Some new problems to watch out for

vwmk4 said:

The 0m1 is not the only Vw auto with problems. My 2005 golf has the 5 speed automatic and has always had a problem. This happens before the car is up to operating temperature.
When shifting from third to forth gear there is what the stealer called a RPM flair. It hesitates to shift then when it does there is about a 100 rpm spike as it shifts. they checked it out and there was no stored code so they will not do anything about it.
The service writer and tech. were no help, seems like I'm just SOL.

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When people say 'always had a problem' what I hear is the transmission is acting normally, and you do not agree with the way it normally operates. Many newer automatics, expecially ones with 4+ gears like your 09A, will act strange when the ATF is not up to temp. I have never been in ANY computer-controlled VAG automatic that behaves the way I would want it to, that is just the way they are.

I bet if you drove an identical car, under identical conditions, you'd find it behaves just the same as yours.

york77777 said:

I think Oilhammer should be involved in the design of the next VW TDI automatic transmission Maybe then they will get it right!

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Yeah but it might come out as a manual lol.

oilhammer said:

When people say 'always had a problem' what I hear is the transmission is acting normally, and you do not agree with the way it normally operates. Many newer automatics, expecially ones with 4+ gears like your 09A, will act strange when the ATF is not up to temp. I have never been in ANY computer-controlled VAG automatic that behaves the way I would want it to, that is just the way they are.

I bet if you drove an identical car, under identical conditions, you'd find it behaves just the same as yours.

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Although I do not like the way that it acts when not up to operating temperature, your words make me feel better. If that is the way they act so be it. And will live with it. Thank you Sir.

FL2AK-tdi said:

Yeah but it might come out as a manual lol.

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No, I think I would do a planetary CVT like Toyota hybrids use. But yeah, I would still MUCH prefer a proper manual transmission

oilhammer said:

No, I think I would do a planetary CVT like Toyota hybrids use. But yeah, I would still MUCH prefer a proper manual transmission

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Yeah, definitely. Rockwell uses planetary gear drives in their differential and they're super tough.

After working at a Honda dealership, I always liked the toyota prius better than the civic hybrid, in large part because of that planetary gear transmission.

Incidentally, does toyota uyse that same planetary system in their automatics for the corolla and camry?

Speaking of honda civic hybrid, does any of you heard about civic hybrid having transmissions fail with in 40K miles on clock? I know someone from our church that bought civic hybrid wrecked, they fixed and drove it for while, now their transmission failed and dealer wants like $4K to replace. I did quick search on google and found that other people had same issue transmission failed at around 40K.

Do you guys now what exactly goes south in those transmission's and how complex they are to replace?

No hybrid Corollas (yet). When there is I would imagine that it will share much with the Prius.

The Camry hybrid uses the same planetary CVT design, but bigger and beefier like what the hybrid Highlander and RX use.

The 4th gen Prius (3rd gen to us) will be out in a year or so. That model will likely share a platform with the Corolla due to be revamped around the same time. Essentially completing the Prius' transformation from the old Yaris/Echo platform to the [larger] Corolla/Matrix platform. The current Prius now is kind of its own basic layout, whereas the previous generation was essentially just a hybrid Echo with some minor body tweaks.

Toyota's CVT only is designed to work in a hybrid system, because the hybrid's MGs are used to vary the load and thus change the gearing. It is an elegantly simple design, with only a couple moving parts. It is key to the Toyota hybrid program's success, and is probably why Toyota continues to lead the way in this technology.

Losha said:

Speaking of honda civic hybrid, does any of you heard about civic hybrid having transmissions fail with in 40K miles on clock? I know someone from our church that bought civic hybrid wrecked, they fixed and drove it for while, now their transmission failed and dealer wants like $4K to replace. I did quick search on google and found that other people had same issue transmission failed at around 40K.

Do you guys now what exactly goes south in those transmission's and how complex they are to replace?

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The early Civic Hybrids had crappy transmissions, or so was the general belief around the dealership. I'm told, though I disbelieve it, that they actually had a belt in there for something and that belt stretched. Check with oilhammer on that asIi never was really convinced and I've seen nothing concrete. But yes, they were pfffft transmissions.

The 04 05 auto trans on all honda V6 vehicles were also problemeatic-recalled because 2nd gear metals were not properly heat treated and prone to warping during use.

