Power loss, not shifting? GURUS HELP PLEASE!!!

2001 Jetta TDI with the 4-spd auto, 01M transmission. 109k on the car. In the last few thousand miles or so, mostly in the afternoon when the car had been sitting for many hours (so it was stone cold, but not "overnight" cold) I would start up and attempt to drive away. Sometimes it would accelerate normally, but MANY times (and getting progressively worse up until 2 weeks ago) the car would get up to about 20-25mph... And all the power would just vanish. The tranny would NOT shift when it was supposed to, so I'm doing 30mph at 3000 rpm with my foot to the floor. Usually traffic would force me to stop before it would clear itself, but when it cleared, it would be like flipping a switch. Just that fast, the car would decide "I'm better now" and suddenly accelerate rapidly, and start shifting again.

Of course when all this started getting really bad, thats when my VAG-COM cable died. Perfect timing. I just got a new VAG cable, and confirmed one suspicion from a code: The MAF had been acting strangely. I replaced the MAF with a 2.0 MAF 2 weeks ago, and the car has been mostly normal since. It seemed to partially lose power again one or two times since, in the last couple days. I just got the new cable today. In pulling the codes tonight, I found this code in the transmission:

01192 Torque Converter lock-up clutch
04-10 Mechanical Malfunction - Intermittent

What (if anything) should I do about this? The only possible slippage I can think of is when the car was in it's "low-power" mode, but its not doing that as much right now. Also, does this tranny lockup in all forward gears? Can I make it do this?

NEW INFO: Today it started pulling this crap again, but there is NO corresponding code in the transmission ECU. Now I'm really lost. The MAF was replaced with one that I had as a spare. (altho it IS a 2.0 MAF, the airflow numbers were the same as the original TDI MAF when I bought it) The problem seemed to vanish for 2 solid weeks, and now it is back again. HELP PLEASE! I cannot afford to be like a stealership, and just throw extremely expensive parts at the problem.

I did some checking with the VAG, and while the car was acting stupid, the Tranny ECU was reporting very-slow-to-change clutch slip numbers of between 275-600 while the car was at 45mph and my foot was on the floor. Car in third gear (not shifting) and tach was pushing 3000+.

Oil and Tranny Fluid was changed about 1500 miles ago. Tranny now has Mobil One Fully Snythetic ATF inside. Pan magnet did NOT have anything beyond a light coating of steel slime, quite normal (IMHO) for a 107k tranny.

Soo.... Any suggestions?

Your could try resetting the Fuzzy Logic in the Transmission, got this from another thread;

Quote:
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If you want to reset it's fuzzy logic back to stock -
#1 - Press the acceleerator peddal to the floor
#2 - turn on ignition, but don't start car. Wait 10 seconds
#3 - turn OFF ignition.
#4 - turn on ignition / start car, drive normally.

If that still doesn't suit your fancy - well, there's nothing preventing you from taking more control yourself and shift it more to your liking. I'll do this frequently when the car is hunting between gears, or when I'm out in the mountains.

I do recall another person with a similar problem from out in Seattle but can't remember the resolution, I know they took it to a garage but that only sucked money and didn't resolve it.

Ok, this is a torque converter problem, I'm pretty sure.

The car was doing this again today, on the new MAF, I have also unplugged the MAF while it was acting stupid, and the problem seemed to cure itself ((*&^%(%&#$* INTERMITTANT PROBLEMS!) but today, with the MAF connected, it was being stupid for more than a few minutes. Full throttle did nothing, the engine would be racing, and not trying to shift at all. Lift off the throttle (since I had no power getting to the wheels anyway) and the car shifts HARD, but STILL no power getting to the tires. So I kicked it into neutral, then did what is known as a "Neutral drop" i.e. rev the engine a bit, 2500 in this case, then drop it into gear. Surprise, it caught and drove normally the rest of the way home.

So, how do I change the torque converter, and is there an upgraded design I should be looking for? This car already has upgraded nozzles and timing, and no EGR... So I'm making a little more power than stock.

I'd like something that sacrifices some smooth shifting for better power transfer. So... Anybody got any info / links?

You used the wrong trans fluid. Bad move.

It sounds like you have some clutch packs going bad = transmission needs a rebuild. The cold behavior points to this.

You could try http://www.car-part.com to find one, you need code FDB, it came in the 1.8t also.

Or, if you want to try rebuilding it, my favorite place is http://www.gtainc.biz/ You are in Florida, there's a guy closer to you in Georgia, can't remember right of hand, maybe Peloquinn knows.

