Tiptronic tranny hesitation

[MLegere]

Originally Posted by xavier405

Hi all, I've been a member for many months (lurking) and just recently bought an '02 Boxster with tip. 27000 miles. Everything is great with the car and I'm incredibly happy with it!

BUT... I am noticing a hesitation with the transmission in second gear... During moderate acceleration from a stop, the car starts in 2nd gear and pulls on up through 2500 rpm. At 2500 there is a hesitation. Then is goes right on past up to 4 or 5000 until the next upshift.

During soft acceleration, the gears shift up at about 2000 to 2500 rpm and it works fine. During hard acceleration, the trans kicks down to 1st gear, rolls up smoothly to the redline in first through second and on up.

Anyway this is the perfect question for my upcoming 30k mile service. It may even be a warranty item. What might be going on here? Is this the kind of thing that can be easily reprogrammed into the control chip? What are the questions I should ask at the dealer service?

Thanks and keep having fun!

Hi all,

I have a 2001 Box-car with Triptronic Trans, I think I can ans your question. In automatic mode (D) the car will start out in 2nd gear as per the dash indicator light but will auotmaticly defer to 1st gear and then shift to 2nd depending on how hard you are excel, will determine at what RPM the trans will shift at (ie) slow excel the trans will shift around 2k under hard excel the trans could shift at 3k or 3.5k it just depends how hard your standing on it!!!

[Ronzi]

I have a '99 Box w/Tip, and I would have to agree with RandallNeighbour; there is something fishy here.
There are circumstances where the Tip will stay in a lower gear, but there should be no hesitation in the power delivery. If that is what is truly happening, have it checked out when you take it in for the 30k maint. The Tippers are pretty reliable, but I don't think you want to have to fix one on your own nickel if you can help it.

[Brucelee]

" but I don't think you want to have to fix one on your own nickel if you can help it."

Indeed! That would definitely leave a mark!

[lightstar2]

Originally Posted by MLegere

Hi all,

I have a 2001 Box-car with Triptronic Trans, I think I can ans your question. In automatic mode (D) the car will start out in 2nd gear as per the dash indicator light but will auotmaticly defer to 1st gear and then shift to 2nd depending on how hard you are excel, will determine at what RPM the trans will shift at (ie) slow excel the trans will shift around 2k under hard excel the trans could shift at 3k or 3.5k it just depends how hard your standing on it!!!

i was wondering why my "new" used car was starting out in 2nd gear! thanks for posting this :-)

[cnavarro]

Two suggestions - maybe have the Tiptronic module flashed or reset. Also, you might find improvement in having the ATF changed. Whenever our Passat's Tip gets "grumpy", a fluid change works wonders. It has just about 60k miles on it and it's probably on it's 4th fill. We drive the ol' w8 kinda hard :-)

[vath2001]

My 98 has the same 2400-2500 hesitation in 2nd gear. I always wondered about it. Now I know it part of the design of the varicam system.
One less item to worry about.