Some Civic hybrids got a proper manual trans

Also, the Civic HX and GX use a CVT, and those are not hybrids. The Honda CVT requires a very specific ATF and if you do not use it, bad things can happen. Jiffy Pube killed lots of those, because they did not seem to understand it was perfectly NORMAL for the CVT ATF to be brownish. DURRRR....

I've seen zero issues with the 5 sp auto boxes. VERY robust.

oilhammer said:

Some Civic hybrids got a proper manual trans

Also, the Civic HX and GX use a CVT, and those are not hybrids. The Honda CVT requires a very specific ATF and if you do not use it, bad things can happen. Jiffy Pube killed lots of those, because they did not seem to understand it was perfectly NORMAL for the CVT ATF to be brownish. DURRRR....

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I would totally love to have a Civic GX! I was on the Honda website last night looking at them, as the gf seems ready to buy a new car, but there's no way it's worth an additional 10 grand in msrp. And I also wouldn't own one that was not duel fuel capable.

The problem with the HX/GX, at least the older (previous gen) ones was that they puke up a $300 LAF sensor every 50k miles or so, and they have even worse catalyst issues that other Hondas...so there is hardly any real savings in the end.

Yep. My sisters 97' civic LX just got it's 3rd cat today under the extended 150K emissions warranty.

jasonTDI said:

Yep. My sisters 97' civic LX just got it's 3rd cat today under the extended 150K emissions warranty.

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Hehe, both my BILs have '97s, my one brother has a '98, my other brother a '99, my sister a '04....all but the '04 have needed catalysts!!!

It's an endemic problem for sure....and not cheap! I did the neighbors last summer in their 96'.

I just bought a 2002 Jetta TDI Auto with 135K miles.

Car runs great but I'm having some transmission problems. The car shudders when it shifts into high gear around 50MPH. If you accelerate and keep the RPMs above 2000 its not noticable.

Out on the highway if you keep the RPM over 2100 it runs great and doesn't seem to slip at all. At speeds above 45MPH with rpm below 2100 the engine RPMS surge approx 100 rpm like your placing the car in nuetral and then back into gear. It does this about every 5-10 seconds. It seems to be getting worse as time goes on. It only started doing it today and I am concerned that it has the junk transmission most complain about on here...

dragradial95 said:

I just bought a 2002 Jetta TDI Auto with 135K miles....

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same thing happened to me, took about 6 months for it to give out at which time i had to have RPM's at around 3500 to go 65mph, and going uphill forget it, had to hit the hill going 80mph and was going 30 by time I got to the top.

had to have it replaced at the dealer for $4500, they also said that the transmission guard was all banged up like someone drove up onto a rock.

good luck with yours but I would start saving if I were you.

^^^ Sounds kinda like a converter to me. Probably the whole tranny/converter combo crapping out.

jasonTDI said:

It's an endemic problem for sure....and not cheap! I did the neighbors last summer in their 96'.

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Is this an issue that's been resolved on the newer Civic's? My gf and I are going down to the Honda dealership to buy her a new car after finals...

If this has been resolved, what years was it an issue?

FL2AK-tdi said:

Is this an issue that's been resolved on the newer Civic's? My gf and I are going down to the Honda dealership to buy her a new car after finals...

If this has been resolved, what years was it an issue?

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I do not know on the newest platform Civic (the new bloated ugly one with the 1.8L engine) but the previous generation (with the 1.7L engine) still had the problem. Been this way since at least the early '90s, but catalyst monitoring did not come into play until '96 so lots of the early ones only got replaced if they failed an IM240 test.

Toyota and Nissan have the same problems. Ford does too, but they have so many problems a catalyst now and then seems trivial... Just this week I have put a cat on a 2002 KA25DE Altima and we have a 5.4L E250 here that needs one. And I have one on order for a 2001 Sienna. Toyota actually has TSB after TSB on almost every model about sulphur odor in the exhaust, cat replacements, and updated software.

You know right now one of the best cars for the money (and even at any price, in some ways) is one of the HMC cars. They have made great strides and offer some really good cars. I service a boatload of them and they are pretty trouble-free.

oilhammer said:

I do not know on the newest platform Civic (the new bloated ugly one with the 1.8L engine) but the previous generation (with the 1.7L engine) still had the problem. Been this way since at least the early '90s, but catalyst monitoring did not come into play until '96 so lots of the early ones only got replaced if they failed an IM240 test.

