Even in kick down mode it should upshift before the governor kicks in.
Inability to take hills or accelerate is a sign an engine performance issue
or a bad torque converter. Yes they go bad and when the no longer multiply
torque performance suffers.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Stuart MacMillan
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 9:58 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: 91 Carat w/auto tranny - weird shifting

The kick down may just keep the tranny in second as long as your foot is to
the floor, but I don't know, maybe someone else does.  You can't over rev,
the ECU cuts off the injectors at the red line.  (BTDT.)

I've found it's best to manually downshift and then upshift at 4500 rpm or
so rather than use the kick down on hills.  You can vary your pedal position
without it upshifting, which kills your speed really fast!

Your engine may be tired like mine. Have you done a compression test?

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
JRodgers
Sent: Wednesday, June 25, 2014 5:48 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: 91 Carat w/auto tranny - weird shifting

My newly somewhat restored Carat behaves strangely - to me, anyway - when
shifting. Drove up a pretty good grade with it and all I could do was 30
mph. If I put the pedal to the metal to get on up the hill - the engine
would kick down into 2nd gear and simultaneously over rev to 5000 rpm. My
88GL will pull that hill handily at 45mph in 4th.

I think this is about getting some tranny and engine adjustments so it
simply runs smooth when shifting gears. But how to sort it out is beyond me
for the moment. It's my first Vanagon with auto tranny and the learning
curve is pretty steep.

Any input would be appreciated.

John