# 2001 VW Beetle AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION SHIFTING PROBLEMS



## summersivl (Jan 21, 2019)

HELLO EVERYBODY! I'm havin some problems with my little bug, the crank sensor went out and I parked it for about a year, at the time it wasn't having any other issues. I recently replaced the crank sensor and got it back on the road and now it doesn't want to shift right, it won't shift into 3rd or 4th gear. I pulled the codes and it was throwing up 1,2,3,4,5 & 7 TRANSMISSION SOLENOID "circuits open". Thinking I may have an electrical issue, I looked for loose wires or connections or bare wires touching each other and didn't find anything wrong... my question is could this be an internal problem in the transmission, like the solenoids sticking shut or open ? I thought about adding a bottle of Lucas to it for good measure just to see if it would help. I don't have much experience working on an automatic transmission, specifically on a VW but a drowning man will grab at a STRAW !!! A buddy of mine told me about this site so I thought I would give it a whirl.... ANY AND ALL advise would surely be appreciated so THANK YOU in advance !


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## summersivl (Jan 21, 2019)

*Lots of views - no replies*

Sonny Summers here....still grasping at straws since I got no replies or advice yet, I thought that maybe I'd post the actual code numbers in an effort to clarify my previous plea for help. These codes were shown for the transmission solenoid valves showing "open circuits" 1-00258, 2-00260, 3-00262, 4-00264, 5-00266 & 7-00270. Followed by transmission temperature sensor, 00300 (G93 no trouble type recognized), Gear monitoring- not a plausible signal, and ABS control module- no communication. I ain't scared to tear in to it, I was just hoping that somebody on here who is familiar with these codes might point me in the right direction to get started......


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## Funyellowbug (Jun 26, 2017)

I assume you checked the fluid level in the tranny?
I am no expert at transmissions, but you might want to consider a drain and fill of the tranny fluid. It is cheap and can only help shifting.


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## summersivl (Jan 21, 2019)

Funyellowbug said:


> I assume you checked the fluid level in the tranny?
> I am no expert at transmissions, but you might want to consider a drain and fill of the tranny fluid. It is cheap and can only help shifting.


 No, not yet. As you know the transmission is a sealed unit and there is no dipstick to check the fluid level in it. When I bought the car at auction in 2015 the transmission was bad, I took it to Aammco and had a new one installed, they gave me a 3 year warranty on it, so I drove it for about 4 years or so till the crank sensor went out, parked it and let it set for a year or two before getting it back on the road. So its not really that old, that being said, I've thought about doing that and I have bought a quart of Lucas Oil Transmission Conditioner that I was considering pulling the fill plug and adding to it to free it up if there was any sticky valves, I just hoped that I could get some help to figure out all these codes that its throwing up first before tearing into it. That's good advice though, thank you !


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## Funyellowbug (Jun 26, 2017)

I would do a drain and fill on the tranny. Get three quarts (I think) of quality tranny oil. It is a pretty easy procedure that I am sure you can youtube pretty easily. When complete, you can at least rule out low or fried/dirty tranny oil and it will be pretty inexpensive to boot.


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## billymade (Jan 29, 2008)

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/00258

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/00260

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/00262

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/00264

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/00266

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/00270

http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/00300

Based upon your 2001 year/model; I would assume you have 01M 4 speed auto tranmission. These are known, for having valve body/solenoid issues; however, seeing how ALL of them are throwing trouble codes, including a sensor, I would be looking at a wiring related issues, causing all the those valves/sensors, to lose power. Typically, when these transmissions are rebuilt or the valve body replaced; they recommend, replacing the thin, delicate, ribbon style internal wiring harness and the external wiring harness, is known to fail as well. So, you might check that out and consider; replacing any damaged harnesses and see, if that fixes your problem. Many places online, sell new ones: 

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=01M+transmission+replacement+wiring+harness&atb=v140-1_p&ia=products

You might check out some of the 01M solenoid/harness install videos on youtube: 

https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=vw+01M+transmission+wiring+harness+replacement

tech info/downloadable 01M service manuals: 

https://duckduckgo.com/?q=01M+trans+service+manual&atb=v140-1_p&ia=web

If you decide to do a fluid/filter change; when/if you swap out the wiring harness, check out these guys: 

blauparts.com


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## summersivl (Jan 21, 2019)

Funyellowbug said:


> I would do a drain and fill on the tranny. Get three quarts (I think) of quality tranny oil. It is a pretty easy procedure that I am sure you can youtube pretty easily. When complete, you can at least rule out low or fried/dirty tranny oil and it will be pretty inexpensive to boot.





billymade said:


> http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/00258
> 
> http://wiki.ross-tech.com/wiki/index.php/00260
> 
> ...


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## summersivl (Jan 21, 2019)

Funyellowbug said:


> I would do a drain and fill on the tranny. Get three quarts (I think) of quality tranny oil. It is a pretty easy procedure that I am sure you can youtube pretty easily. When complete, you can at least rule out low or fried/dirty tranny oil and it will be pretty inexpensive to boot.


Sage advice, since the warranty has gone out on it and "it's all on me" now I agree that would be the best thing to do, whether it fixes it or not it STILL needs to be done, thanks again !


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## zero. (Aug 14, 2001)

I realize this is an old thread and not sure if you ever fixed it, but I just dealt with this exact problem on my old Beetle I gave to someone. The problem was the valve body harness. It would be rare for all of the solenoids except #6 to fail at the same time and the fact that #6 has no code points to harness failure. Solenoids 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, and 7 all use the same power wire. This post has a lot of good detailed information for anyone else that ever runs into this:
http://forums.tdiclub.com/showthread.php?t=334614


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## billymade (Jan 29, 2008)

Which harnesses did you replace; the outer and inner one? Where did you get a new one? This type of info; would be helpful, for the next person with these issues. Thanks.


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## zero. (Aug 14, 2001)

Internal valve body harness part # 01M 927 365. Aftermarket on ebay for $20. Still the old ribbon style and not the updated version. This does extend to the outside and connects to other end of 12-pin connector near the transmission cooler. Here is a better pin out diagram for reference/testing. With all those codes, pin 1 had a break in it somewhere.


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