2005 T5 transmission weird behavoiur .

[Sunny43.5]

I,ll hark back to my previous misgivings about the tranny in T5,s as VW say its sealed for life my question is what is "life" and do they really expect transmission oils to keep its viscosity over this same time without degredation of its operating ability . I still stand by what I have said before VW should bear some responsbility for repairs if they believe it never needs servicing .Nothing last forever and tranny fluids must bear some enormous degredation whilst in use .
Back in the good old days trannies were easy to repair and it was almost mandantory to change the fluids to prevent the fluids being burnt and not working properly . I am afraid that I am not a big supporter of some of todays technology in modern cars , I remember some years back when a 1 year old BMW came into our workshop it had been driven into a freshwater creek during a flash flood . Our job was to dry out the interior trim seats carpets and door trims , we only just got started when the mechanic shop rang and said that the insurance company had written off a $50,000 plus car because the computers and electrics alone were costing more than the car was worth to replace . I just shake my head in disbelief .
Do we really need a transmission that is sealed and cant be serviced or a transmission that has two speed settings and a manual mode that I have only used twice in 6 years if I wanted a manual I would have bought one ! what a waste of technology . The very first time I used the manual mode was descending down Cunninghams Gap here in Southern Qld the van was only about a year old , I was following a semi trailer down and decided to use the manual mode to stay at a set speed it was drizzling at the time when an opportunity to pass came I pulled out and took off suddenly I realised that the mongrel wasn,t changing up and quickly I flicked it back to normal drive mode and kept going . When I got to the bottom of the range the van had gone into limp mode and would not accelerate normally , eventually after driving like this for another 40kays I pulled up and turned the engine off and on again and that reset it back to normal . My point is aren,t "we" the driver why should manufactures put all this expensive technology that tries to think for us , we are creating a whole new generation of drivers who cannot think for themselves . They are too reliant on the car to think for them , give me the some of the good old days please .

[Umai Naa!!]

They've just recently ammended the service schedule to include an oil and filter change on all autos at 60,000klms.

With the pan off, your mechanic will be able to see what's damaged. If the oil is burnt, and full of swarf (metal shavings), you'll be up for a new transmission. If all that is ok, you may be able to get away with a new valve body.

[Transporter]

as VW say its sealed for life my question is what is "life" and do they really expect transmission oils to keep its viscosity over this same time without degredation of its operating ability .

120,000km or 5 years as per German TUV. They probably don't give the rats about the rest of the World and assume that you change your VW vehicle every 5 years or even sooner. As I said earlier I always change the gear, diff A/T oils after run in which is at 10k km-20k km and then every 40k km. Power steering fluid every 20k km. The oils are cheap, components not.