2003 VW Beetle 2 litre auto - automatic gearbox

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Mon 20 Dec 2010 19:46
2003 VW Beetle 2 litre auto - automatic gearbox - distributor

After driving my car for about an hour, it became very reluctant to change up through the gears and if I pushed the accelerator just very gently it would change down.After stopping for about half an hour it started to behave normally, though a few of the gear changes were very jerky. The car has been driven on journeys various journeys of over 30 mins, sometimes on the same day, and the gears changed up and down perfectly. I took it to be scanned at alocal garage and the resultants were inconclusive, some sort of intermittant fault but no details. I would be grateful if you have any ideas .

Thanking you

Paul Lockyear

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Mon 20 Dec 2010 22:35
2003 VW Beetle 2 litre auto - automatic gearbox - Vinnychoff

the hardest fault to find is intermittent. unless the part is a common fault that is diagnosed often.

if it mis behaves all the time then it would seem the gearbox or oil level would need checking. was there a change in tempertures when this happened. have you owned the car a long time?

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Fri 14 Nov 2014 15:38
2003 VW Beetle 2 litre auto - automatic gearbox - Knightrider5188

This seems now to be a know problem, if anyone else comes across it, where the engine races between 2nd,3rd and 4th gears before shunting into the right gear with what feels like a kick in the back.

Requires some serious remedial work to fix. We have been quoted £800 by a local specialist to overhaul the gearbox.

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Sat 15 Nov 2014 22:52
2003 VW Beetle 2 litre auto - automatic gearbox - Big John

Before you do anything "expensive" get the gearbox oil changed. It is classed as sealed for life - but it isn't!. This gearbox is still a traditional slush box with some electronic control but very dependant on oil quality.

However it is quite hard to do as there is no gearbox sump plug and dipstick/filler and it is hard to set the level. Take to an indepentant VAG specialist

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Sat 15 Nov 2014 22:54
2003 VW Beetle 2 litre auto - automatic gearbox - Big John

Oops - just read the date of the original post

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