I have a Passat 54 plate 130. I have had the car now for over a year now. I have noticed that changing gears between 1st and 2nd is becoming notchy. A couple of colleagues have the same car and have similar problems. One colleague has had his in at the dealer. They adjusted the gear linkage (I think). My colleague is advising me that it is better but still there and he is being advised by the dealer that this is a normal issue with this type of engine.
My car is going in to the dealer to get its brake fluid changed in a couple of weeks.
I will get them to look at this issue at the same time. I do not want to be fobbed off with excuses as to what the problem maybe and that it is design intent and live with it.
So I am looking for some advise as to how to approach the subject just in case they try and fob me off.
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Maybe not relevant, but on one particular Golf I had the garage change the gearbox oil to eliminate exactly that issue. On the '99 Passat 110 (the last VW we had) the gearbox was excellent over the 40,000 in our hands.
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>>this is a normal issue with this type of engine.<<
I think this is the first phrase they teach em at the VW school of customer care - in my experience anyway.
I can confirm that I did similar with a Golf and Passat to nortones2 above and it worked. I noticed the gears were particularly notchy after a decent run e.g motorway and then onto slip road junction. They were always notchy into 1st and then 1st to 2nd.
The gripe I had was paying for the oil change which obvioulsy fixed the problem whilst in warranty.
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I spoke to a neighbour last night who has the same problem. He advised before setting off to work this morning to let the engine idle for a few minutes. I did this and the drive into work this morning was perfect no problems between 1st and 2nd gear. Does this point to a gear box oil issue
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yes it sounds like a gear oil issue
i know its differant g/box but mk2's and mk3's suffer the same notchy change on cold mornings, a change to fully synthetic cures it ....redline gearoil works best in those
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Just an after thought is this damaging my gearbox.
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If you have got five minutes have a read of how the yanks are doing with gearbox oil :
forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=132884&highlig...l
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Sounds stupid but if you can change gear from 1st to 3rd (and skip 2nd) for the first couple of miles, may help (obvoiusly no good if you have a big hill to go up). As suggested change the gearbox oil and that should help...
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Thanks for all the info. Is this gear oil change something that I will be able to get done under warranty?
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Items which are excluded from warranty cover include but are not limited to:
Fluids, oils and coolants (except as part of a valid repair).
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The Passats come with a 75W-90 from the factory. I would drop to a 75W-85 (Castrol SMX-S) or a 70W-80 (try RedLine MTL). Amsoil 'Synchromesh' MTF is a fully-synth 70W-75 and you could try that - costs about £12 a litre though.
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Update. I have not change the oil as of yet. But over the last 200 miles on 6 occasions I have had to take my foot off the clutch pedal, due to the fact that it would not go into first gear. Taking my foot off the clutch and putting it back on it has gone into first gear no problem. Any advice would be gratefully received.
Passat 54, 130, 18000 miles.
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If this is happening with the car stationary and warm then I would suggest wear/damage to 1st synchro. If it is only when cold then I would suggest trying a change of oil to help.
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A few points come to mind - I have the same gearbox and it's not at its best going 1 - 2 when cold, although first gear from rest is always OK (130 PD engine, 23k miles).
There is synchromesh on reverse in these boxes, so the "graunch" test for clutch freedom is not valid. Check however that your clutch "bites" somewhere in mid pedal travel and not near the floor. The clutch hydraulics are not impeccable on these cars.
I tend rather to agree with Aprilia in that if only first gear from rest is affected, there could be wear on the synchro sleeve - I think VW use split-ring Porsche style synchronisers in this box. I'm surprised at such a low mileage, but it might have been roughly treated or used with a (now corrected) dragging clutch. Is reverse OK?
Be very careful if you depart from the recommended oil spec. Although a synthetic oil might seem a good idea, they sometimes foam in older gearboxes due to the oil level being too high. Modern transmissions using fully synthetic lubrication often contain very little oil for their case size.
659.
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Never had the problem starting from cold only when the engine is hot. Reverse gear is fine. I will check where the clutch bites tonignt. I will not change any oil until I find out what is causing this issue. I presume this will all be covered under VW warranty.
P.S
I have had the car since June 2005 (8000 miles). It had been a VW demo car prior to this. All this info was confirmed by VW prior to buying.
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Update. Checked last night and this morning. Clutch is biting at about the halfway point. Any more advice would be appreciated.
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I`ve had this problem of a "difficult" change to second gear on a cold gearbox for years.I know it`s not a cure but if you double de-clutch up for the first couple of miles it gives the `box time to warm up. I find normal changes ok after about two miles. Come to think of it, how many people can double de-clutch these days?
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Piggy. I appreicate your point but the car is not even 2 years old yet and as I plan to keep the car for a few years I do not want to be double de-clutching as you say.
