1992 Golf auto downshifts on its own

[john19460]

:roll: I have a high mileage Golf Mk2. It has become very reluctant to engage top gear from thid. Worse, when it does get there, it can spontaneously shift into 3rd without warning, and on 2 occasions it has shifted into 2nd when cruising steadily at 60 mph, which is very scary. On the other hand sometimes it simply works normally. When in the downshift mode, stopping the car and engine, engaging first then reverse sometimes seems to help. But the behaviour seems to be totally unpredictable. Can anyone suggest whether this is due to poor g'box fluid, worn gearbox, faulty computer control or what? Any advice gratefully received.

[bookwus]

Hiya John,

By no means am I knowledegable about fully automatic transmissions.  That having been said, it sounds to me as if those symptoms would indicate a worn-out gearbox.

On the other hand, the cheapest route for a possible "fix" would be to replace the transmission fluid and check for effect.  The only thing you have to lose with this approach is a little time and the money you would spend for the transmission fluid.