97 TSI Automatic clunks into gear

[cstaff25]

When I put the car in drive or reverse, it usually clunks into gear pretty hard. Some times it can stall the car and some times it will go into gear nice and smooth. It also shifts while driving rather hard some times, independent of how muh throttle is being used. The hard shifting, driving or while putting the car into gear, does not seem to have a pattern. Also it will do this from P->D, P->R, D->R, R->D, N->R or D.....in other words every combination possible.

I have replaced all the motor/tranny mounts and it hasn't had any effect. The engine moves quite a lot on the hard clunks. I would guess close to 3-4 inches at least most of the time. If I remember correctly, the movement is from the front of the car to the firewall. The car FWD.

Someone else has told me they thought it might be a loose axel or broken U-joint? One last thing...I have had this problem for over a year, but it hasn't gotten any worse.

If it would help, I will try to make a video and upload it to Youtube and post the link here.

I think that is all of the details I have. If someone can help me out here, that would be great.

 

[shakeandbake]

What does your transmission fluid look like? I would start there before wasting money on axles.

 

[cstaff25]

Tranny fluid looks and smells fine. I have not replaced the filter or the fluid since I have had the car. I don't know how old is, but I will probably need to do that.

 

[Wildside22]

My brother in laws car had the same issue. We solved his problem by tightening the crossmember bolts that were loose. They looked tight and even felt tight until I jacked the motor up and the motor pulled the crossmember up with it revealing the bolts that had been loose.

Check it out and let us know.

 

[cstaff25]

Hadn't thought of that...I will give it a look ASAP.

 

[cstaff25]

My brother in laws car had the same issue. We solved his problem by tightening the crossmember bolts that were loose. They looked tight and even felt tight until I jacked the motor up and the motor pulled the crossmember up with it revealing the bolts that had been loose.

Check it out and let us know.

Okay, so I finally had a chance to check it out and all the bolts are good and tight so that doesn't seem too be it

Any more suggestions?

 

[Dices6112]

How many miles are on the car?

 

[Spanky_DSM]

Drive Shaft Mounts??

 

[cstaff25]

How many miles are on the car?

126k

 

[cstaff25]

Okay I have the car jacked up at the moment trying to check things out. I had someone shift through the gears while i watched from below and outside the car. I didn't notice anything other then the engine and transmission moving a lot obviously.

I have a question about the drive shafts though. should there be any play in the longest drive shaft (the one that goes to driver side wheel)? I noticed a little play with it, but not much. It doesn't seem like it would be the culprit for my clunking problem. Anything else I can check? Thanks.

 

[Bud92gsx]

I put 23k miles on my car with the trans doing the same thing...I just go park, then reverse just to be safe.



Never had the trans slip or anything..I'd love to know the answer..But end clutch kit, new fluid and filter is a great idea.

 

[cstaff25]

I went ahead and made a quick video, but I guess I'll just change the fluid and filter since we can't come up with a solution. I might look into that end clutch kit later too. Thanks for the idea.


[ame=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByyOYMx2-Lw]Clunking Gears in Automatic Tranny - YouTube[/ame]

Not the best video, my bad

 

[cstaff25]

Could this be a torque converter problem? Some times when I shift into gear, the rpms drop real low, almost stalling. A friend said that happened to another car he had been in and it had a bad torque converter.

 

[TJCTalon]

My awd does the same exact thing. I have no idea whats wrong either. Please keep this thread updated if you figure it out.

 

[cstaff25]

My awd does the same exact thing. I have no idea whats wrong either. Please keep this thread updated if you figure it out.

Will do. I read you could do a torque converter stall test, but you had to check whether or not your transmission would hold up to it. I was hoping someone on here will have know something about it.

 

[Spanky_DSM]

My car would do this every time and I hated it.

I adjusted my tps to spec and it hadn't done it since.
The gear change ratios were toooo early for me so I put the TPS at higher voltage for higher gear changes.

And since then it did it once after a long drive.

I don't know if it has anything to do with the tps but the gear changes are abit noticeable (not as smooth) since.

I still have to adjust the voltage lower because the gear changes are now to high.

Oh the irony

 

[blakkat]

Holy crap, that looks like engine mounts are bad.

If they checkout you definitely have some shot seals in the accumulator pistons in the trans. The accumulator should keep it from banging into gears harshly like that. When you drive it normally in drive does it slam into gears on every shift?



The reason the tps adjustment fixed your problem is because the trans adjusts throttle pressure I'm the trans based of tps readings. So another test would be to adjust your tps and if it doesn't go away you need to test your solenoid pack on the trans. If the solenoid is shot and supplying high throttle pressure all the time your main line will be high causing the harsh kick into gear.

Those would be the only two possibilities your tq converter is fine.

 

[cstaff25]

My car would do this every time and I hated it.

I adjusted my tps to spec and it hadn't done it since.
The gear change ratios were toooo early for me so I put the TPS at higher voltage for higher gear changes.

And since then it did it once after a long drive.

I don't know if it has anything to do with the tps but the gear changes are abit noticeable (not as smooth) since.

I still have to adjust the voltage lower because the gear changes are now to high.

Oh the irony

What are the specs for that or where can I find them? Are they in the manuals?

Holy crap, that looks like engine mounts are bad. If they checkout you definitely have some shot seals in the accumulator pistons in the trans. The accumulator should keep it from banging into gears harshly like that. When you drive it normally in drive does it slam into gears on every shift?

I have replaced all mounts already so it is definitely not those. There really is no patter while driving. Some times it kind of clunks into the next gear and some times it shifts like it's brand new.

 

[blakkat]

Alright then I'm gonna go with the solenoid pack being ####ed. You will need to look up the resistance readings that it should be at. Also make sure to adjust the tps first to rule that out.

I'm actually in a class learning about automatic transmissions right now and we just tore one down and rebuilt it

 

[cstaff25]

Alright then I'm gonna go with the solenoid pack being ####ed. You will need to look up the resistance readings that it should be at.

I'm actually in a class learning about automatic transmissions right now and we just tore one down and rebuilt it

Okay, I will give that a look. Thank you, I am just happy to have something else to check at this point.

 

[COdsm]

Could be a problem with the stator in the torque converter. I had a similar problem in my old DD and the stator was slipping so it would basically stall changing between park, reverse, and drive.

 

[blakkat]

If the stator was freewheeling the car wouldn't accelerate worth a damn off a stop

 

[COdsm]

If the stator was freewheeling the car wouldn't accelerate worth a damn off a stop

Obviously, I didn't read in any post that he said it accelerates fine but I may have missed it.

 

[Jessi]

I dont think it would be your torque convertor. My first DSM was an auto , and i had to replace the torque converotr in it. It did not have the symptoms of what your car is doing. It did shift a little hard when i put into reverse or drive but nothing like what you are describing.

 

[blakkat]

That harsh engagement is obviously related to high main line pressure slamming the clutches together without any cushioning affect.

Only a few things could cause that. High tv pressure from either a sticking solenoid, out of adjustment tps, sticking pressure regulator valve which is part of the solenoid pack, bad accumulator pistons and that's about it.

The torque converter doesn't change main line pressure. If it has very very poor takeoff I'd suspect the stator but I think he would have mentioned that as it's very noticeable but that still doesn't relate to his original problem