Transmission would not shift any higher than third gear, it drives fine from gears 1 through 3?

SHAYN

MEMBER
2004 VOLKSWAGEN JETTA
2.0L
4 CYL
2WD
AUTOMATIC
161,000 MILES

So, about 2 days ago my car would not shift any higher than third gear it drives fine from Gears 1 through 3 but after that the RPMs just go up and it does not switch into fourth gear. I recently had a buddy changed my transmission fluid for me considering it is a sealed transmission no way to check the fluid levels, but the real issue is when I drive for about 5 minutes the vehicle starts to have a burning smell and smoke starts coming into the cab from all of my vents everywhere. I have searched and everybody I have talked to has said low transmission fluid is the issue but when I put about a quarter of a quart into it, it was overfilling from the top. So, can too much transmission fluid cause me to have no fourth gear AKA Overdrive as well as overheating and burning smell as well as smoke?

1 Reply

KEN L

MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
43,288 POSTS

Overfilling the transmission is not good and can cause issues because the fluid can get air into it causing performance problems and possibly smoke into the cab. I am not certain this is your issue with shifting or smoking but let's try to correct the level issue first and see what happens. Here is how you check the level of the fluid. Make sure the car is warm and on level ground. Check out the diagrams (below). Please let us know what happens.

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