Hi,

I have a 97 A4 1.8 auto, and have noticed some weird shifting patterns whilst driving. I purchased the car last week, the previous owner showed me receipts for a recent fluid replacement and shift solenoid replacement, however it still displays some weird symptoms. Its only done 116,000kms.

Ok, so when shifting between gears its generally pretty good, only when it shifts from 2nd to 3rd does it shift roughly. Also, if I climb a steep hill for a long period of time, it will down shift as per normal, however once I get to the top and begin descent or the road flattens out, it seems reluctant to up shift to the next gear and will hold in that particular gear for quite a while, until I either slow down and feel it shift down to first, and continue from there, or keep letting it rev until it finally decides to up shift, which often results in a harsh upshift because of how high its revving (around 4000rpm).
Its almost as if the car knows it is travelling up a hill and has decided to hold itself in that gear, and then when the hill flattens out, it forgets to come out of the 'hill climbing mode'.

I've owned a 99 Golf 1.8 before and it did the exact same thing with the auto tranny.

Any help on the matter would be greatly appreciated. I don't really want to have to spend a lot of money on it, and to be honest was hoping it would be an air flow meter problem or some sort of sensor problem?