01M on 2001 TDI Slow Drive Engagement and strange problems

Mustangkr500 · Mar 10, 2011

I have a 2001 Jetta TDI with 225k the car seems to have been well maintained i bought it cheap but am hoping to remedy some tranny issues/prolong the life.

Symptoms:

Takes like 4 seconds to engage drive or a little bump on the gas pedal. once
engaged car takes off fine, the problem as a whole seems to be an inability to
stay locked into a gear without some torque being applied. the car shifts right/almost perfect when under moderate to heavy acceleration but under really light acceleration has a little hesitation between 2nd and 3rd. then when in Overdrive 50-60mph the cars RPM's flux up and down a little while going a steady speed, this doesnt happen at 70-80 or under any type of acceleration.

I changed the filter, and fluid with little or no difference.

Notes:
Reverse Engages Nice and strong no hesitation.
No metal in pan or filter at fluid change.
Once Drive is engaged, it stays firm and doesnt slip or anything at stop lights it pulls strong like a normal car would.
Autozone showed a Transmission Plausibility message?

Any Suggestions?

TGOLF · Mar 10, 2011

Welcome to the tranny club. You are having exactly same issues I'm having. I have 219K and it used to not slip after it warmed up. But now it's starting to slip under hard acceleration.

There are threads that address the 01M transmission, many have different symptoms however.

Most point to a new valve body that I hear is anywhere from $350 on up.

I don't have the time to do it myself, so need help with a good honest price to repair in Tacoma / Seattle area...

Here are couple...
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=198950
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=297179
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=119288

Auto to 6 spd
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=230223

Valve body guy.. http://www.kansascitytdi.com/

Mustangkr500 · Mar 11, 2011

More observations

I have been observing key differences between tranny performance cold vs warm.

When Cold the tranny shifts better all around, the slow engagement into drive
is better, but not quite perfect.

When nice and hot, the shifts are unsure, and have more "float" at the top
as if it isnt fully engaged. The hotter it gets aka 70 miles non stop the more
goofy the tranny gets.

Regardless of temperature, reverse engages excellent. And it never slips
once it engages a gear.

Mustangkr500 · Mar 24, 2011

Since no one seems to have any ideas, im going to try Lucas Tranny fix, i think given the
problems are nill at cold and heavy at temp that the seals inside are leaking pressure and an additive might swell the seals or be thicker and help the tranny shift better until it gives up the ghost.

CoolAirVw · Mar 24, 2011

Mustangkr500 said:
Takes like 4 seconds to engage drive or a little bump on the gas pedal.

check your fluid first. If its full then you have pressure loss.... usually requires rebuild.

Mustangkr500 said:
once engaged car takes off fine, the problem as a whole seems to be an inability to stay locked into a gear without some torque being applied.

Actually it wont stay in gear without some "throttle" being applied. More rpm's spins the pump faster and its able to overcome the pressure loss.

Mustangkr500 said:
... but under really light acceleration has a little hesitation between 2nd and 3rd.

If you mean a minor increase in rpm on the 2-3 shift (flare) then this usually requires rebuild also.

Mustangkr500 said:
... .. then when in Overdrive 50-60mph the cars RPM's flux up and down a little while going a steady speed,

this sounds like TCC surging which I fix all the time in the valve body but with the other stuff you got going on you better start budgeting for a trans.

CoolAirVw · Mar 24, 2011

Mustangkr500 said:
I have been observing key differences between tranny performance cold vs warm.

When Cold the tranny shifts better all around, the slow engagement into drive
is better, but not quite perfect.

When nice and hot, the shifts are unsure, and have more "float" at the top
as if it isnt fully engaged. The hotter it gets aka 70 miles non stop the more
goofy the tranny gets.

Regardless of temperature, reverse engages excellent. And it never slips
once it engages a gear.

Pressure loss is worse hot. Reverse has different clutch packs applied so there is probably no pressure loss to those.

CoolAirVw · Mar 24, 2011

Mustangkr500 said:
Since no one seems to have any ideas, im going to try Lucas Tranny fix, i think given the
problems are nill at cold and heavy at temp that the seals inside are leaking pressure and an additive might swell the seals or be thicker and help the tranny shift better until it gives up the ghost.

Seems I'm a day late and dollar short again. Good luck with that lucas.

Mustangkr500 · May 11, 2011

CoolAirVw said:
Seems I'm a day late and dollar short again. Good luck with that lucas.

Thanks so much for your input,

I bought the Lucus tranny fix, im going for it soon, ill post if it has any redeeming effect and also post when it grenades lol

Mustangkr500 · May 11, 2011

CoolAirVw said:
check your fluid first. If its full then you have pressure loss.... usually requires rebuild.

Actually it wont stay in gear without some "throttle" being applied. More rpm's spins the pump faster and its able to overcome the pressure loss.

If you mean a minor increase in rpm on the 2-3 shift (flare) then this usually requires rebuild also.

this sounds like TCC surging which I fix all the time in the valve body but with the other stuff you got going on you better start budgeting for a trans.

