Does anyone know whats happening to my 1999 a4. The gears quickly shifts to the next gear when accelerating and it wont go to 5th gear. And I noticed that all the lights on the gears (PRND432) are lit on the console. HELP!

P.S. My radio is dead (no lights at all, checked the fuse already).

 

Well, for starters i think the auto for 99's only goes up to 4th gear with Overdrive. When all of them are lit it might mean the position sensor for your tranny is screwy or something, you should find someone with a vag-com to check for codes. Its probably shifting early to protect from damage it might be using a default shift map or something..... Im not too familiar with the auto trans though but VAG will answer your problem most likely.

When my radio is dead i pulled the fuse and left it out for a while (2 hrs for me, you could try overnight) and when i plugged it back in it turned back on. Some people also say there is a secondary fuse behind the unit but im not sure.

 

Thanks! Actually mine is 99.5. The reason Im thinking there is a 5th gear is because Im revving 3k rpm at 60 mph. I ordered a vag-com cable from ebay so hopefully I can find the problem. I also ordered a radio tool so I can pull out the radio and check behind it. Unless you guys know of a way to pull out the radio without using one of those tools.

 

Your in trans limp mode, it means there is a major fault in the transmission. Possibly a TR (transmission range) switch as someone else said above, or a TCM issue.

There is a secondary fuse behind the radio unit, you need the special radio removal keys to pull the radio out.

 

Just out of curiousity are any of yours gears slipping????

 

No they dont slip at all. Any ideas?

 

One sign of your range switch going bad is if your reverse lights stay lit when you put it in D. Have a friend take a look. I'm sure you will get more definitive results with a VAG, but you could test that in the meantime.

I had to have my range switch replaced a while back because of that very problem (reverse lights stay on in D)

 

Is it OK to be driving the car in this condition?

 

Have you tried starting from a dead stop, and counting the gear-changes as you accelerate?It's hard to decipher as to what your problem is since you stated earlier that you are hitting around 3k doing 60 (which sounds about right +/- a few hundred rpms). Try noting at what RPMs your gears change as well - that might help.

It may vary well be you're worrying over nothing - but better safe than sorry.

 

Yes, I counted the number of changes. I does it 3 times. 1st gear changes to 2nd at 3k rpm, 2nd to 3rd is 2300 rpm, 3rd to 4th is 2500 rpm.
By the way, at 3k rpm Im at 57 or 58 mph.