Customer semi-recently purchased a 08 VW Passat with the 2.0T BPY motor. The car has 124K miles on it and as far as we know, has never had a trans service. For this model year, VW considered the trans fluid to be lifetime fill. But later model years carried a 40k service interval. The transmission in this vehicle is a 09G which is a version of the Aisin Warner TF-60SN.
As you will see in the photos below I found a lot of non-metallic debris inside of the pan. Both magnets were very loaded. The bottom of the pan itself had grey-sludge debris (as seen on the towel). The screen on the filter had a fine layer of black material with moderate amount of visible particles. None of the debris was metallic.
Is this a normal amount of debris for a trans with 124K miles or is this a sign of an imminent failure?
Note: due to the design of the transmission pan, the drain plug was somewhat useless - it removes less than 2 quarts. The cooler lines were also not an option for a fluid exchange due to the style of connectors. So I removed the trans oil pan which drained 3 quarts. I refilled with Genuine Toyota T-IV and drove the car for several miles. Then I repeated this for 3 additional times for a total of 4 pan drops. On the final pan drop I replaced the gasket and the filter. During the test drive after the first drain and refill I did notice a hard 1-2 shift. But on the subsequent test drives this was no longer noticed. Not sure if the fluid changes helped or if the issue goes away once the fluid is warmed up.
As you will see in the photos below I found a lot of non-metallic debris inside of the pan. Both magnets were very loaded. The bottom of the pan itself had grey-sludge debris (as seen on the towel). The screen on the filter had a fine layer of black material with moderate amount of visible particles. None of the debris was metallic.
Is this a normal amount of debris for a trans with 124K miles or is this a sign of an imminent failure?
Note: due to the design of the transmission pan, the drain plug was somewhat useless - it removes less than 2 quarts. The cooler lines were also not an option for a fluid exchange due to the style of connectors. So I removed the trans oil pan which drained 3 quarts. I refilled with Genuine Toyota T-IV and drove the car for several miles. Then I repeated this for 3 additional times for a total of 4 pan drops. On the final pan drop I replaced the gasket and the filter. During the test drive after the first drain and refill I did notice a hard 1-2 shift. But on the subsequent test drives this was no longer noticed. Not sure if the fluid changes helped or if the issue goes away once the fluid is warmed up.