05 Passat Tranny

160K miles, bought at 155.

05 Passat tranny does a crazy thing with reverse... you can tell when it's in crazy mode by the gear indicator.

When put in reverse, the gear indicator will turn completely red. When this happens, the tranny BANGS into reverse, but moves fine. But, when then shifting to forward, the indicator stays completely red, and the car is in third, even though you're stopped. Moving forward at all requires high rpm.

The "fix" to this is to restart. Upon restarting, the gear indicator returns to normal, and forward functions perfectly... except... there's no tip-tronic, just automatic.

Now... I can get tip-tronic back by using the manual feature of the automatic side. By bringing the tranny up through the gears with the automatic side of the shifter, I can get tip-tronic back ONLY AFTER I get a 4th gear light. Sometimes I can't get 4th gear. But normally, even when I do get 4th gear, I get no 4th gear light! Usually, but by getting on and off the fuel in 3rd, I can force it into 4th. When I do finally get 4th, I know that a working tip-tronic is back in operation.

Once it's warmed up, this problem is virtually non-existent. PLUS, if I avoid reverse, the tranny is real good, in auto or tip.

Once warmed up, if I need reverse, I'll put it into neutral first. IF I get a neutral indicator light, then reverse will "probably" be OK.

If I don't, and use reverse anyway, I'll likely get the full red indicator, and then have to restart to get normal forward again.

"Stupid mode", also throws a check engine light, which, once warmed up on a long-ish drive, will go out upon restart.

I can't be the only one... can I?

You need to use a scan tool and ask the TCM what is wrong. Or the TCM itself is wrong because neglected drains filled it with rain water.

I figured I might have sticky solenoids, especially since there are many times when the indicator lights are late coming on, so I changed the fluid and filter, and put in a jug of Lucas tranny fix.

Forgive my ignorance... my other three TDI's were manuals. This is my first automatic. TCM is what...? Transmission Control Module?

Drains... rain water... it all seems to ridiculous to think that there are drains that could get messed up and get rain water where it doesn't belong in tranny control areas...

Really? Can you (or someone else) give me a little heads up on this?

Transmission Control Unit, yes.

OBD is not new, and it embraces the automatic transmission's controls just the same as the engine, the ABS, the SRS, the radio, and bunches of other things in the car.

It is a common issue on the B5 Passats to have neglected sunroof drains and cowl drains that allow water to find its way down to the floorboards, under the carpet. The TCM lives in a little plastic box under the passenger seat area, the CCM (Comfort Convenience Module.... the computer that controls the alarm, the door locks, etc.) lives in a little plastic box under the driver seat area.

Both of these control units are subject to damage from water intrusion.

Your first step is OBD, a scan tool. We can guess all day as to what it could be, but a scan tool will point the direction.

Peter Haddad said:

......and put in a jug of Lucas tranny fix.

Click to expand...

I wouldn't have done that. If I were you, I would drain it all refill it with only the approved fluid.

scan it and check to see if the carpet is wet as others have said.

Peter; My '05 Passat Wagon had the same symptoms a few years back. A used neutral safety switch (about 80 bucks) from vwztips solved the problem. But while I was troubleshooting this I found and re-spliced some rotted wiring under the passenger door sill plate and pass side kick panel due to water intrusion from the pollen filter area. Also a replacement TCU was no help even though mine was wet from the leak. Good luck and keep us posted!