Faulty Brake booster = auto tranny & brake prob.

2002 Jetta TDI with automatic tranny (100K).
For months I have been trying to track down an upshift problem on my daughters Jetta. Stop-go traffic and suddenly the tranny won't upshift, pull to the side of the road for 20 mins. and then all is well. No codes, clean fluids, and VW dealers have no answer. Also, I notice poor milage and bad brake wear, plus changes in brake pedal position (on occasion). My poor 19 year old daughter got her butt chewed for crummy driving habits. VW says I need a new tranny and I say BS. Now the brakes are gone, metal to metal. New pads and rotors. Flushed the system and cleaned & checked the calibers. I drive it and all is good. Several hours later my daughter calls and the brakes are smoking bad plus the transmission is back to not upshifting. She is in stop-go traffic again. Next morning I take the car to my shop and feel the brakes dragging again so, just by chance, I stick my toe under the pedal and hit it up - brakes release!!! I can find no reason for this problem or cure. Back to the dealer, shop forman comes out and remembers that he ran into this before and replacing the master brake cylinder and booster took care of this. All for only $900!!

So it seems the tranny was not upshifting due to the brakes dragging which only happened in stop-go traffic. The dragging causes irratic wear and overheating the brake pads and rotors. No dealer, in the many times I took the car in, could figure this out. But this problem with the booster is well questioned all over the internet.

VW customer service told me to go pound sand when I requested they cover this defect!!!!
Very dangerous to be driving around with a sub-standard braking system!!! Even more so is the VW Service writers that are just entry level salesmen and nothing better. VW is running a close race with the reputation of a Ugo!!!!

I had this same issue. I gave VW of America the chance to make it right (which they didn't). After speaking to their customer service department I then filed a complaint here. It is the first step that needs to be taken to initiate a recall.

http://www.nhtsa.dot.gov/


You are certainly not the first person to have this problem. It seems to occur in varying stages. The smoking brakes and upshifting problem is part of what I saw on my car, but it also would apply the brake to the point that the pedal would suck toward the floor and lock 'em up. My wife had it happen while crossing a very busy highway with my 2yr. old son in the car. Thank God the traffic stopped in time. This is a VERY serious safety issue and needs to be recalled. They do know about the problem, but their customer service REP for this area seems to recommend bilking the customer for a rotor/caliper/pad replacement before even bringing it up to the service managers (who are clueless).

File the complaint. This will be recalled. Failing "On" is an unacceptable failure mode, and HAS to be fixed.

Have you had someone flush the system and then put in DOT 4 brake fuild??? CHF makes good stuff as does Motul Pentosin. Vw's are usually know for pretty good brakes systems. My 2001 TDI AT has never had any braking issues BUT I never keep fluid in longer than a year and I live in ATL. Have they replaced the switch that was just recalled about 6 months ago for the brake system??
Henry

How did you fix this problem??? I'm going to buy the booster this morning, $200.00 - what a rip!!!!!

I had the booster replaced. The problem has not come back. They tried to talk me into the master cylinder as well, but I said no. The booster should fix it.

Speed

Sounds familiar....
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showflat.php?C...o=7&fpart=1

Couldn't this be as simple as the brake light switch?