Perpetual Novice

When I bought my car in 2000, I noticed something strange-WOT would hesitate a little and I'd get a whirring sound, faint but noticable. I took my car into the dealer several times for this, they said it was normal. I began to believe its what I get for buying an automatic.

FFWD to this weekend I'm changing the fluid. I get the car up to temp, open the inspection port and over a quart of fluid gushes out, its all black and thin, lots of gunk in the pan.

**EDIT***On reflection, I had turned off car before opening ports so level might not have been off in the first place.

I get everything cleaned up, get the level PROPERLY set and go for a drive. No more hesitation, no more whirring.

My theory: Level was so high that the torque converter was frothing the fluid , causing the sound and hesitation. Any other opinions?

Allroady DungBeetle

TQ is not in the oil at all but in front of the trans and the oil gets pumped into it. But all the clutches/bands etc are. Very very possible that was your problem. It probably put a lot of strain on the trans with all the air getting in there instead of oil... bummer.

When you say "got it up to temp" I assume you used a Vag-Com to check the trans fluid temp? If so great, if not and you got it hot under driving and pulled the plug then a qt would probably flow out and the increase in comfort/drivability is just the new oil.

s4master1

you check the level?

Perpetual Novice

45C

Perpetual Novice

I just remembered, car was off when I pulled the plug, so the level might not have been too far off to begin with. Odd that the sound has gone away, have you ever seen anything like this?

s4master1

in so cal factory specs at 37c warmer areas is check it at 40c
colorado at about 35c

Perpetual Novice

It's possible my books are inaccurate (bentley), they show 30-45C or up to 50C for warmer climates.

I'll check some other sources, thanks for the feedback.