2001 Beetle Tranny Problem?

My wife and I have a 2001 2.0/8v Beetle that although we've loved over
the years, has given us more than our fair shared of problems. We just
put it past 80k miles, and no sooner had we done so than the automatic
transmission suddenly decided to take a dive. The car still drives, but
is stuck in 3rd most of the time, and will *sometimes* squeeze into
4th.
Since we're out of warranty, our VW dealer has quoted us $4k to to get
a new one put in, which there's no way on God's green earth we're
doing. A small, local VW specialty shop has quoted us $1,900 on getting
a used tranny out of a wreck and installing it, which is still pretty
bad.

In light of this, I have two questions to pose. First of all, has
anyone heard of Beetle auto trannys dying at 80k miles? I'm no
mechanic, but I've owned two other vee dubs (not Beetles) and that just
seems waaaay to low to me.

Second, and this is mostly hypothetical, would it be possible to put a
manual tranny in a Beetle that came from the factory as auto? I'm
thinking it would be (a little bit) cheaper to get a manual...but then
maybe it's not possible or maybe it would be just as much...somebody's
got to know.

Anyway, thanks in advance to anyone with advice...

In article om>,
Cinemafia > wrote:
>
>Second, and this is mostly hypothetical, would it be possible to put a
>manual tranny in a Beetle that came from the factory as auto? I'm
>thinking it would be (a little bit) cheaper to get a manual...but then
>maybe it's not possible or maybe it would be just as much...somebody's
>got to know.
>

Yes its possible to do. But I would bet some wine that all thats wrong is
some electrical connector and the transmission is just stuck in safe
mode.

Disconnect the battery overnight and see if that fixes it.

--
Eduardo K. | Darwin pone las reglas.
http://www.carfun.cl | Murphy, la oportunidad.
http://e.nn.cl |
| Yo.

The small specialty VW shop said when the tested it they kept getting
some kind of clutch plate error codes or somthing like that. Anyway,
who knows, it's worth a shot!

You the first owner?

"Cinemafia" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> The small specialty VW shop said when the tested it they kept getting
> some kind of clutch plate error codes or somthing like that. Anyway,
> who knows, it's worth a shot!
>

2001 has a 10 year, 100,000 mile powertrain warranty to the orignal owner. The transmission is part of the powertrain so it should
be covered under the warranty.

"Cinemafia" > wrote in message ps.com...
> My wife and I have a 2001 2.0/8v Beetle that although we've loved over
> the years, has given us more than our fair shared of problems. We just
> put it past 80k miles, and no sooner had we done so than the automatic
> transmission suddenly decided to take a dive. The car still drives, but
> is stuck in 3rd most of the time, and will *sometimes* squeeze into
> 4th.
> Since we're out of warranty, our VW dealer has quoted us $4k to to get
> a new one put in, which there's no way on God's green earth we're
> doing. A small, local VW specialty shop has quoted us $1,900 on getting
> a used tranny out of a wreck and installing it, which is still pretty
> bad.
>
> In light of this, I have two questions to pose. First of all, has
> anyone heard of Beetle auto trannys dying at 80k miles? I'm no
> mechanic, but I've owned two other vee dubs (not Beetles) and that just
> seems waaaay to low to me.
>
> Second, and this is mostly hypothetical, would it be possible to put a
> manual tranny in a Beetle that came from the factory as auto? I'm
> thinking it would be (a little bit) cheaper to get a manual...but then
> maybe it's not possible or maybe it would be just as much...somebody's
> got to know.
>
> Anyway, thanks in advance to anyone with advice...
>

I'm the second owner actually, so that may not apply. It's working
fine now, although it still hesitates a bit going from 1st to 2nd. It
had been doing that for a while, though. At least it's driveable, and
I'm likely going to be trading it in this Spring anyway as we need a
bigger car. As long as it can make it till then, I'm set!