Vanagon Man wrote:
>
> Volks,
>
> Running my (new to me) 88 wolfsburg, and cannot get the autotranny to "kickdown"  Now, when i bought the thing, the PO's mechanic had a regular clamp on the throttle rod, no spring on the rod, and it worked, somewhat, but not great.
>
> Now i have a newly rebuilt motor in there (did it myself!) and it is running great.....however, when i try to get it to kick down or go into "passing gear" (as my grandma called it) it does not.  With a 3 speed automatic, this working is a must.
>
> Any help or personal experiences is appreciated.  I have adjusted the rod per haynes and Bentley with same result.  If i turn the rod on the throttle body in too far, it begins to open up the idle on the throttle body.....I have it screwed in as far as possible without moving the throttle body off its stop.
>
> I figure somebody out there has gone through the same thing, or set it up for a customer before. TIA

You should be able to watch/feel the lever on the trans to verify that
it is moving properly when someone pushes the accelerator all the way
down.  If that is the case, the problem is in the transmission itself.
I am no expert, but the AT in my 84 also would not kick down before I
rebuilt it and I believe that the reason was that the valve body was
gummed up.  I think that if you had the AT out when you did your engine
work, tilting it to unusual angles may have stirred up the sludge in the
bottom and that may be causing valves to stick.  The valve body can be
removed by dropping the pan off the AT.  It can be disassembled and
cleaned without any special tools, but you have to be very careful and
organized so that the many valves and springs don't get mixed up.
 This is mostly guesswork on my part, but seems to me to be a reasonable
possibility.  There may be a simpler and/or more expensive reason for
your problem.
 Oh, you might check the governor.  Its input also influences shifting
decisions.  You can pop it out with out much trouble. A little lint in
the wrong passage can have a big effect. BTDT

good luck,
Larry A.