2005 Jetta Transmission Oil Change

tdicolby

Active member
Joined
Jul 7, 2002
Location
Eagle, WI
TDI
2006 Jetta Pkg 2, 5 speed, 2005 Jetta GLS TDI Wagon,tiptronic, 2002 Jetta GLS, Auto
I have a 2005 Jetta TDI wagon Auto Tiptronic Transmission. I have 147,000 miles and have not change the AT Fluid yet. There appears to be little on the forum about changing the oil.

I found that it is impossible to change the filter, so my main question do I pull the pan and clean it up, or leave it on, and just do the fluid change.
 

Utmuscle

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 18, 2010
Location
Salt Lake City, Utah
TDI
2005 Jetta GLS wagon
I was just chatting with Jason in Madison (Jason's TDI) about some other issues with my 05 wagon with 175k miles. He recommended draining the oil, measuring and replacing the exact amount. He said your transmission will shift a lot better. I'm changing mine this weekend.
 

MrSafety

Newbie at Heart
Joined
Jun 27, 2010
Location
California... Novato... 25 Mi. N. of S.F.
TDI
2002 Jetta TDI/ALH/01M-'80 240D Mercedes/'81 Rabbit "Caddy"/'99 Lexus ES300
I have a 2005 Jetta TDI wagon Auto Tiptronic Transmission.
I have 147,000 miles and have not change the AT Fluid yet.
There appears to be little on the forum about changing the oil.
I found that it is impossible to change the filter, so my main question do I pull the pan and clean it up, or leave it on, and just do the fluid change.
I was just chatting with Jason in Madison (Jason's TDI) about some other issues with my 05 wagon with 175k miles.
He recommended draining the oil, measuring and replacing the exact amount.
He said your transmission will shift a lot better.
I'm changing mine this weekend.
I don't mean to steal your THREAD, but I'd like to throw out an idea I have pondered since I tried to perform a more complete flush/change of the fluid in my Son's 2002 Jetta TDI I helped him purchase. Bare with me and then blast my idea is if you think it stinks!

I was frustrated when I learned that VW had the "gumption" to declare these 01M (& later) transmissions "life-time" and not needing any service.
On our 2002 Jetta/01m tranny, I know it holds ~5.5 liters of fluid and just after we bought the car I paid $50 to "top it off" the tranny as a safety against it being low.
Later I found that the INDY mechanic was too trusting of his "automated" flushing equipment and he ended up leaving a full liter too much fluid in the tranny.
This led me to start investigating how a DIYer might use the transmission cooler's two connection fittings to affect a flush/service.
I custom made a "banjo-bolt" that replaces the 2 that attach the cooler to the transmission.
My banjo-bolt allows the pump internal in the transmission to pump out the fluid... and I found "rather quickly".
I now realize that you really need two of these and also found a ~$40 cooler conversion kit (converts to air cooler)...
but anyway the kit has two such banjo-bolt adapters that are less expensive than having a machine shop to fabricate them from banjo-bolts.
Here are my latest ideas on how to do a much more thorough flusing using these adapter fittings might be performed:
(a) CLEAN THE COOLER AREA and KEEP IT CLEAN!
(b) You would completely remove both of the OE transmission's banjo-bolt fasteners and suspend the cooler out of the way keeping the water hoses connected.
(c) The rear fluid banjo bolt to the transmission should be the pressure-out-flowing fitting...
so you run this connection/fluid out tube to the front of the car using clear vinyl tubing and into a new short painter pail that is squeeky clean... which should hold about 2.5 to 3 gallons of liquid!
I would place the pail at about top-of-the-radiator height on a tool cart or steady box!
(d) I would make up a large clear plastic bottle and fit the lid with a connection so you can cut the bottom out and suspend the bottle upside down...
say from the open hood's latch "loop"... intravenous style... and run clear vinyl tubing from this bottle's bottom gravity fed discharge fitting down to the 2nd transmission connection (forward) which should be for returning the fluid to the transmission.
(e) This is an intermediate step that you might not want to use... but I would first purchase far transmission fluid that is far less expensive than the "spec" OE/Dealer fluid called for in the transmission...
for you see that this will be sacrificial fluid only for flushing and at say $6/liter, I would buy ~8 liters/quarts of this.
I would thoroughly flush my expensive transmission with this large quantity of fluid with the engine at idle and in gear... using a 2nd person in the car shifting from forward to reverse periodically. IF you wanted to slow this procedure down because it wants to take off on you, then put an adjustable hose clamp on the tube that is discharging from the transmission and throttle down the flow to your preference.
This would be prudent because it would allow you to better tend the transfusion bottle handing from the hood... emptying the new fluid and gravity back-filling the transmission to prevent damage.
The clear vinyl tube that is discharging fluid out of the transmission also lets you monitor and see the old (darker) fluid begin to turn into the color of the fluid you are putting into the tranny!
(f) Step (e) above would then be repeated with the OE fluid "specified" for the transmission... and in reSEARCHing what fluid you would use in step (e) that was compatible for mixing with the "OE" fluid, then you might be able to select one that really contrasts well visually with the "OE" fluid so that you will be able to see the fluid in this/the final flushing as you are just about ready to shut down and properly top-off the tranny using the 2-piece drain-plug!
The final topping-off should be done aftert you have the transmission warmed up the temperature!

OK, please take your best shot at my extreme DIYer notion that we can do a very thorough flushing of our expensive VW automatic transmissions.
P.S. - When I tried using my single modified banjo-bolt, I was able to only get 3.5 liters of fluid out...
thus leaving ~2 liters of the old fluid in there... thus my brainstorm to how to do it better.
Years ago I did a 2-stage flush of the really big transmission in my 1967 Olds Toronado which I think held about 12 quarts!!
Regards,
Sam
 
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