2001 Jetta will go reverse when put in drive !!

This is a strange problem. I have a VW Jetta, 2001, 2.0L automatic transmission.

When I put the car in drive D, the car goes in reverse.

In fact, it appears like it goes in reverse for settings R, N and D. When put in 3, it does move forward, and it looks like in that case it is in 3. Somehow D is lost.

This problem occured on a fresh start after the car was parked for about an hour. Prior to parking, we had driven it about 40 miles.

The car has 57000 miles and has not been thru any transmission service. The engine oil change has been done regularly at 3000 mile intervals, most recently a week ago.

Anyone has any ideas what it might be or what type of additional diagnostics I can do.

Thanks !!

Saumil

I checked the linking assembly under the hood today in the morning. There was a metal cap on some rubber bushings etc at the end of the link that came from the control handle. This metal cap had come off from where it was supposed to be, which is at the end of this portion of the assembly. This made the entire link loose. When I put the cap back on, everything worked normally. A simple reason for a complex symptom. I am relieved that it was not inside the transmission. Depending on the level of looseness, in my case it was completely off, this may also cause symptoms of slippage. I would check this part of the assembly even before taking it to a transmission specialist if you have ocassional slippage. Hope this helps others in futire.

Saumil