Well i took the advice I gleaned from this forum and brought my 83turbo diesel to my mechanic. told him to look for a vacuum leak for both the igition shut off and the trans. shifting.

He found the vacuum leak for the iginition shut off, and apparently that works well now but said that it did not improve the transmission shifting- he said it was just a tired tranny. honestly, I think he is tired!

Can anyone tell me exactly what to tell a qualified service technician to look for? I would love to put this issue to bed by getting a conclusive answer to this problem.

If by chance I need another transmission, does anyone have a "great-trustworthy" resource for one, recon or otherwise?

thanks.

Welcome to the world of slipping and tired trannys. I can live with mine, and I would guess that after some tweeking, you could live with yours as well.

If you do a search under Larry Bible, "I hate auto transmissions", you find a link to continentialimports. If you look under the tranny area, you'll find a very detailed, five page printout which will give you 6-7 very good ideas to try or have a tech try.

Remember that most techs will not be this sophisticated. Most will just tell you to get another tranny when it could be a very small item. In my case, the tranny is tired, but I believe I can coax it for another 100k, since I can drive it now without flaring it.

Thanks

Don

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DAILY DRIVERS:
'84 300DT 298k (Aubrey's)
'99.5 Jetta TDI IV 251k (Julie's)
'97 Jetta TDI 127k (Amber's)
'97 Jetta TDI 186k (Matt's)
'96 Passat TDI 237k (Don's
'84 300D 211k Mint (Arne- Undergoing Greasecar Conversion)

SOLD:
'82 240D 229k (Matt's - Converted-300DT w/ 4 speed

This will take you directly there.

http://www.continentalimports.com/ser_ic20242.html


Many thanks to Steve Brotherton, who is stevebfl on this board. If my car ever needs serious service after the warranty expires, it will be going to his shop in Gainesville.

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Rick Miley
2014 Tesla Model S
2018 Tesla Model 3
2017 Nissan LEAF
Former MB: 99 E300, 86 190E 2.3, 87 300E, 80 240D, 82 204D Euro
Chain Elongation References

Mine flares between 3rd and 4th (as if it stays in neutral for a second) only when it's cold. Is this what we are talking about here? I've read on another forum that this is probably due to the mechanism that attempts to smooth out shifts when cold, and one person reported experiencing this after he changed the transmission fluid to Dexron III. Supposedly you can also disable this mechanism but it'll make your cold shifts harsher.

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2004 VW Jetta TDI (manual)

Past MB's: '96 E300D, '83 240D, '82 300D, '87 300D, '87 420SEL