Tiptronic Dis-engaging 1st gear at lights

[phantomrose]

I am totally furstrated and any help appreciated.

My 97 2.5 Tiptronic has cost me $A 30K in repairs (Engine / Auto) and its still not working properly.

The car drops out of 1st gear, when i pull up at a set of lights, and change the shifter to manual, then flick down the paddle to go from 2nd to 1st. It will lose drive, (to the point if i dont brake it will roll back/forward and hit another car). It will then sit there jerking trying to engage 1st. If i raise the revs a bit it will engage 1st, but with a very strong jerk.

This is driving me nuts !!! The Tip has been totally re-built by Weltmeister in Melbourne, they car has been off the road for 5 months. Weltmeister are trying to fix the problem, but done seem to have a clue why its happening !!!

The latest info is using a set of leds from the control box to the auto, we can see one of the leds flickers as the auto trys to engage 1st. So it appears the problem is in the Tiptronic Computer.

However it only happens when the car is warm after about 30+ minutes driving. Its perfect when its cold or the engine bay is not fully warm.

1) Where is the control box for the Auto ? and how do i get to it ?

2) Any one else experienced this ?

[D_Man]

That's normal behavior for a Tiptronic transmission, in in M mode at a stop light the will shift up to 2nd, theres an internal 8 sec timer that does this. The car will not simply stay in 1st as you thought, you must continually press the (-). That my experince.

[djantlive]

I don't think it's normal. If you manually select first gear, it will stay there until the car starts to move. It's not going to go back to 2nd after a few second. It'll go to auto mode after a few second but stay in first.

Your problem may not be tranny computer. It could be the seals inside not swelling and holding the gear. If you care to try, put in a bottle of tranmission conditioner sold at local auto parts store. Look for a bottle that conditions and swells the seal. It won't hurt your tranny and may work well. I've had good luck with a non-P car autobox that I almost gave up to get rebuilt. Basically, the gear wouldn't hold in gear in my case.