The 2nd to third shift is crappy the first time each morning, i dont feel any slipping once the first gear catches 4-5 seconds after selection. really under any load aka spirited driving it feels normal, the downshifts are sluggish

thesearcherman · May 11, 2011

CoolAirVw said:
check your fluid first. If its full then you have pressure loss.... usually requires rebuild.

Actually it wont stay in gear without some "throttle" being applied. More rpm's spins the pump faster and its able to overcome the pressure loss.

If you mean a minor increase in rpm on the 2-3 shift (flare) then this usually requires rebuild also.

this sounds like TCC surging which I fix all the time in the valve body but with the other stuff you got going on you better start budgeting for a trans.

Is the OM1 any different/difficult to rebuild than say a Ford A4LD, or GM 700R4? In other words if you have rebuilt American car autos, can you most likely do the OM1? Also, can you buy the rebuild parts easily? Thanks

donDavide · May 11, 2011

CoolAirVw said:
you better start budgeting for a trans.

Second that!

CoolAirVw · May 19, 2011

thesearcherman said:
Is the OM1 any different/difficult to rebuild than say a Ford A4LD, or GM 700R4? In other words if you have rebuilt American car autos, can you most likely do the OM1? Also, can you buy the rebuild parts easily? Thanks

Parts are available. Although internally its not much different than the ones you mention folks usually have a much harder time with it than those. Most shops dont have the tools to do the valve body. Lots of special tools for trans and valve body.

geraldk2 · May 22, 2011

Here is my experience with our '02 with similiar probs... I bought the car at 180k miles from a dr. lady that used it only for commuting. It ran perfect, never even had anyone sit in the back seat, no ****. Car looked like new. I did a timing belt change only at this time since it was due. At around 195k miles started to shudder around 40-50mph. Not sure what caused that, but it went away when the other symptoms started. By 200k it started to hesitate going into drive, just like yours. I limped/babied the car along for a year and 15k miles. Dont let it hard shift into first by reving too much to get that trans to engage.. thats what destroys the gears. Thats how you milk every last mile out of an 01M

Eventually it started to slip when accelerating . That made life interesting when entering the highway. I did a trans oil change and it seemed to help a bit, but did not fix a damn thing really. Last month as the slipping had got worse and worse I decided my life was worth more than a week in the garage so I swapped the trans with a spare I had from our totalled '01 w 135k miles. Good as it also enabled easy access to clean my intake. That thing was clogged! I get 8 mpg more now daze and back up over 40. I saw a post that said you can use Valvoline vmax life auto trans fluid as opposed to the other $$$. So I used that with the exchange. Seems to work ok? Not sure tho... this trans did not down shift hard when we last used it a few years ago in the other car.. now it does. Hmmm... I might try a new valve body and real deal trans fluid. I like to drive a car, not baby it. Be nice to hear how that Lucas works out for ya...

Mustangkr500 · Jun 2, 2011

geraldk2 said:
Here is my experience with our '02 with similiar probs... I bought the car at 180k miles from a dr. lady that used it only for commuting. It ran perfect, never even had anyone sit in the back seat, no ****. Car looked like new. I did a timing belt change only at this time since it was due. At around 195k miles started to shudder around 40-50mph. Not sure what caused that, but it went away when the other symptoms started. By 200k it started to hesitate going into drive, just like yours. I limped/babied the car along for a year and 15k miles. Dont let it hard shift into first by reving too much to get that trans to engage.. thats what destroys the gears. Thats how you milk every last mile out of an 01M Eventually it started to slip when accelerating . That made life interesting when entering the highway. I did a trans oil change and it seemed to help a bit, but did not fix a damn thing really. Last month as the slipping had got worse and worse I decided my life was worth more than a week in the garage so I swapped the trans with a spare I had from our totalled '01 w 135k miles. Good as it also enabled easy access to clean my intake. That thing was clogged! I get 8 mpg more now daze and back up over 40. I saw a post that said you can use Valvoline vmax life auto trans fluid as opposed to the other $$$. So I used that with the exchange. Seems to work ok? Not sure tho... this trans did not down shift hard when we last used it a few years ago in the other car.. now it does. Hmmm... I might try a new valve body and real deal trans fluid. I like to drive a car, not baby it. Be nice to hear how that Lucas works out for ya...

Well To continue my contribution to this issue

I used the valv max life tranny fluid the first time and it seemed a little better than the old fluid, but heres the final SOLUTION!

I Changed the fluid again this time with Mobile 1 Fully Synthetic

and added apprx 9-10 ounces of Lucas tranny fix

This corrected everything but the slow drive engagement.

Fixed
-surging/rpm flux at the top of gears under low throttle
-shuddery down shifts
-premature down shifts
-2nd to 3rd rpm flare (used to happen every day from cold stop)
-unsure shifts

So for $11 a bottle and a plan to try to make my 231K into 260k and delay the reaper i think im doing ok, but please if anyone knows the procedure
and part to get im 99% sure the solenoid that shifts from park to drive is
bad.

My reasons,
-The lucas had no effect on the delayed engagement but corrected everything else
-its almost perfect when the car is cold (magnets hate heat)
-it degrades significantly and proportionally with heat

Im going to post a lucas possible fix/remedy post

Thanks

01M on 2001 TDI Slow Drive Engagement and strange problems

Mustangkr500

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TGOLF

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