2000 Golf Rally Auto not changing Gears Properly

Hi guys,

I've just got myself a 2000 1.6L Golf Rally (Auto) and within a week the driver side window regulator died on me. Cost me A$420(A$258 for the part) to fix at Woodcock Auto Electricians in Eastwood, Sydney. But thats all done and forgotten - I read here that its a pretty common problem in VWs.

I have a new problem now. It seems that there is something wrong with the transmission as the gear changing is not smooth at all and this just happened yesterday - before that it was fine. The gear now drags to about 3000 RPM when I hit about 50-60 KMH and it doesn't switch to a higher gear no matter what I did. It only does so when I drag it to about 4000 RPM and about 75 KMH then it shifts up with a noticeable jerk.

It used to be able to cruise at about 2500 RPM and changes gears smoothly at between 2000 and 2500 RPMs. I've read in my manual that there are two different driving programs in the automatic gearbox. One is ECONOMIC where it switches up faster to save fuel and SPORTY which drags the gear a bit to get more power. It also says that this is determined automatically by reading how I drive and depress the accelarator. But I am sure I have hardly dragged my gears so I don't know why it seems to be always in SPORTY mode. It does switch back to the smoother ECONOMIC mode after about 15-20 minutes of driving though.

Anyone has any ideas why this is so? Is there something wrong with the transmission or maybe the engine needs a tuning? I don't think its a problem with the engine temperature because it happens when the engine is hot and cold.

Thanks in advance for all your help, really appreciate it.

Cheers