Transmission, turbo, or?

2003 jetta 01M transmission. Almost 200k on the speedo. When traveling on the interstate I usually set my cruise at 75-80. Now in hilly areas I can no longer maintain cruising speed and the transmission is downshifting.

Now every time I start the car whether it is hot or cold sitting for a half hour or more, I have no power for a mile or so and an unresponsive throttle and then all of a sudden something kicks in and everything is back to normal for the rest of the trip. While it is in the unresponsive state it will gradually accelerate and shift but very slowly.

No codes are being set.

I replaced the air filter and fuel filter. I change the auto fluid every 50K and at 150K the fluid was good and no shavings on the magnet or bottom of the pan.

I'm stumped. Are the symptoms an indication of the transmission starting to fail? If so, I guess I'm looking at a new vehicle? Even though the body is in excellent condition I wouldn't want to put more than $1,000 into it to keep it running.

Never had the automatic or any other cars with automatic do that.
Interweb guessing. Could the engine not be producing the power to maintain speed? So if you drive onto a freeway at full throttle, does it pull real hard in higher RPMs thru 3rd and 4th (I don't even know how many gears there are)?
If not you might diagnose as low power. You may have checked already, stored codes?

It pulls pretty good getting up to speed on the freeway. I'm wondering if this could be an EGR valve or vacuum issue?

Sounds like you need to diagnose a low power concern. Could be a few things, but if no DTCs are showing up yet, it is possible you have a MAF failing (just a guess, a few minutes with a scan tool will tell better).

This is a wild guess, but it could it be there's air in the fuel system and letting the car sit introduces a larger amount? Is it also difficult to start?

Primarily though, I would start looking for vacuum leaks and kinked hoses. It would make sense that the car would run like crap for a while until it built up adequate vacuum to actuate the turbo vanes and everything else.

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Another thing is the brake light switch, but usually that won't even let the car move hardly at all. You can lightly touch the brake pedal with your left foot though and see if that is how it behaves when it is acting up.

Unplugged the MAF and my car runs better. Also pulled my intake manifold and found only a penny size opening. Can't wait to drive after I get it back together!

I left the old MAF unplugged while waiting for the new MAF to come in. I installed it and now I have normal power. However in the morning with cold starts the car now surges or sputters on first startup. It doesn't die and starts on the first try. It starts normal if the MAF is unplugged. Is the new MAF faulty? Once warm the car runs great now!

What MAF did you buy?
When you start the car, the turbo vanes should close, maybe they're not causing a tad unwanted boost? Just a wild a$$ interweb guess.

joedown said:

Unplugged the MAF and my car runs better. Also pulled my intake manifold and found only a penny size opening. Can't wait to drive after I get it back together!

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Penny size opening, hmmm Might want to get that manifold cleaned, I'm sure the car can't run well when its that restricted!

OP said he PULLED intake...

Just an update. I disconnected the vacuum line from the EGR and plugged the hose. Problem with rough idle on cold start has gone away. Could this be a vacuum leak or bad EGR?