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Its 2 years old and under warranty, ask your Vag dealer to contact Milton Keynes about an oil upgrade free of charge to rectify this fault.
My 6 speed Golf is reluctant to go in second in the cold winter months after standing over night. I usually hold it in first gear a little longer than normal to distribute the oil around the gearbox, then a nice slow change to second. After half a mile or so it will behave as normal.
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I also own a Passat 130TDi 6speed on a 54 plate .. like everyone else 1st to 2nd is a bit stiff when cold .. i tend to start it up and leave it in neutral for a few seconds .. this gets all the gears spinning and spreads the oil about getting it into the synchromesh .. making the change a bit easier .. i have never had problems when hot though ...
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Update. I eventually found time to get the car booked in. They upgraded the gear box oil under warranty. I will monitor it over the next few days to see if there is a difference to the gears.
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The "upgrade" is probably a drop to 75W-85 synth, as per my suggestion further up. You will probably find its better anyway with the warmer weather coming.
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Aprilia, I was not even going to leave it with the garage as the last couple of days the gears have been fine due to the rise in tempretures. But explained in detail to the mechenic what the issue was. He adivised me that it was an gear box oil issue and that he would change it under warranty. I know there a lot of VW bashers out there but can I once again say that Verve garage in Glasgow has always given me excellent service.
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The 1st to 2nd change, when cold, is always bad when my 51 Passat is cold. But as it soon improves after 1/2 mile or so, never felt like doing anything about it. Now the gear shift my last Golf was really appalling when cold - but could I ever get the service department to acknowledge that?
Passat is wonderful in comparison.
--
I wasna fu but just had plenty.
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Aprilia, I would like to change the gear oil in my Passat. On the Castrol chart they say "refer to technical" and do not tell you which oil to use. Are you sure that SMX-S is suitable?
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I think I saw on a VW forum that you should use Castrol TAF-X gearbox oil in a Passat. Does anyone know for sure whether to use TAF-X or SMX-S?
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TAF-X is a fully synth 75W-90 to API GL4 - this is the spec that VW list for your car. SMX-S is the 75W-85 version of it. Personally I would have no hesitation in using SMX-S to improve low-temp shifting. Unless you are really loading the 'box (heavy towing etc) or operating for long periods at high temp then the SMX-S will be fine in my opinion.
If fact, on some cars (e.g. Mitsubish and Honda) I have put a very light 70W-80 (i.e. GM 'synchromesh' spec) with no ill effects, and much improved synchro performance.
If you really want to stay with the VW 75W-90 spec then try RedLine MT-90, which is to the exact VW spec but with friction modifiers for improved synchro action.
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Thanks alot Aprilia for the info, I think I will try the Redline.
Do you know how easy or hard it is to change the gearbox oil in a Passat? Is there a drain plug or should I suck it out? (with a pump thing, not my mouth)
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www.passatworld.com/forums/showthread.php?t=182326
Then do a find for the string "trans" (about 1/5th of the way down)
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Had the car back for a week now. Although the gear change is better it is still notchy even after the car has heated up. I am planning to take the car back in again for them to have another look.
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Gear change has improved greatly. The car has not been back to the garage as the gears have been fine. My only issue is I do not know is this is due to the rising outside temperatures or if it is due to the oil change. Will have to wait for a cold spell to check.
If the gear change issue comes back will this it causing any long-term damage to the gearbox.
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Hi had same problem with my 2003 1.8t , dealer said there was nothing wrong and could try an oil change but i would have to pay.Car is on an extended approved used vehicle warranty from vw with 33000 miles on the clock.I changed the oil myself to the same spec as vw but no improvement,do you know what oil they put in yours and what the engineer thought the problem was ie: worn syncro,baulking etc? i was told as long as the gears are not grinding this is normal for the car and wont do any damage?again i'm a bit sceptical.Thanks
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Increase in ambient temp makes a remarkable improvement in cold shifting.
None of this is rocket science - I have been changing gear oil in bad-shifting boxes for years. Go with the recommendations I gave above. Next winter you'll have hard shifting again - SMX-S should fix it.
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Update. Gears have got progressively worse. Car went into garage today. Just had a phone call to say that the car will require a new gearbox. Thankfully the car is still under warranty.Will give a further update when I have the new gearbox installed.
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Well just collected the car after new gearbox has been fitted. Drove the 30 miles home and it feels like I have a new car. I had not realised how bad the old gearbox had got.
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Problem with gear selection came back. Went back to garage yesterday. Collected car they have now fitted a new dual mass flywheel and a new clutch. Car seems to be ok. I will update in a month if this has cured the problem with the gears. Fingers crossed.
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