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vr6 caravelle autobox problems (help)

5K views 15 replies 11 participants last post by  mcjjordan 
#1 ·
Hi guys, have just joined the forum because i,am desprately looking for some advice on my vr6 velle , the story starts about 6 months ago when my velle,s auto box started to changing gears at strange times and not in tune with the engine and also would not change smoothly, so i changed the oil and things were a little better but still not correct, then a few weeks later it decided not to change out of third gear , so it was taken to my local garage and put on diagnostics , the report was that there was a electrical connection problem between engine and box , so the garage then when right through the wiring and found no problems , it was then taken to a transmission specialist who could not fix the problem and said it was electrical , this left me with no choice but to take it to vw so thats where it went next , vw said after many hours spent on bus that it was possible a ecu or tcu that could be faulty which may lead to damage to the gearbox which left me where i am now , which is do i have the gearbox out and checked if damaged new one if not damaged replace and fit new tcu if problem still exists then fit new ecu all of which cost in excess of £3500 bus proberbly worth about £4000 , so is there anybody out there who has had a similer problem or possibly knows of a vr6 velle breaking , please help bus has only covered 60000 miles and i cant think what would replace it
many thanks
 
#3 ·
there have been loads of posts on here about auto boxes,they are prone to trouble :(,i have read of electrical problems with them being the plug that goes in to the box - something goes wrong with this ???member on here jim doodle knows quite a bit about them through similar experiences as yourself,he may read this,if you dont need an auto then convert to manual

welcome and sorry i havent been able to give you anything more positive
 
#4 ·
cheers bud, have already considered a manual box change but not sure what box would fit as they never made a manual vr6 velle and what ecu would i use , a manual would be much better but would it be more hassle than its worth??? has anyone done a vr6 manual conversion out there ??
cheers
 
#5 ·
Hi Split, I don't have an answer for you but I do have a VR6 as well and am experiencing some problems with my transmission as well. For me the trans seems to get stuck in one gear and won't shift, and this only happens when it's hot out. The last time I had the van serviced the ECU was reporting a fault. I'm not sure if this is causing the problem but will be having the van looked at this week to see if it can be sorted out.

I would love to know if there is a swap for a manual transmission, so if you find anything out please share.:D

oh and welcome to the Forum.T:
 
#6 ·
Hi canuck,
have not had any luck with info on manual conversion but velle is now on its way to another garage but what makes this garage a little more hopefull is a while ago they had a automatic vr6 carrado in with exactly the same problem and it turned out to be a break in one of the wires from the box but the sleeving was not damaged and it was also checking out on the meter when tested , will keep you posted with the outcome.

have you had any luck yet ??

cheers kev
 
#7 ·
Hey Kev,

I just had a conversation with my mechanic on the weekend. Apparently the torque converter is going, so the recommendation is to switch to manual. We will be using a VR6 transmission from another model, but will have to source the linkage and shifter from a T4 TDI. Unfortunately there are no TDIs in North America so I will have to find one in Europe and have it sent over.

I will definately let you know how the conversion works out.

Doug.
 
#9 ·
My first T4 was a 2.4D (78 bhp) auto-box and those issues are normal for them.

I bought the T4 at around 150k km (can't remember precisely) with it only being able to reverse. I then bought a replacement auto-box from a crash-damaged caravelle (gone 70k), but the torque-converter was missing, so we re-used the old one.

Ever since that day, it's been going to neutral after every 2k km, which is a real pain in mid drive at 140 km/h on the freeway overtaking another car. Solution was to stop the car, put it to park, switch engine off, switch engine on and it would be good for another 2k km.

At around 280-300k km that auto-box also started acting up, like not wanting into gear in frost or moist weather. Since I had moved from Denmark to Ireland at that point, moist was a real problem.

My misery ended, when the head-gasket blew and i bought another car.

I've got a friend who is gearbox and engine specialist (he'll take a gearbox apart, if necessary). He told me, that it's actually wiring inside the gearbox that goes faulty on the Caravelle's and it's just not a feasable job to take the box apart. Recommendation to solve it back then was also to go manual. Obviously a way easier task on the 2.4D engine.

The auto-box is just no good in the Caravelle's. It can't handle the weight/load over long periods.

/M
 
#10 ·
Hi mate, sorry to hear of your troubles. I drive an auto and have had 2 issues with it, one was cured by an oil and filter change but the other was as a result of the sump for the box being hit (I think by the guy who replaced my steering rack but I can't prove it). Check yours as the sump has a valve assembly behind it which if it gets hit ends up delivering all the wrong amounts of fluid to the box. I ended up taking mine to a specialist in Nottingham. £800 in total :eek: although that included new valve assembly, towing costs, labour, oil etc.

It has run fine since then although I treat it with kid gloves because of all the scare stories on this site :confused: I also asked the autobox specialist about them and he said they are no better or worse than any other box and they see all of the manufacturers boxes in there at some point! (actually he did point out that the one in the BMW X5 is appaling). It would also appear that if you have to have the box out at all, it is so labour intensive that you might as well get the thing re-conned at the same time. Additional cooling and regular maintenace seems to be the key, they run really hot and when you start towing or filling your bus with water tanks and kitchen units the standard cooling simply can't handle it.
 
#11 ·
It seems the truth has come out again about these nasty auto boxes, my advice would be add additional cooling, keep it well maintained, don't tow anything, always shift down to 3rd when around town and on any hills as this will force the converter lock-up in 3rd rather than try the hydraulic slippign into 4th which will reduce heat build up. and if it fails then consider the conversion rather than the fix.

A point to note is that the VR6 probably will have too much power for the standard clutch, so you may need to upgrade that at the time of the conversion.
 
#12 ·
now you see why they are cheaper than manual versions-----

if in doubt--rip it out ,put manual in mine never had ANY issues ever again..best thing i ever did!!!!! now i get 10 more mpg and a better top end


seems they have a very odd cooling system that actual heats up the fluid instead of cooling it which then damaged torque converter permanently....

if you get in repaired -retro fit oil cooler and disconnect it from vehicle heating system--might last more than a week then!!!!!



also unplug the small switch on brake line under seats---this stops drive when brakes are on( makes hill starts a knightmare otherwise )
 
#14 ·
the ribbon cable inside the box is prone to heat damage, as are the valves and valve bores,the ribbon cable is a vw part and the vave block can be removed with box in car.
just a small point when i asked at vw main dealer when oil in box should be changed, they said that service schedule did not show when it should changed, its a lifetime oil i wad told, the t5 on the otherhand has it in the schedule, vw must have had a rethink
 
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