T5, auto hesitates changing into 4th gear then clunk

[ImmortalT5]

Car keeps going into safe mode stuck in gears loses power feels like it is only partially in gear, so now it is at the shop hopefully it doesn’t cost too much, vw said the sensors might be part of the valve body and will cost $2.5k so hopefully it is something cheaper...

[Sunny43.5]

Car keeps going into safe mode stuck in gears loses power feels like it is only partially in gear, so now it is at the shop hopefully it doesn’t cost too much, vw said the sensors might be part of the valve body and will cost $2.5k so hopefully it is something cheaper...

I know this might sound far out but could there be an issue with the Turbo ? When our tranny went to lunch we had it rebuilt and then found ours failing to change up a few times it kept throwing up Turbo Overboost on fault codes . After we fitted a second hand Turbo it was fine again . It would go into limp mode at oddball times .

[Rebuild]

Car keeps going into safe mode stuck in gears loses power feels like it is only partially in gear, so now it is at the shop hopefully it doesn’t cost too much, vw said the sensors might be part of the valve body and will cost $2.5k so hopefully it is something cheaper...

the gearshifting solenoids are attached to the valve body.Their are eight solenoids.They sometimes go AWOL.
Have a trawl through here if you're interested,
Automatic Transmission Forum

They do not have T5's over in the US, the nearest similar gearbox designation is their 09G.Your gearbox is likely 09K.Similar gearbox, similar problems.

Try a search for 09G flaring or similar

[ImmortalT5]

Hey I took it to a transmission shop, very slowly due to constant rough gear changing and no power and getting stuck in 4th or 5th, felt like no gears were in gear completely,
They said a cylinder or something inside gearbox has blown and I also need a valve body so all up it will cost $5.5k-$6.5k to fix,
I am currently looking for a secondhand gearbox to put in instead and then the van might have to go...
gonna miss it...

[Tornado T5]

Sadly it's a common problem to T5 autos (it's actually a Japanese box). If you ever visit a dealer and mention you wish to trade it in on a new van the first question they will ask is "what's the transmission like"?

As you have been told the transmission was never included in the factory stipulated scheduled servicing. Mine went after I actually asked the dealer to service it and very soon after it made the flaring change and slammed into the next gear like I had been rammed from behind.

I could make it improve slightly by resetting the shift program as described in one of the tech section here put up by Transporter however eventually the dealer replaced it under warranty. It happened again on the replacement at around 250,000km and when it finally got bad enough I bought a new van from Renault...

[Sunny43.5]

Sadly it's a common problem to T5 autos (it's actually a Japanese box). If you ever visit a dealer and mention you wish to trade it in on a new van the first question they will ask is "what's the transmission like"?

As you have been told the transmission was never included in the factory stipulated scheduled servicing. Mine went after I actually asked the dealer to service it and very soon after it made the flaring change and slammed into the next gear like I had been rammed from behind.

I could make it improve slightly by resetting the shift program as described in one of the tech section here put up by Transporter however eventually the dealer replaced it under warranty. It happened again on the replacement at around 250,000km and when it finally got bad enough I bought a new van from Renault...

Sadly your story is the same as ours , dealer would not service it etc and yes the mongrel dealer took one look at our perfect looking van with only 120.000kays when we tried to trade it in and said its an auto I wouldn,t trust it . So a $50000 van depreciated to a $4000 trade in value because of VW,s bad design .

[Rebuild]

ImmortalT5
I'd try and get another shops' opinion, before you commit to anything.
If it's solenoids only, shouldn't cost 2.5K

[ImmortalT5]

Hey rebuild,
Still in shop but I need it for work so I am just getting the gearbox rebuild done,
Valve body and needs some cylinder or something too that makes the clutch system work inside it
So not sure if they are ripping me off or not, I haven’t seen any paperwork because I dropped it off after hours
It’s going to cost $5.5k-$6.5k all up for about a weeks work or rebuilding it
Is there any way to tell what has been done is what they say they did?
I don’t want to be ripped off

[Tornado T5]

Sadly your story is the same as ours , dealer would not service it etc and yes the mongrel dealer took one look at our perfect looking van with only 120.000kays when we tried to trade it in and said its an auto I wouldn,t trust it . So a $50000 van depreciated to a $4000 trade in value because of VW,s bad design .

It's actually a Japanese Aisin auto box but I feel your pain.

[Tornado T5]

Hey rebuild,
Still in shop but I need it for work so I am just getting the gearbox rebuild done,
Valve body and needs some cylinder or something too that makes the clutch system work inside it
So not sure if they are ripping me off or not, I haven’t seen any paperwork because I dropped it off after hours
It’s going to cost $5.5k-$6.5k all up for about a weeks work or rebuilding it
Is there any way to tell what has been done is what they say they did?
I don’t want to be ripped off

If you search the net and YouTube on this issue there is an enormous amount of info particularly from the US where they have experienced this issue in a different version of this auto in the VW car range as the T5 was never sold in the US. Some videos show you how to even change the valve body yourself.
One thing I discovered is the replacement valvebody can have much improved internals resulting in a much better overall auto once repaired.