Questions and Answers

Volkswagen Passat Brakes Broke Car Q. Here's the deal, my front passenger inside brake pad wore and ruined my rotor- replaced the front rotors with OEM parts as well as brakes. Before changing the rears I took the car for a test drive, the transmission is malfunctioning now. When you come to a dead stop, the car does not move, hit the gas and the engine revs and then pops into gear extremely rough.

Did not do anything to car other then change spark plugs, oil and air filter. It's driving me nuts, the transmission was in pristine condition before brake job and I want to make sure it's not something stupid before I spend a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars on repairs. Thanks any help would be greatly appreciated.

• 1999 Passat GLX
• 2.8 liter V-6
• Automatic transmission
• 68,000 miles
• Fuel injected
• ABS brakes

A. There is no, direct, reason replacing the front brake pads and rotors would cause the transmission to shift as it now does. There is a wheel speed sensor on the caliper that you may have left unplugged or got damaged. Or, if the key was on and you spun the wheels, you may have put the vehicle in a fail-safe mode.

I guess before I do anything, I would disconnect the battery for about 30 minutes. Then drive it about 15 or 20 miles and see what happens.