Auto Holding On?

[Guest MATT]

I recently bought a new caravan (a coachman VIP 460/2 - for any other caravaners out there) and i went Derbyshire for the weekend, and its very hilly, so up hill i used tip tronic, got up the hills very easily, but when i reached the top (where it flattens out) i put it back into auto, and the auto was holding on to the gear, for, what seemed to be a set time, when really it could of changed up no problem, reaching rpms of 3,500 to 4,000, and staying there for a while, when it could of changed up.

 

is this normal, does higher altitude have an effect on it, or is there something wrong? it only did this with the caravan on, did not do it solo.

 

matt :)

[GSMGuy]

Maybe a combo of higher altitude, and hotter transmission fluid?? Have you checked the level?

 

Mike

[Guest MATT]

Thanks GSMGuy - how do i check the transmission fluid?

 

matt

[Guest vr6galaxy]

How to check the auto boxes fluid level been covered several times and with diagrams :) to do it properly you need a copy of VAG COM or access to a WDS machine, as you need to check the fluids temperature!

Have you though that as the gear box is semi intellegent it could just be taking a while to adjust to haveing the extra weight of the fibre glass shed stuck on the back of it? the box will have to adjust to being a manual and then back to an auto

[Guest MATT]

one thing i did work out, is that if i knocked it up a gear, before going into auto, it would be fine, going along at 2,000 rpm, but if you didn't, it would hold on in the lower gear doing 4,000 rpm, even going on a slight down hill gradient, (after climbing up a hill) for what seemed to be a certain amount of time (15 sec's - ish). i just thought it seemed a bit strange, for it to be holding on, when it could very easily go up a gear, and maintain 2,000 rpm, instead of 4,000?

 

matt :)

[Guest pmarti22]

The transmission has a resistance to roll sensor that measures how easy the wheels are moving compared to preset values when solo. When you are towing, even down-hill, the car will not freewheel or roll as quick as when it is solo, hence it thinks that it needs to gear hold. One piece of advice, you should tow only using the tip-tronic system as this way the automatic transmission will not overheat as the torque converter clutch lock-ups is activated in all gears apart from 1st, where as if you leave the torque converter to itself it will be frequently changing gear and only really using torque lock-up in 4th and possibly 5th if you can find a flat enough road to maintain a steady speed and then possibly overheat due to over use. Then the gearbox will operate either in emergency run mode with the throttle response limited or if you have really damaged the box, you will have only manual selection in 2, 3 and 4 with you having to change gear manually moving the gear selector lever.

 

Paul <_<

[Guest MATT]

thanks - i have started using the tiptronic full time, only when towing of course!

 

i think its better, because, when towing, you need control of what gear you are in.

 

MATT