VR auto issues

[Hunter SS]

My son has a VR Berlina auto....... It has a performance chip in it which has been in it for about 12 months now and no issues. But last week suddenly, the auto began to play up.... when taking off, it seemed to hunt gears, kind of up and down every half second, until you got about 20kph on it, and it jumped into first and went ok. Then at 100 kph and on a slight hill, well, any hill, it locks the torque converter, then unlocks after a few seconds.... it does this all the way up the hill you are driving on. On friday, he started the car to move it onto the lawn to wash it, and it would hardly move, and when it was put in gear, he said the engine wanted to stall until it was put into park.
I told him to disconnect the battery and leave it for 10 minutes and then hook it back up and start the engine and leave it idle for 5 minutes to reset it. He said it was playing up not quite as bad as it was when it started to act up on thursday. I thought it might be the ECU had crapped out.

Any suggestions before i take it to Holden to have it looked at and cost me a fortune??

Thanks in advance guys.

[The1]

got enough fluid in the auto?

[hako]

Check for fault codes although disconnecting the battery may have wiped some but any major ones will reappear. Sounds like the car has been in limp home mode when he went to wash it and the other instances may have been a fault throttle position sensor or 100 other things. But first do the code check...it cost nothing and if Holden do it for you it will cost upward of $100.
Checking error codes VR/VS (Revised)

[Hunter SS]

got enough fluid in the auto?

yep!! plenty

Check for fault codes although disconnecting the battery may have wiped some but any major ones will reappear. Sounds like the car has been in limp home mode when he went to wash it and the other instances may have been a fault throttle position sensor or 100 other things. But first do the code check...it cost nothing and if Holden do it for you it will cost upward of $100.
Checking error codes VR/VS (Revised)

Thanks for that, we will try to check the codes tomorrow evening some time and see what it comes up with.

[Shortstuff]

Mine is doing almost exactly the same. It feels like it's stuck in 3rd gear and will barely move (only accelerates very slowly up to about 70kph but ok from then on) when I first drive it after standing for more than a couple of hours. The only way I can get it to go properly straight away is by putting it in reverse and bringing the revs up for a few seconds before moving off. On the freeway the torque converter locks and unlocks every couple of seconds on slight inclines.

The trans fluid on mine looks clean and is at the correct level. I was worried it may be an ecu issue but thinking more that the trans may be on the way out as it started slipping quite badly on the way home from NSW today.

I will check for codes on mine tomorrow and let you know how I go. At the worst it's a good excuse for a manual conversion!

[Hunter SS]

Mine is doing almost exactly the same. It feels like it's stuck in 3rd gear and will barely move (only accelerates very slowly up to about 70kph but ok from then on) when I first drive it after standing for more than a couple of hours. The only way I can get it to go properly straight away is by putting it in reverse and bringing the revs up for a few seconds before moving off. On the freeway the torque converter locks and unlocks every couple of seconds on slight inclines.

The trans fluid on mine looks clean and is at the correct level. I was worried it may be an ecu issue but thinking more that the trans may be on the way out as it started slipping quite badly on the way home from NSW today.

I will check for codes on mine tomorrow and let you know how I go. At the worst it's a good excuse for a manual conversion!

thanks mate

[MAD550]

How many kms on it our sedans auto is on its way out bands are very worn and revs something ferce until its warm and reverse bearly works LOL

[Shortstuff]

My wagon has 297000km on it now,but has had a reco tranny at some point.

Checked for codes today and nothing. I had a long chat with one of the mechanics at work and he said it sounds like two problems - one with the valve body which would make it not select gears properly and cause the torque converter to lock and unlock, and one with the clutches which is making it slip. Apparently there are two sets of clutches (one low which works on reverse, 1st and 2nd and one high which works on 3rd and 4th) and it's pretty common for the high clutches to wear.

Just trying to work out whether to throw another auto in ASAP or save the cash and put it towards a manual conversion!

[Hunter SS]

my sons VR has about 280,000 on it, but the trans in it now was a reco fitted about 12 months ago.
We did the fault codes tonight and it came up with a 12 code..... so it would appear it's something internal.

[Hunter SS]

i had another look under it today and again checked the oil.... when it's cold, the oil shows over the full level...... seems a bit high. Would too much oil cause the issues? if so, why would it take 2 weeks to appear?

[Hunter SS]

and yes.... the engine was running

[The1]

you ment to check it when it's all at operating temp with the car running, the level will be alot lower than when cold.

[Vee-ard]

Throttle Position sensor before you fork out so much money for a new auto.

[Hunter SS]

an update on the gearbox....... yesterday, just to see what would happen, i got some trans fluid and told my son to put a bit more in it and try it. He put half a litre in it, and mind you, the dip stick said it was full..... he put it in gear and said it was a little better. He put another half litre in it, and tried it again and it worked better. He ran it back and forth through the gears a few times, then it stopped working again. He put another half litre in it, and it got better, until he ran it through the gears, and then put another half litre in...so by now it should be 2 litre over full!!! he said it wasn't too bad, but had very little fuel in it... today he put some fuel in it, and tried it, and it worked. When i got home from the gym, he took me for a drive in it, and it is going fine!!
My line of thinking is that after it was serviced, something has come loose, probably the filter/pickup... hence the reason it is working when over full......
He is going to take it to a mechanic in town tomorrow and get them to take a look. If it is indeed the problem, the Holden dealer that did the first service is going to pay for it to be fixed!!!


any thoughts??

[slayer208]

Hope it gets sorted, mate! That's all i can say. Some of these mechanics aren't half of what they're supposed to be.

[woteva]

The filter/pick-up is bolted on these trans ?? How would it come lose ??

[Brett_jjj]

The filter/pick-up is bolted on these trans ?? How would it come lose ??

Ive serviced VP ,VR and VS auto transmissions and the filters have all been push in/pull out type ones.Theres no bolts holding them in.Just the seal pressure holds the filter in place.If they werent installed correctly they could easily come out.

[Hunter SS]

I know next to nothing about the autos in them.... push on bolt on, whatever.... my guess is that it has fallen off somehow. I don't even know if this would affect it. I can't figure out why it's working better the more you over fill it.

[Phoenix21]

i wouldn't of thort it would affect it to much if the filter came out should still be able to pick up oil anyways i kno from experince what these autos are like i've gone through 4 of the in my vr
see what the mechanic say's but im pritty sure over filling them isn't the best thing for them

[Brett_jjj]

The filter sits down in the trans pan in the fluid when its installed,if it came out of its hole where its seal goes, it would be lucky to pick up any fluid at all.Thats probably exactly what has happenend.I think the pan would stop the filter coming all the way out though,its probably just loose in its seal,or maybe even out of the seal altogether.

[Hunter SS]

he took it to the local mechanic today... he couldn't look at it, it's booked in for tomorrow. He seems to think the same thing, something has dropped off.
I know over filling isn't a good thing, but he is only driving it local and at low speed.... we will see what transpires tomorrow.