95 Jetta III Issues

Hey all! New to the forum. A couple of questions:

My gas gague seems to take forever to go to full, and almost never does. It seems as though there is a light out in the head unit and I need to bang the top of the dash to have it come on which has no effect on the gas gague issue.

Also, I have an auto tranny, with a dipstick, and at 60 mph it runs at about 3100 RPM's. It's a D321 shift on the shifter and the gear ranges light up on the head unit in the upper right. This is a 2.0 L4 engine.


Just wondering if any of the experts here has heard of this.

Chris.


P.S. Where is the shift down cable on this car?

By head unit do you mean instrument cluster? It sounds like you have a bad or loose bulb. I think the cable goes from the gas pedal to the transmisssion then another cable goes from the transmission to throttle body.

Thanks Boschmann. One request from someone with similar car if possible. My Jetta shifter is 1-2-3-D shifter. Here is my problem:

Doing this manually, I shift from 1 to 2 no problem. I shift from 2 to 3, no problem. I shift from 3 to D, no problem. Now the problem I have is when in D, I get to about 60 - 65 MPH at 3100 RPM's. Isn't there an OD that should kick in right about this time? I can't believe that this is the final drive. Could this be the tranny in emergency mode? I have a feeling there is a sensor shot somewhere.

On an unrelated note, how do I get the radio out?

Chris.


P.S. Yes Boschmann, I did mead the cluster. Not to mention I posted the same issue again. Doh!

If it goes through through those gears it's not in limp mode. It sounds okay to me, I have never paid attantion to RPM,s on automatics. Perhaps someone with the same car can help.

Well first off my gas gauge does the same thing...I thought at first i wasn't filling it the whole way, until i OVERspilled on my car. I just wouldn't worry about that. Second, it should not be at 3000rpm at 60. I do have a 2.8 vr6 and i run at 80 with 3000rpm but it should not be that much different. Try pushing the gas 3/4 of the way or so..or even floored and see if it downshifts(starting from 70mph)...if it doesn't then you're not in overdrive.

At 60MPH/2800RPM yesterday, it just shot down a gear for no reason and the RPM's jumped to 4100. It goes in Tuesday to VW here. If it's trans related, it goes in the paper for sale.

Chris...if I am not mistaken...it is only a 4 speed automatic transmission. There is no overdrive...Mine does the same thing...although I don't tach 3.1k until I hit 70 mph. Maybe your tranny is slipping in 4th (D). When was the last time you had your fluid/gasket/filter changed in the tranny?

I just had it done recently, about 2-3 weeks ago. VW dealer said the tranny needs to be replaced as well as the distributor and Ox sensor. Way too much cash for this car.

Every car I ever owned, you could easily do 70 under 2000 RPM's. This thing is a PIG on gas. Also, running 3100 at 70 MPH doesn't seem good for the engine or tranny. How often do you change your oil and ATF fluid?

pam. "D" is overdrive. automatic trannys have different gearing manuals (4 gears and 5th overdrive). Autos have 3 gears plus an overdrive.
3100 at 70mph is just a little high and may not be in overdrive....if its jumping gears at that speed on a level surface without sudden acceleration its not good. def. have it checked out. i always use castrol gtx oil in my car and if you have your tranny fluid changed make sure you take it somewhere good b/c it needs to be flushed correctly or it will screw it up worse than simply having old fluid in there.

thanks for the tips on cheap upgrades.