1.2 TDi automatic gear shift and acceleration problem

Aamir

New Member
Hello everyone. My car has 190tkm and I bought it 144tkm last year. Mainly my drive is in the city with low rpm and speed. I experienced a strange response when I pressed accelerator quickly, the gear moved from 2-4 skipping 3. Later I checked this thing and it was repeating the same thing with almost every gear. I checked the accumulator pump and its cycle was 3 gear change also the hydraulic oil level was a bit low. I filled some oil and after one week took it on a highway as I thought that car need some aggressive driving to cleans the carbon. On the highway using manual gear feature first 100 km was ok I drove it on high rpm but as soon as hilly area came the car refused to take power. Rpm needle was jumping from 2-4k while car wasn't taking acceleration. I managed to climb in 2nd and 3rd gear because as soon as I changed it to higher gear the rpm went high and car lost power after that even on straight road car couldn't accelerate. Somehow I managed to cover the 80 km hilly area mostly in 2-3 gear then I had to enter on motorway to finish my journey. By the time situation was so bad that car was taking so much time to accelerate from 10 to 30km speed because when I push acceleration the rpm jumped from 2-4 and car lost power. So I tried to keep rpm between 1.5-1.8. Eventually I entered on motorway and I managed to speed up to 100km in 4th gear. I was hoping that I would not stop until I reached the destination city. In this last 60-70km leg of journey I experienced the same thing that car lost power if I pushed the acceleration over 2000rpm and even on 100 km speed the rpm wasn't stable. On 5th gear it was even harder to control rpm. Finally I reached home and in the city car was taking even 3000-3500 rpm in first gear to move the car and after that even I experienced 1st gear slip in initial movement.
Hope that I will get some expert advice here.
 
Plug in a VCDS-cable and read the error codes, you are prone to have some. Post them here and you'll get some good answers.
 
Hi Aamir and welcome. Please note that the A2 1.2L was not sold in the UK but a few people (4 or 5?) have imported them and some of them are on this Forum, but you need to wait until they visit. Also, one of our most knowledgeable A2 members, @bretti_kivi, and a regular contributor is also a Finn. Maybe he can help but he doesn't have a 1.2L

Your problem sounds serious but I hope there is a simple fix.

PS I had an enjoyable holiday in Helsinki last summer. Great city.
 
Difficult to judge without error codes but I would check the hoses between the turbo and the inlet manifold for leaks/disconnections. If the car keeps making gear changes when you wouldn't normally expect them, that is almost certainly the cause.

RAB
 
When was the last time you did a GGE? What happens when you run a GGE?

You will need to scan the car, and I would not take it to Laakonen for this. Where are you?


- Bret
 
Plug in a VCDS-cable and read the error codes, you are prone to have some. Post them here and you'll get some good answers.
Hi LUZT, my friend had a simple OBD reader and he attached that to check errors but no error was detected. I really didn't know about diagnostic tools and options before this problem now I am with the guidance of you guys will move step by step. Below is the link of OBD reader that I used.
https://www.ebay.com/itm/OBD2-ELM32...h=item5d7edc7bd6:g:vtoAAOSwL~BbNzKu:rk:6:pf:0
 
Hi Aamir and welcome. Please note that the A2 1.2L was not sold in the UK but a few people (4 or 5?) have imported them and some of them are on this Forum, but you need to wait until they visit. Also, one of our most knowledgeable A2 members, @bretti_kivi, and a regular contributor is also a Finn. Maybe he can help but he doesn't have a 1.2L

Your problem sounds serious but I hope there is a simple fix.

PS I had an enjoyable holiday in Helsinki last summer. Great city.
Hi Alan. Thanks. I hope too. can I contact Bretti myself on this forum? I am using any forum 1st time so I don't know how it works :)

I live in Jyvaskyla, its central Finland and much more beautiful than Helsinki. :p But overall I agree that Finland is really a country to visit.
 
Difficult to judge without error codes but I would check the hoses between the turbo and the inlet manifold for leaks/disconnections. If the car keeps making gear changes when you wouldn't normally expect them, that is almost certainly the cause.

RAB
Hi Rab, I changed its timing belt last month about 1000 km before. There was no such issues at that time only a bit smoke in the morning -8 degree. I noticed some oil in turbo area and "Vianor" the mechanic who changed the belt said there was some oil in turbo intercooler but it wasn't much so you can drive it. This is my first diesel car and really not familiar with many things. But when I faced problem I left it at another shop of Vianor and they said that they have checked turbo hoses and its ok.
 
When was the last time you did a GGE? What happens when you run a GGE?

You will need to scan the car, and I would not take it to Laakonen for this. Where are you?


- Bret
Hi Bret, You might have already noticed that I don't know how to use this forum :)
In last 14-15 months I only changed its oil and filters regularly. I wasn't familiar with any other thing because I was told that I shouldn't worry about anything if the car is going good, and I really enjoyed 45000km drive.

