01M & Reverse

2001 Beetle TDI - Automatic

Transmission, most times, will not go into reverse. This is especially true when it's "cold" (first start of day). The only other symptom I've noticed is that when you first start it it seems to want to move forward slightly like it's in gear.

I've read all the threads and understand the opinion of these trans. This is my daughter's car and swapping to a 5-speed is NOT an option so please don't chime in with that as a solution.

Hold onto your lugnuts bois, it's time for an overhaul. Or at the very least an overhauled valve body.

I fully understand this will require work.

I'm looking for input on what work to do, especially diagnostics, to fix issue

The valve body on the 01M transmission is notorious for wearing out quickly. What happens is the bores the spool valves ride in wear, causing fluid to bypass them instead of actually moving the spools. Only fix is to replace the valve body with a new one, or have someone like CoolAirVW rebuild it with steel sleeves.

Secondly, the clutch packs themselves could be just worn out. It really sounds like there isn't much diagnosis left to do. You can try doing just the valve body, but I'd just swap the transmission out with another one ready to go.