I have Amsoil Universal ATF in mine, but it was a new transmission, new torque converter, completely flushed and filled to get all the old stuff out before it was run.

You need to get the yellow Pentosyn stuff in there and flush all the Mobil out. Or maybe you might have a shot if you flush all the yellow stuff out and replace it all with Mobil.

Try logging the MAF and Boost pressure while accelerating to WOT. Dump the data into excel and graph it. You should see requested and actual for both MAF and Boost. They should track fairly close if all is well with the MAF and N75. The trans will not shift correctly when a low power condition exists. You had improvement when you unplugged the MAF. That is why I'm suggesting this. Also do the cage mod if you haven't already.

Good luck

Roger

?? Cage mod? Please elaborate, the search function doesn't like me.

Kerma, I searched forever before I finally did the tranny change, and the only thing I could ever find was people saing just ATF, not Dexron / Mercon V, ATF+3, ATF+5... You see where I wasn't finding an answer? As for mixing the fluids, I'm not THAT worried, especially with the way it's acting. I have had automatic trannies die from old age before, this one doesn't feel like that at all, it really feels like it is being prevented from operating by something electrical. Stupid electronics. Also, with my experience of failing transmissions (Chrysler Minivan, 1 transmission every 40k miles) when it starts to actually slip, it does NOT go back to operating strongly ever again. This one is going back and forth. That's what is driving me nutty.

If I can find a comprehensive answer on what is causing this, I will be more than happy to do a complete "power flush" to swap all the fluid, then change the filter again. But I find it hard to believe that the Pentosin wouldn't mix with Mobil's synthetic ATF, considering they are both supposed to be synthetic, right?

I'll try the logging thing, but it would be nice to be able to do that when the car is being stupid. Unfortunately, that cannot be predicted, as the car is acting perfectly normal again. Bah.

--Jim

Cage Mod: Clean the contacts on the MAF sensor connector, Stuff the connector with silicone dielectric compound (same stuff you put on spark plug boots), push connector on and off couple of times, and plug it in. Try searching for MAF.

Try the logging and post the graph.

Good luck,

Roger

Ok, I have a log of the MAF, but of course, the moment I got the computer connected up, the car started acting normally again.

The specified versus actual MAF readings were never the same, from idle thru WOT. The actual MAF was running between 40mg/r and 200mg/r HIGHER than the specified, the largest difference was at part throttle.

Now I DO have an Epsilonian device... but shouldn't that compensate for the EGR so the numbers are closer to the specified?

I dunno any more. The way this is acting, maybe that MAF that I bought from the dealer was buggy.

Did you also log the boost pressure? IIRC that would show as MAP (manifold absolute pressure).

I don't know about the "Epsilonian device". Maybe someone who knows can chime in.

Roger

Epsilonian device is a vacuum-operated switch that may or may not have a small resistor also in the circuit. It's function is to close the connection when vacuum is applied, duplicating the function of the EGR valve. The electrical wires are a feed circuit to / from the MAF harness, and without this switch in place, the MIL would be on, with an "EGR insufficient flow" code.

It's for off-road use only, of course.

And no, I didn't log boost pressure, BUT I have an external boost gauge connected directly to the racepipe (EGR replacement - straight pipe section)
and NOT tied to the computer at all. If there is boost, that gauge moves. And boy, does it move. Under WOT, the car will peak at 18-20 PSI, and hold at about 14psi, but when the car is acting stupid, the boost is around 10 psi max, but it holds there. I still don't understand how a malfunctioning MAF would prevent the car from shifting. Can it be gutting THAT much power, that the ECU would think the engine would under-rev if it did shift?

Stupid computer controled engines. If they used quality parts, this might not be such an issue. OR, if the parts at least threw a CODE when they went bad! So annoying, these electrical gremlins.

My theory is that the ecu only injects enough fuel to match the amount of air that the MAF is reading. When the MAF is reading low and the pedal is pressed down indicating you want to accelerate, the trans ecu gets confused holding the shift for a higher RPM which never comes because of the low amount of fuel which is caused by the low reading MAF. Remember, it's only a theory.

I would take the time to log the boost (MAP), I think thats where part of your problem is. It's just as easy as logging the MAF. IIRC you can log the duty cycle of the N75 valve at the same time. It looks like you are going into a limp mode which is limiting the boost. If this is the case you may need to check your N75 valve, VNT actuator for stickyness, or the hoses controlling these devices. Low boost results in low power.

Good Luck,

Roger