passat auto trans

I own a 1991 passat gl that is having transmission problems. When the car is cold it runs fine, but once it heats up it doesn't want to change from 1st to 2nd and so on. It will change gears however only once it reaches about 4000 rpms and I let off the gas. Once it reaches fouth gear it then begins to slip like it doesn't want to pull. I've had it looked at and all anyone can tell me is that it is a faulty trans. Please help me I have tried everything and I don't want to get rid of the car. :banghead:

I have don't have a suggestion for you, but just want to let you know that I have the same problem. I even have a much younger passat then you. Mine is from 1997 but behaves the same way. I have gone to the dealer and they want $120 just to test drive it for about 30 minutes. If they hook it up to the computer, they want $300. I asked how much they charge for the trans fluid change, they said $320. The same price would be just to check the fluid level of the sealed trans my Passat has.
I am very unhappy with the price of maintanace of this car. I try to live with the trans by learning to release the gas when it's time to shift the gear. I hope it will last longer this way.

have you found a fix to this problem i have a 1997 that does this exact same thing?

You won't believe it but it got fixed.
I took the car to a brother-in-law of my friend who does some car work in his spare time. I took it to fix an AC issue. When I got the car back 6 days later, he not only fixed the AC issue but also fixed the way trans is shifting. I was (and still am) amased how the car runs well. All I know is that he charged me $250 bucks for parts and labor. Since I can get in touch with him only via my friend, I have been unsuccefully trying to find out what he replaced/fixed. He couldn't have replaced the trans for sure for that much money. It must have been some small/cheap electrical part controlling the trans. I think he drove the car and noticed how badly it shifts and fixed the problem without asking me.
I will keep asking my friend to find out from his brother-in-law what was the problem. So, keep the hope. It may not be an expensive problem to fix in your car as well. You just need to take it to an honest guy who knows these cars.
I will post more info if I finally find out what was replaced.

I have a 1999 VW Passat and the dealer said it needs a new transmission. The car only has 67,000 miles on it. Unfortunately, I am the 2nd owner and the 100,000 mile warranty does not apply. The dealer said the cost to replace would be $4,200!!! Did you ever find out from your friend what his brother-in-law fixed/replaced? I'd rather spend $250 to try something before spending $4,200.

I have a 1992 Passat and actually acquired it for $300.00 because the owner was told the tranny was done for. Mine will do the shift at 4000 rpm also though not all the time. The '92 Passat has a tranny switch to from economy or to sport mode. Vw themselves told me that it has something to do with that feature, some little electric part inside needs to be replaced. What I did was take the switch out and clean it. That helped a bunch. It sometimes still does it, but not very frequently. Another thing you can try is get the car going fast enough in 4th gear, put the car in neutral, shut down and restart the car. The electronics in the tranny will be fooled and will start shifting like normal. If these little tricks don't work, your tranny is probably ready to buy the farm. Hope this helps. TB

Thanks for the advise. I will certainly try tricking the electronics and see if it works.

Ok ,don't laugh at me, but my son has a 1990 jeep that did the same thing. Turned out to be the throttle postion sensor. The trans was not getting the right data about the speed of the engine, therfore not shifting right.

What I did was take the switch out and clean it. That helped a bunch. It sometimes still does it, but not very frequently. Another thing you can try is get the car going fast enough in 4th gear, put the car in neutral, shut down and restart the car. The electronics in the tranny will be fooled and will start shifting like normal. TB Can you give me a little more info on the part you removed and cleaned. i would like to try that also.

Can you give me a little more info on the part you removed and cleaned. i would like to try that also.


If yours is epuipped with the transmission switch E/S, it is right beside the gear shifter. Later models (1993 and on) may not have this switch that the driver can control. Good luck.