Auto Tranny

[MAC4844]

I Have A 92 Wagon 2 Litre Auto. Lately While Driving, The Car Refused To Shift Into Drive (automatically) And Stayed In 3rd Even When Stopped Or Moving. Manual Shift Through The Gears Didn't Solve The Problem As They Didn't Work,. No Highway Driving For A Week! Then Driving Around Town It Starts Working Properly, After Many Days, And Shifting Smoothly. Lately After The Car Gets Warmed Up And I Shift To Park The Instrument Panel Gear Indicator Remains At Drive, If I Turn It Off It Won't Start Again Until I Turn It Off And On 6-10 Times Until The Dash Indicator Shows The Selector Is In Park. Some Days The Car Will Shift Smoothly Until I Get On The High Way And It Won't Shift Up To Drive From 3rd (automatically) "but!!!" If I Pull Over And Turn The Key Off And On The Problem Is Corrected And I Motor On.
The Scans Show No Communication From The Computer, No Fault Codes Nothing! I Changed The Computer, Multi Function Switch, Economy/sport Selector Swith, Cleaned All Connections But No Change. I Have Been Told The Tranny Needs Replacing But The Car Keeps Correcting Itself And Working Fine. This Has Been To 3 Vw Shops And 2 Tranny Shops And Has Been Going On For 6 Months. So I Just Keep Driving It.
Solutions???

[fishmonster13]

drive it until it completely breaks then replace it

[fishmonster13]

i have a 91 passat i bought it with a bad trans in it , the car wouldn't go forward at all in any gear ,reverse worked fine , it was friction plates that didn't have any friction left on them. i replaced with a used trans and in 3 months it has done the same thing . its been sitting in my driveway for 3 months now cause i hate to replace it again, it seems these auto trans are not the usual quality you see from the germans . i have heard they are very hard to rebiul so therefore they are expensive to rebuild . i was going to replace the friction plates in the first trans but you have to buy the whole clutch assembly from vw they wanted 600 even with my discount. i paid 500 for the used trans and see where it got me. i would buy a remanufactured trans if you want to keep the car .

[boschmann]

It sounds like the shifter position sensor is bad & it can cause all sorts of problems with the electronics.

[MAC4844]

Originally Posted by boschmann

It sounds like the shifter position sensor is bad & it can cause all sorts of problems with the electronics.

Thanks.
Where is that located? When the dash indicater didn't change and I had to turn it on and off I heard a clicking sound from the passenger footwell/firewell area.

[boschmann]

It's on the transaxle where the shifter attaches, 8 pin connector (w/only 6 wires used).

[cdogg3232]

wow 500 for a used tranny? I wish i could find that here!

[MAC4844]

NOW WHEN I STEP ON THE BRAKE THE DASH SHIFT POSITION INDICATOR FLASHES FROM DRIVE TO NEUTRAL TO REVERSE ETC. WHEN I RELEASE THE BREAK THE INDICATOR STAYS IN THE PROPER GEAR OR DISAPPEARS MOMENTARILY. WHEN I PUT THE CAR IN PARK (ENGINE WARM) THE INDICATOR SHOWS IN DRIVE, THEN THE CAR WON'T START. i PLAY WITH THE KEY (ON-OFF-ON-OFF) IT SOMETIMES RESETS OR I WAIT TILL IT GETS COLD. MY MECHANIC WANTS TO BURN MY CAR......?

[TKHarley]

I had the exact same proble, my mechanic of 15 years couldn't figure it out. I ended up haveing to take it to the dealership for repair. What the had found to be the problem was my battery ground wire WAS grounded to the block but WAS NOT grounded to the chassis. After I paid somebody $300 for 20 minutes worth of work the car was fine. That appeared to fix all tranny problems I was having at the time.