VW Eurovan downshifting on steep grades

Kirko
Mon, 06 Jan 2014 04:55:37 +0000
Maintenance/Repairs

I have a 2003 VW Eurovan that had it’s transmission rebuilt in 2011. In 2012, we were going up a steep mountain road approx. 25 mph and the van downshifted into first gear. We tried everything from speeding up to pulling over and letting it cool down to turning the engine off and on. It would only upshift into the correct gear when we reached the crest of the hill and started going downhill. As I live in San Diego, there are no hills high enough to reproduce this with city driving and so it never happened again until we went back to the same place this year and at almost the exact same spot on the road. We took a trip later in the year to Oregon where we encountered many uphill grades and each time we hit a steep part and going around 20-30 mph, the van would downshift again either into first or second gear, and each time upshifting when we started going downhill. At the end of this last trip, a new whining noise appeared and is present everyday we drive and gets louder and higher pitched the faster we go. We have taken the van numerous times to the dealership who says there are no engine codes to suggest a problem and their last assessment was the downshifting may be an overheating problem and the whining noise was definitely from the transmission indicating a bearing problem and they suggested getting the transmission rebuilt again. The transmission shop states that the transmission is fine by the fact that the fluid is in good shape, the transmission is basically “dumb” and only does what the computer tells it to and therefore it is a computer problem and the whining noise, although new, is just a normal noise that all transmissions make. Each place points me in the direction of the other but neither has solved my problem. Can anyone help me with this dilemma? Is this a safety issue for future long trips? Can anyone recommend a good VW Eurovan mechanic in the San Diego area?

5 posts - 5 participants