranny fluid when it comes to this car. VW specifies a special synthetic fluid that you get from the dealer. It's very good stuff, good for 5yr/100kmiles.

If Jiffy Lube put standard ATF (Dextron) or whatever in there, my guess would be that your tranny is eating itself alive.

The vagcom is needed to check the temperature of the fluid. I believe it has to be at 45C when the level is checked.

I do not recommand it, but you can remove hazard swith/button and good bey clicking sound

humm thats something to think about... i have done the cage mod myself, and when i did it the car drove noticibly differnt, like day and night different. The power and performance of the car is still very much the same as it was when i did the mod, its just this irradict shift behaivior. I Think what i am gonna do is take this car to the dealer and get the tranny fluid changed again. i've done approx 40,000km on the car since i changed it the first time and see if that solves it. As for the vag-com tranny fluid check what u said above is right, as i was reading through the bently manual its only used to check the temperature of the fluid not the actual level.


i would really hate for it to be the MAF causing this because i've given so much praise to the cage mod and recommended it to numerous others. Granted its prolly the cheapest fix i would hate others to have to go through this cause of my advice. Although im not convinced it is cause of the intermittent malfunction fault code i am getting regaurding the torque converter.

my 2 cents.... it's the turn signal lever on the steering wheel... the random fast and slow clicking will drive you crazy... i put up with it for 3 weeks before i couldn't take it anymore. cost me $200.00 with labour.problem solved. good luck Chris