tranny trouble
 

so i'm driving down my street yesterday and i hear a big clunk when my car is trying to change gears. after the next stop sign it feels like the car is trying to start off in second or third gear (very slow acceleration) and it wont down shift even when i have the pedal to the floor. i turn the car off for a minute. i start it back up and it works okay, but then a louder clunk and again slow acceleration. i notice that all of the tranny position indicator lights are on PNRD321 and so is the "check engine " light. the car worked fine before yesterday, any ideas?

Re: tranny trouble
 

you need a new tourque converter my friend.

Re: tranny trouble
 

there is no engine surge, though. when i press the gas neither the RPM or speedometer responds. would this still be the torque converter?

Re: tranny trouble
 

Scan the car with VAG-COM to see what the stored codes are. The retrieved codes may help you diagnose the problem.

Re: tranny trouble
 

Sounds like the throttle cable is no longer connected.

Re: tranny trouble
 

took it to a local dealership and it came back with the codes:
00268
00270
00266
00268
"all solenoid valve not working inside trans"
"test all wiring to valve and wiring is ok"
"elec. short inside trans... needs replacing or repair"

that's exactly what's printed on the sheet they gave me. they gave me a price of $7658.51 to replace the transmission. THAT IS MENTAL. i took it to another shop and they said it's unlikely that all of the solonoid valves would have a problem at the same time so it's probably some wiring issue external to the transmission. how does this sound, guys? any ideas on some quick checks i could do myself? we did get alot of rain this past weekend and some even managed to get through the floorboards and collect under my passenger seat. could this be a contributor?

Re: tranny trouble
 

*update*
drove the car home as the dealership says they don't do transmissions and at about 20km/hr the car begins shuddering very hard. i turned it off, then back on again and everything was fine (relatively speaking, of course). the rest of the drive home was uneventful except for the ABS and Emergency Brake lights coming on and staying on.
i'm so lost; any help based on these symptoms?

Re: tranny trouble
 

Normally on a 2WD vehicle, the ABS and e-brake light would come on when there's a failure in the wheel speed sensors. For example, if you were to drive a 2WD car on a dyno, you'd only have two wheels spinning. The sensor would pick that up and disable ABS, setting off both the e-brake and ABS lights.

That shuddering was probably your ABS module malfunctioning causing it to go live. When you turned your car off and back on, the lights came on, meaning your ABS is disabled.

All those codes refer to shorts in the wiring. I think the flooded compartment definitely is the source of the issue. I would start there.

Re: tranny trouble
 

thanks whoace, i'll start by drying everything out and go from there.