Its timing belt replacement was due at 190tkm and Vianor Jyvaskyla did that. Even at that time I asked them if there is anything that should be done now but they said NO. This problem started mostly after timing belt replacement. I was going to Helsinki from Jyvaskyla. In the midway on tampere road. Some how I managed to dive it to Helsinki in 6-7hrs. I called audi center and they said its better if I take it to vianor because this problem started after timing belt replacement. I took it to Vianor lauttasaari. Now its been there for 2 weeks. They already refused and said we have no experience of this motor. I talked with Das auto and today they also refused because of expertise problem.
 
not good. I actually don't know of a decent 1.2 garage in Helsinki. I suspect the closest good one is in Hamburg....

I came through Vaajakoski Friday...

You'll need to run a GGE ("GetriebeGrundEinstellung") or at least try to and see what comes up. You'll need access to a VCDS or so... I've created a thread for you on the German forum, they know more than I do. https://a2-freun.de/forum/forums/topic/42381-12-skipping-gears/
They will also want to see the results of a scan. I'll warn you now, this could get expensive.

- Bret
 
Hi Aamir,

Have you checked the intercooler? That might be the source of a leak if the hoses are OK. I doubt that the problem is due to the clutch or gearbox because that would either not allow you to start the engine or the accelerator would be disabled. Are you sure about the car automatically skipping gears; I would have said that that was not possible. A failing diaphragm on a vacuum-operated valve (EGR or VNT) might cause similar symptoms and probably won't raise an error code. It might also be worth checking the vacuum pump.

RAB
 
Hi Aamir,

It might also be a good idea to check the various vacuum/pressure lines, particularly on the passenger side of the engine compartment. They are only held in place by friction and are very easily disconnected, especially after a cambelt change. Check both ends of each.

RAB
 
I have a feeling I'm actually closer to the car than he is - I can see Lauttasaari from here :)

Can probably make it over there tomorrow, not today. @Aamir if you're around?

- Bret
 
Hi Aamir,

Have you checked the intercooler? That might be the source of a leak if the hoses are OK. I doubt that the problem is due to the clutch or gearbox because that would either not allow you to start the engine or the accelerator would be disabled. Are you sure about the car automatically skipping gears; I would have said that that was not possible. A failing diaphragm on a vacuum-operated valve (EGR or VNT) might cause similar symptoms and probably won't raise an error code. It might also be worth checking the vacuum pump.

RAB
Rab I haven't checked anything myself. mechanic told me that there was some oil in intercooler when he replaced the timing belt and he removed the oil. later when problem came another mechanic checked the turbo and hoses and he said its ok.
but I think I could not phrase the problem properly. First time when I noticed anything abnormal was skipping gear on quick acceleration. Car wasn't losing so much power at that time. Real problem came in my last 300km journey. where I drove car manually with a bit extra acceleration just to clean the carbon. but when hilly area came and I was going at 70-80 km speed, I pressed accelerator and only rpm needle moved quiet fast while car lost power and I could not maintain the speed. Even the speed reduced to 20-30 km/h and I shifted it to manual gear mode and climbed up in 2nd and 3rd gear with low acceleration because the rpm moved too fast while car lost power. rest of the 200 km journey was like this.
 
I have a feeling I'm actually closer to the car than he is - I can see Lauttasaari from here :)

Can probably make it over there tomorrow, not today. @Aamir if you're around?

- Bret
Thanks Bret. I would highly appreciate if its possible. but I am in jyvaskyla and in fever. I can request my cousin to come there if you think it sounds okay.... Or if you are in Helsinki than I can come by tomorrow evening.
 
I will be back in h:ki with time on Friday. I can bring vcds reader.... @jannes jannare you around?

We can take a look, i will be in the Octavia.

- Bret
 
That would be so kind of you. I will be there by Thursday night so you can call me any time on Friday. I will also pick the keys from vianor in case if you got late because they close around 4-5pm.
 
Sadly not around on Friday @bretti_kivi, I do work in the Helsinki area but only on random days.

To me the symptoms sound like it could be a transmission problem. Like many others I'm not familiar with the 1.2TDI at all but does the transmission have mechatronics? Fault description could point to it malfunctioning. It there's not much black smoke then it's probably not a boost leak although some of the symptoms seem to match, but like mentioned, a full scan would probably yield more information.
 
A faulty clutch or gearbox would almost certainly prevent engine start-up and if a fault developed after start-up, the accelerator would be disabled, so I would be very sceptical of it being due to a transmission fault. In 100k's km of 1.2Tdi driving I have never seen such a fault and never read about anything similar.

Has the intercooler been tested for leaks?

RAB
 
Alright, good to know. Transmission issues can often get very costly so that's definitely good news.
 
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