Tranny fluid change, road trip, and p0741

My car has 349,000 after a 3000 mile road trip. Prior to the road trip I did a drain and refill of the ATF. The car ran great on the trip but I noticed at one point about 1000-1300 miles in the TC seemed to slip and not lockup in 5th gear this was at a higher elevation. The next day I decided to scan for codes and lo and behold a p0741 came up. I reset the code and went on my way and it hasn’t showed up since. There’s also a bit of a hard downshift on deceleration downshift but it’s intermittent and seems to only happen when certain specific conditions are present.

The transmission has a decent history of servicing it was changed a few times prior to me getting it at 160,000 and I did a fluid/filter change around 250 or so. The fluid was dark as expected but didn’t look metallic and didn’t smell burnt. My question is this... The pan has pretty severe dent/scrape in it I want to replace the pan but I’m hesitant to change the fluid again. Should I just plan on finding a good used transmission and replace the torque converter? I happen to have a rebuilt one in my garage.

Live data test with my OBD Eleven dongle shows no slip on lock up in 5th gear uphill with a load at 90mph.. I guess I’m good for now and the code was a fluke.

You may want to double check the fluid level, but it sounds like the converter is going to need replacement soon. With that many miles, though, the transmission certainly doesn't owe you anything, so it may be good to plan on replacement/rebuild soon. Hopefully it was just a quick sticking and it cleared itself out.

If its a 5-4 hard downshift, it is likely the N91 valve body solenoid. I haven't done mine...yet. Car is pending a decision on repair or junking for a couple of issues.

Some info here: https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?4945241-04-passat-tiptronic-hard-shift-5-4