Hi there. I am 22, live in maine. I have a 2002 jetta wagon, 2.0, 4cyl automatic with about 85,000 miles on it. Drive way more than the average person. I am pretty much broke right now due to school and cannot afford to fix all the crap what seems to be happening to my car just a month after taking it to get an inspection sticker! today it really topped it off and now I am officially freeking out. Out of the blue, no previous engine issues, my check engine light came on and when in drive, goign about 40-50 mph, my RPMs were up at around 50 and would only go down to 40 rpms. when coming out from a stop, i nearly had to push the pedal to the floor inorder it to go any faster than slightly rolling onto the road. my brother tested it out..he knows more than me..and thinks it may be a sensor issue. He noticed that there was no difference between 3rd and drive. He seems to think that for some reason my car isnt recognizing that there is a difference between 3rd and drive. My biggest concern is what, and how much. Again, i have no money at the moment. is this something I can get away with for a few weeks? my brother thinks not as it could take a toll on my transmission. any help would be much appreciated.

 

in my 01 volvo s80 this would be reffered to as limp home mode, where the transmission for whatever reason would lock itself in 3rd gear. my problem was a shift solenoid which is what tells the transmission when to change gears. i dont know all that much about vw's but i know that all the european cars share some similarities. anyway, the part for my trani was $25 but the labor time was what killed me. it was inside the transmission and was going to cost me around a grand to get it done. on another note, this is why i personally recomend that everyone learn to drive a manual... auto trani's are garbage!!! every automatic i have ever owned has had some kind of transmission problem..... hope this was some help.

 

You can try getting your transmission fluid changed. If that doesn't help things then I'm afraid you would need a new torque converter which requires removing the trans and it makes sense once they've gone that far to get the trans rebuilt. It would be about $2,500.

 

ouch......

 

Before you do change anything get the check engine light scanned, because it could be a number a things and one can only guess ;-)

Go to Autozone or Advance Auto Parts and have the check light scanned (it's free).

Also in my experience I had my catalytic converter die on me years ago and when this happened to me, the car would have trouble shifting....for example like going from "3rd to drive". At the time I didn't know my catalytic converter was dying. I was on my way to Atlanta until the cat finally gave in to the point where I was going maybe 10 miles per hour or less. But again like I mentioned before its better to get the check engine light scanned. Otherwise my guess (or any one else's) is as good as yours.