dies when put into gear

hey there. so i have a 2002 tdi jetta automatic.
the car starts up and idles but when you put it into gear it drops off and dies.
It has a new ECU and a pump but the problem started before I did all that.
any suggestions? All/Any

The automatic transmissions in the 2002 TDIs are notorious for failures of various kinds. The behavior you are observing suggests such a failure to me. I would suggest you search here for more information on "01M transmission" and see why many are replacing these with a 5 speed manual transmission when they fail.

Dave

thanks dave. i plan on doing a 5 speed swap as soon as i can afford it. but i would like to find find the problem first

Trans failure internally. Seen it before.

it was the MASS air flow sensor

lps doug said:

it was the MASS air flow sensor

Click to expand...

Doug, thanks for the follow-up. I would enjoy learning about the troubleshooting that got you there. Those things can help others when they have the same trouble.