2003 Golf - Seeing a new problem this winter withmy "GolfCart" !
When starting the auto cold ( morning and after the car sits for the day ), I can not get theshift to move out of Park. The car starts just fine, but it's like the shift is just "stuck" in "P".
Once engine runs for 10 minutes the issue goes away and I can then shift into any gear.
But when the veh. is cold , nothing !

It's an automatic transmission.

Any Ideas as to what could be causing this is greatly appreciated. VW dealer is not helping and has no diagnosis, other than "Warm up the car before using".
Yeah, I know, but for 10 minutes ??? It's just not practical or appropriate.

 

now, ive never worked on a volkwagon transmition, but all automatics work prety much the same, theyjust have little differances. your linkage is connected to a slider inside of the valve body that moves whith the linkage and theshifter. this is what lets the fluid pass through differant paths in the valve body depending on what what gear your in, "N" "P" "D" exc.... It is a finely machined piece that even a grain of sand would jam it up. when metal heats up it expands.

my guess is that the valve body and slider is dirty, when the vehicle warms up the hot fluid expands the valve body and slider causing more space in between the two allowing it to free up and move. i would pull the transmition and take it to a clean area, and pull off the tranny pan. once its apart and you can see where the linkage goes you will know what im talking about. if you have to pull the valve body off, make shure you dont drop any of the check valves. they look like B.B.s

 

well before you go into the trans., check all your possibilities, like switch on the brake pedal which deactivates the shift lock, or the linkage itself getting jammed up, and what nick06zx10 is talking about, is called the manual valve, it is a possibibilty, but with all the transmissions ive rebuilt ive never seen a manual valve stuck, but that possibility is still there, in order for it to get stuck, it would have to get dirty, and if were to get dirty, something inside your transmission may be coming apart, because the transmission is a sealed unit and there is no way anything else can get in there, unless you purposely put something in it. does your car have 4speed auto or 5 speed auto?

 

yeah, ive seen a few cases where it was just the simple mechanics from the button down into the shifter that were jamming. start on the easy stuff that it could be before you dig too deep

 

thanks all for the feedback.
The tran is a 4 spd automatic.
Reluctantly, I bought it in to the dealer for a look.
They'll have a look at it 1st thing in the a.m..
im confident they'll see the problem firsthand, then hopefully it onto a low-cost repair !

will keep you posted in hopes it can help someone else someday !

 

Shifter Lock Solenoid went bad.
Replaced and Fixed, UNDER WARRANTY !!

Thanks All !

 

nice, you got your golf back. What would we do without warranties huh?