Okay, last night I was replacing a fuse on my 98' A6 and accidentally pulled the wrong one. Sooo now the gear selector image on the LCD in the dash is fully lit up(P R N D 4 3 2) so it looks like im in all those gears at the same time. Also when I was driving today i noticed that the trans would not shift into 5th gear...then i tried shifting with tip and it wouldn't work at all. lastly I tried using the gear restrictor to shift back down a gear and that wont work either.

It seems that the transmission is in some kind of safety mode. It wont do anything but shift up to 4th gear...seemingly normally. Is there any way to re-set it or something?

This really sucks because I'm getting TERRIBLE fuel mileage. Has anyone heard of this? PLEASE help!

 

Are all the gears (P R N D 4 3 2) showing with RED around them? I have gotten this when driving the car to far into redline making it light up all of the gears and drive in a safe mode where you have zero control of the gears. Is this what it sounds like jw?

 

Its called limp mode, and it means you are always in 3rd gear to "limp the car home"
It could have been caused by a fuse, but this usually happens with a major failure to the TCM.

 

That is exactly what is happening... How do i fix it? Can it be fixed? Do I need a new TCM? lol...

 

Let me touch base with my tech. I am sorry, I just wanted some more detail to possible help you on the situation. I will keep you posted

 

Dan,

you can disconnect the battery for a while (1-2 hrs). That may help reset the ECM and also help you rule out the TCM, as Auditech pointed out to.
Just unplugging a fuse shouldn't cause an instant failure, unless that particular part was already on its way out.
Just a thought...

 

Did you do this with the car on? Only things I can think of are 1) Fuse replacement cuased a spark/surge, 2) Fuse is actually bad.

 

Stupid me, I think I did do it when it was on... All fuses are good, I disconnected the battery for approx 15 minutes... and it didn't change anything. Except put the radio into "safe" mode...uh oh. Also, what exactly is the "TCM"?

 

Transmission control module, basically the transmission version of the ECM. Its located under the carpet on the passenger's side foot well. You should pull up the carpet and see if any water has gotten the box or if there is any corrosion on the connector. You also need to buy a vag com so we can see the fault codes. If i had a magic ball then.....

 

haha... I'll check the connection and get a vag com so i'll be able to know whats going on.