If you own a Volkswagen or any other vehicle equipped with the Asin 09G transmission, you have probably experienced the dreadful harsh upshift/downshift. Don’t feel alone I recently experienced the same situation. It happened on my 2007 Volkswagen Jetta. But for me, it was not something that happened gradually I found this out immediately after I had purchased my vehicle.
After some internet research, I found that this was a common issue with this transmission. And there were cheap repairs available without having to replace expensive components or worst-case scenario the transmission — or so I thought.
The problem with these transmissions is not a major internal issue but an issue with the valve body, which does not require a complete transmission overhaul or replacement but a repair or replacement of a single component — the valve body.
Luckily there was a lot of documentation on the World Wide Web with repair tutorials and kits available. As I am a mechanic by trade, this was something that I could easily accomplish with 100% success even if I had never done this task before.
TransGo SK 09G Shift Kit
Enter the SK 09G Shift Kit available through TransGo. As I said, there is a lot of documentation for repairs, and this was the most popular and, as far as I knew, the most effective and cheap — between $80 and $130, depending on where you purchase it from. So I purchased it.
The kit came complete with everything you needed to make the repair. The only limitation was the repair, which required the removal, complete disassembly, and modification of the valve body and solenoids — no problem!
Fail
I’ll admit I was nervous performing this repair, just because of the complexity and tolerances of moderns transmissions. And rightfully so. After all of the work and caution, the repair failed. When I say fail it was worse than when I started. Now the transmission would not even shift. So, now does the transmission not even shift I am going to have to drain the fluid, which is not cheap, and replace the entire valve body.
3rd Party Vendors
To recoup and save money, there were other alternatives available from third-party vendors at reasonable prices outside the dealership price, which was close to $2000. After all, I was only out just over a hundred dollars, minus the time and labor.
After some more research, I found a company that claimed to offer a refurbished valve body — Street Smart Transmission out of Tampa, Florida. I have had some bad experiences with companies out of Florida, so that was a no go on my list. So my next best and I thought the most trustworthy vendor — Amazon. So after reading the reviews, I concluded that this was a reputable company. I called the vendor, spoke with the owner, described my situation, and was assured that this was the company to go with.
Eight hundred dollars and less than a week later I received the part quickly. Confident that this would solve the problem I drained the fluid removed the valve body and installed the remanufactured one. A few hours later I was hit with another failed valve body with poor shifting and a solenoid No. 4 code. After troubleshooting connections, I had no choice but to drain the fluid again and drop the transmission pan only to find that the supposedly good valve body had broken solenoid connectors that I had overlooked before installing it. In other words, this valve body was garbage and not remanufactured or probably even inspected as the seller claimed.
I called the vendor and complained that they had sold me a defective part and I was given a vague response from the secretary “I will have to get back to you I need to write up a report,” and that was the last time I heard from them unlike the previous calls and quick responses when they were trying to make a sell — this time it was nothing.
Long story short
Long story short do not, and I repeat DO NOT buy any repair kits or aftermarket parts from third-party vendors including Street Smart and Amazon. After going through two valve bodies, I got smart and purchased one from a reliable and authenticated source — ECS Tuning. And guess what, it worked. Needless to say, I never got my money back for the other valve body, and I ended up spending what I would have initially had I gone with the reliable and more expensive source.