clunky gear changes

[martybabes]

From time to time, especially with a cold engine (and presumably cold gearbox oil too), the downshift changes in my autobox are very noisy and clunky, with a very noticeable jerk (not me).

Does this indicate that the oil might need changing?  The car is a 2004 (April) 1.6 FSi and has covered about 65,000 miles in total

Any thoughts, advice or suggestions will be very welcome, and for which thanks in advance are freely given.

Cheers,

Martin

[sutty2006]

Aye get that magical fluid of hopes and dreams changed. Won’t hurt it 

[Stanky]

When the ATF in my saab was getting on for 70k old it started doing exactly this, on cold mornings when i'd just set off. Chateau_Stanky is in a little estate of bungalows and usually it'd shift down from 2nd to 1st at least a couple of times within the first 45 seconds of being on the move.

Having the ATF flushed and fresh put in made the problem go away completely. Do you know what the box is, and what the recommended change interval is according to the manufacturer? 60-70k seems to be relatively common.

[jonny69]

In America it’s routine to get ATF changed. It’s one of those critical things in an auto box to preserve its life. Quite a lot of problems go away with fresh fluid. 

[dozeydustman]

+1 for a fluid change. Flaring while shifting up (bit like clutch slip) or jerky changes normally means low fluid or knackered fluid. 

Not sure what car it's on but the FSi sounds VAG to me. 

[martybabes]

1 hour ago, dozeydustman said:

+1 for a fluid change. Flaring while shifting up (bit like clutch slip) or jerky changes normally means low fluid or knackered fluid. 

Not sure what car it's on but the FSi sounds VAG to me. 

Yep, it's a Touran.  So you're right, and you managed to guess VAG IN A* jiffy!  Thanks for the advice.

 

 

 

 

* gratuitous smutty reference there.  Couldn't resist.

[martybabes]

All done now, and gear changes up and down are as smooth as a baby's bum*.

 

 

 

* I have not actually stroked a baby's bum (recently) - this expression is intended to be figurative only.