95 Jetta III Issues

[chrisant]

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?

[boschmann]

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.

[chrisant]

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!

[boschmann]

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.

[96VR6drvr]

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.

[chrisant]

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.

[pamajoer]

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?

[chrisant]

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?

[96VR6drvr]

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.