Toyota and Nissan have the same problems. Ford does too, but they have so many problems a catalyst now and then seems trivial... Just this week I have put a cat on a 2002 KA25DE Altima and we have a 5.4L E250 here that needs one. And I have one on order for a 2001 Sienna. Toyota actually has TSB after TSB on almost every model about sulphur odor in the exhaust, cat replacements, and updated software.

You know right now one of the best cars for the money (and even at any price, in some ways) is one of the HMC cars. They have made great strides and offer some really good cars. I service a boatload of them and they are pretty trouble-free.

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Sounds like it's just a problem on virtually all cars. If so, it's like there's nothing you can do about it.

What's an HMC? Hyaundai?

HMC is Hyundai Motor Company, which now includes Kia models. The only current Kia model sold here that does not have a direct Hyundai twin is the Rhondo.

oilhammer said:

HMC is Hyundai Motor Company, which now includes Kia models. The only current Kia model sold here that does not have a direct Hyundai twin is the Rhondo.

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I kind of thought so. We just finished a discussion in my Asian studies class about the asian business model etc etc. I was shocked to learn that Hyundais are made in NORTH Korea.

FL2AK-tdi said:

I kind of thought so. We just finished a discussion in my Asian studies class about the asian business model etc etc. I was shocked to learn that Hyundais are made in NORTH Korea.

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What? The final assembly of our Accent, my cousin's Accent, both my Uncle's Elantras were all Ulsan, South Korea. My Sonata was made in Canada, and many other newer models are made in Alabama.

Hyundai does have plants near the NK border and uses some NK labor, and has gotten some bad press about that (like Mexican labor here) but it is news to me that any final assembly of US-bound cars are done there.

The prof has it wrong. They are not assembled in N.C. Look it up.

oilhammer said:

What? The final assembly of our Accent, my cousin's Accent, both my Uncle's Elantras were all Ulsan, South Korea. My Sonata was made in Canada, and many other newer models are made in Alabama.

Hyundai does have plants near the NK border and uses some NK labor, and has gotten some bad press about that (like Mexican labor here) but it is news to me that any final assembly of US-bound cars are done there.

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They have a massive facility and complex in kasan, North Korea, which is the ancestral capitol of the old Koryo Kingdom. You can actaully see the complex from the border posts on the DMZ.

Final assembly might not be performed in Kasan, but it does play a large, industrial role in the manufacturing.

Hey Fl2ak: I told you about my wife's Hyundai XG 350 as to the success we have had with it and posted a link to the HMC $1.4 billion assembly plant in Alabama. Maybe you ought to have your gf have a look at a Sonata or Elantra?

Cheers!

Tony

aja8888 said:

Hey Fl2ak: I told you about my wife's Hyundai XG 350 as to the success we have had with it and posted a link to the HMC $1.4 billion assembly plant in Alabama. Maybe you ought to have your gf have a look at a Sonata or Elantra?

Cheers!

Tony

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Well, I'll consider it.

I'm hesitant as my last ex gf before ths one had a Kia Sportage that was a complete and total pos, far far FAR worse than my tdi has been. I've met or known about 8 or others who owned Kias and Hyuandis that hated their cars.

But I recognize that it's possible that the quality has improved.

I'd like to settle the confusion on the North Korean plant though; probably after finals. (Next week)

Although, it would be hypocritical of me to say I'm not buying a car with Norh Korean components while wearing shoes made by a 4 year old Chinese kid.

By the way, what kind of mileages do yo see in Hyuandai cars? Because ultimately, we're not considering anything at all that gets less than 30 mpg in the city. which is a very, very short list indeed. Basically, the list is a hybrid, a gasser Civic, Fit, Yaris, Smart Car or used tdi. She's actually open to a tdi but I'm trying hard to oppose that.

EDIT: I was wrong to say HMC cars were "made" or "built" in North Korea. There isn' even a vin code for final assembly of any vehicle for North Korea. It must be a component manufacturing facility.

My sister's 2004 Civic can barely break 26 average. Highway it can get as high as 35, that's about it. It is a slushbox. Our nearly two-ton B5, slushbox and all, can easily best that little tin can. LOL

30 in the city? Stick with the TDI, and check this out:

http://www.fueleconomy.gov/

Good luck with the finals!

Tony