I have the same problem with my 02. It's a real pain in the ass when you try to turn left across traffic or merge on the interstate and the car wants to play games and wait a second or two before it goes.

I've read reviews in Car and Driver and the likes and its a pretty common thing with these cars apparently.

I've been meaning to put it in Tip mode and see if it does the same thing when you drop it down a few gears.

Sean

 

hesitate ?

Hi,

This is a topic that you could have researched by using the search function.

I can tell you that this is not an engine problem, it's a transmission programming issue. I have the problem in my 2004.5 Passat 1.8t with the tiptronic, so it's not limited to your model year. Owners with manual transmissions don't have this issue.

As you slow for a red light, the tip transmission will engage neutral until the car reaches a certain low speed and then it locks 1st. It seems that the programming of the tiptronic has the neutral mode stay longer than most people would want before locking into 1st.

PITA, but I understood that VW has a reflash of the ECM for customer that can't tolerate this problem? I don't know if it really works? comments from the experts?

 

Hi,

This is a topic that you could have researched by using the search function.

I can tell you that this is not an engine problem, it's a transmission programming issue. I have the problem in my 2004.5 Passat 1.8t with the tiptronic, so it's not limited to your model year. Owners with manual transmissions don't have this issue.

As you slow for a red light, the tip transmission will engage neutral until the car reaches a certain low speed and then it locks 1st. It seems that the programming of the tiptronic has the neutral mode stay longer than most people would want before locking into 1st.

PITA, but I understood that VW has a reflash of the ECM for customer that can't tolerate this problem? I don't know if it really works? comments from the experts?

I agree with this statement. Exactly what I experience with my 04. You get over it within a week of driving it, seriously. Ya just gotta learn not to get yourself into that 'pulling across traffic' scenario until you know exactly how it's going to behave. I've learned to punch it earlier to give it time to engage and then it's like a slingshot.

 

Has to be a transmission issue cause I have no such issue with my 1.8T(I have a manual)

 

From what everyone is saying I'm more inclined to think the problem lies with the engine's management system, not the transmission's. There is a sensor that is near the throttle body, held in by one screw. I would remove the sensor and clean it with spray on cleaner to see if that doesn't help.

For those who think this problem relates to the transmission I'd suggest dropping the pan, changing the filter, and refilling with Redline D4. Or the new D6, but I'd e-mail Redline to get their opinion on that first.

 

Doubt that cleaning random sensors will help, FYI thats the intake Air temp sensor IATs.

 

I would say, it's either a boost leak, or transmission fluid got evaporated. I have a tip too, and don't have the problem.

 

stop slowing down and you wont have hesitation

 

lol... check all your vacuum hoses for leak,

or try to drive it in sport mode

> key in ignition, turn it once without fire up the engine
>floor your accelerate pedal all the way
>release the pedal and start up the engine
> now you are in sport mode

 

> key in ignition, turn it once without fire up the engine
>floor your accelerate pedal all the way
>release the pedal and start up the engine
> now you are in sport mode

You could call it "sport mode," but you really just reset the TCU to the default settings.

 

You could use a vagcom to put it in sports mode all the time. I believe the instructions on how to do it is in the info forum. IIRC you just change the last digit to a 1.

 

Anybody considered that it just may be drive by wire lag?

 

doubt it, mine is DBW too.

 

I've experienced the same thing. It's annoying but doesn't happen often. I thought it was a "lag" due to the drive by wire throttle system.

 

I have the same problem with my 99 and the lag is getting longer and longer.

 

Have you tried resetting your throttle position switch?

 

This issue was one of my first posts/threads on this forum back in december when I got the car, (02 1.8t Tip) and I will never get used to it. It's extremely annoying and potentially dangerous. I was sure that it was the result of a malfunction because I couldn't see how anybody would test drive the car and still buy it. I still don't!

If you're in a hurry and there's a lot of stop signs on your route, forget about it. every rolling stop leads to a pause and then a surge... every single one. The only solution I've found is to step on the gas very slowly, If you push it right past the first 5 or 10% of pedal travel, like you do when you want to move out with authority, you get nothing, no movement, no RPM's, and then too much with a jerk.

The above transmission scenario sounds like it might be right if what you mean is that the tranny prevents the engine from revving for an instant. Because it's not slipping - it's not getting power!


Is this what you're experiencing GEng?

So what I did was learn to tip into the gas very slowly at first and then push it down.

 

my buddy's 1.8t 5spd Jetta does this everyonce in a while... low RPM spools it hesitates...... its his coil packs... try replacing those...
go to the Audi stealership... usually a little cheaper than a VW stealership..

my passat does this..(also a 5spd) but thats b/c I have a k04 with no software...

you might also look into a tip chip...

 

my car just started acting like this just an hour ago..i called my friends that work on vw's and they said its the mass air flow sensor..and when i unpluged the sensor the car idled fine..i would say it could be the mass air flow

 

...or you could just get it chipped! oke:

 

Chipped makes no difference.

 

I've got a tip chip and I never felt it really did anything. Redline does not recommend D6 by the way, I asked. Changing over to D4 was an improvement I could really feel.

As for cleaning the air temp sensor I have done that in the past and noticed a temporary improvement. Since the fix didn't last I quit doing it. All the drivability problems I was having went away after I used a product called Cermax. The results so far have lasted after changing the oil so I'm glad I took a chance on it.

 

Just use the Tiptronic mode. Put it in the gear you think it should be in, and it will work the way you want it to.

I almost never let my car shift for itself in heavy traffic, it's just too annoying. It's nice to have the option, though.