VW 5 speed transmission - Jazzman.

As per my Mondeo thread we are looking just in case our 98 Passat transmission 'issue' is terminal, i suspect and hope its not. Anyhoot, it revs up until about 3000rpm shifting up 3rd to 4th to 5th. Have been told from a VW specialist is could be doing this as per the last owners driving technique and thus memorising when it should be shifting.
Our last Passat did not do this , normally changes gear about 2200prm. Could a transmission flush potentially fix this or a reset of the onboard computer! The transmission works perfectly if we shift it to tiptronic mode.

Sorry to hear you are having problems. To be straight up that is really heading outside my area of expertise. I can see where the VW specialist is coming from though, did they offer to do a reset of the ecu to see if that fixed it!
I am not sure I would be rushing to panic about it, the rpm's don't sound overly excessive, especially if it has been doing it since you got the car.
Is the transmission otherwise shifting smoothly etc!

Either way getting the transmission PROPERLY serviced would be a good idea, although I wouldn't hold great hope for it changing the shift points. but I guess anything is possible. Properly BTW means new filter, correct fluid etc. Sure if the transmission is on the brink of being stuffed you run the risk of it getting worse but really if its at that stage you are haddit anyway. You can get a bit of an idea of what state it is in internally by taking a sample of the fluid and checking for colour and smell. No dipstick on those from memory so you need to bleed a little bit from the drain.

The thing is ALL of those traditional auto's need to be serviced regularly, regardless of whether they are supposedly sealed for life or what badge the car happens to be wearing. This is especially important when buying that age group of vehicle as many won't have had any servicing and will be reaching the km's where problems will start appearing.

So yes, sorry I am not helping a huge amount but thats how I would proceed. If the cost of a proper service is astronomical you could look at buying a kit online and doing it yourself or providing your favorite mechanic with the kit and asking if they are happy to do labour only. I would have thought you could get it done under $500 though.

Best of luck with it, hit me up if you have any more questions.

Had a few quotes around the $500 mark for full flush, filter, seal kit. To me i think its a computer issue rather than a mechanical one as the tiptrnic is fine and the gear are smooth when they do shift.

Yes, I can see the logic in that. A reset of the transmission would make sense to me (pretty sure with those you can do a reset with a good scanner, but don't quote me, your VW specialist could tell you.)

Around $500 is not too bad for a proper transmission service, remember that the transmission service is sort of a separate issue that needs doing if due regardless of the actual cause of the high shifts.

It dosn't sound overly serious to me, but good to get it looked at, the smooth shifts etc sound promising. Best of luck!

have the adaptations for the trans and engine reset, will cost less than $100 and is worth doing first before flushing/adjusting/servicing the trans. These boxes are full electronic control so flushing out the hydraulics wont achieve anything.

Disconnect your battery overnight. Reconnect and go for a bit of a run next day. It'll reset your ECU. The difference is pretty interesting. Worked for me and s-i-l primera too.