Automatic Transmission on 2002 TDI

J

jyhuh28

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 29, 2014
Location
raleigh, nc
TDI
Red 2001 Jetta TDI 5sp, Blue 2001 Jetta TDI 5sp, 01 Green Jetta TDI 4sp, 02 Silver TDI auto
Hey guys,
I just bought a 2002 jettaTDI. I have been looking for a 5 speed for months and stumbled upon an automatic that was too good to resist. I have been reading that the transmissions fail in the automatics quite often. The car I bought has 211k miles on it and drives smooth and there is not even a hint of the transmission being bad. Now, VW says that the trans fluid is lifetime. Should I change the fluid or just leave it be? Also, heard it was a pain to check the fluid level. Has anyone here personally serviced the auto transmission in their 99.5-2003 gen TDI's?
 
sdeck

sdeck

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2006
Location
Northern Colorado Front Range
TDI
2003 Jetta, 253K, 01M, DLC520s, VNT-17(sold); 2014 Passat SE 6M, 61,000 miles (Feb 16 buyback date)
Service is fairly straightforward, just kinda clumsy

1. Warm it up. Get it up on ramps, open up drain and take out the plastic standpipe inside the drain when it stops draining. Uses the same Allen wrench. Just stick it in the drain hole and unscrew the standpipe. There are diagrams around here somewhere. Measure the fluid that comes out at all steps. Why is below.

2. Take off belly pan and transmission guard. Remove pan. Pull filter straight down if it isn't laying in the pan. Make sure you get the rubber ring off the valve body if it's stuck there. Look for broken metal in the pan and cut open the filter. Fuzz on magnet in pan is OK. Clean out pan as good as you can. Also, be careful around the ribbon cable on the valve body. It's fragile.

3. Put the new filter in place and mount pan with new gasket. Make sure the holes in gasket have metal spacers in place. Put the drain plug back but leave out the standpipe. Take red safety cap off the fill port on top/front side of tranny. Usually breaks. You don't need it. Work the black cap off the port. I use two tiny screwdrivers in the tabs. Snake a piece of clean 3/4" (I think) tubing down through engine bay and put over fill port. Make sure it's a snug fit. Use a funnel on the other end and add back as much fluid as you drained. That's why you measured it!

4. Start it up and cycle through gears. Drive it a mile or two. I leave the tubing in place minus the funnel. Just pinch it over. Put the drain pan back under the tranny and take out drain plug. No need for ramps. Measure, refill, repeat. Tranny holds 5.3 L but you can only get 2.5-2.8 out. Takes 4 or more cycles to get a good % change. Drain overnight to get more.

On last change, put the standpipe in. After filling, get car running, cycle thru the gears, and measure temp of ATF. Need VagCom. level must be checked at a specific temp but I forget what it is. I wing it (no VagCom) and use an IR thermometer on the pan. I forget the temp, look around here. Keep car level and running. Open drain (with standpipe installed!). Add fluid until it's starts draining out. Plug it at first glug. Button everything up.

Look up posts by CoolAirVW. His website has lots of info as well.
 
J

jyhuh28

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 29, 2014
Location
raleigh, nc
TDI
Red 2001 Jetta TDI 5sp, Blue 2001 Jetta TDI 5sp, 01 Green Jetta TDI 4sp, 02 Silver TDI auto
sdeck said:
Service is fairly straightforward, just kinda clumsy

1. Warm it up. Get it up on ramps, open up drain and take out the plastic standpipe inside the drain when it stops draining. Uses the same Allen wrench. Just stick it in the drain hole and unscrew the standpipe. There are diagrams around here somewhere. Measure the fluid that comes out at all steps. Why is below.

2. Take off belly pan and transmission guard. Remove pan. Pull filter straight down if it isn't laying in the pan. Make sure you get the rubber ring off the valve body if it's stuck there. Look for broken metal in the pan and cut open the filter. Fuzz on magnet in pan is OK. Clean out pan as good as you can. Also, be careful around the ribbon cable on the valve body. It's fragile.

3. Put the new filter in place and mount pan with new gasket. Make sure the holes in gasket have metal spacers in place. Put the drain plug back but leave out the standpipe. Take red safety cap off the fill port on top/front side of tranny. Usually breaks. You don't need it. Work the black cap off the port. I use two tiny screwdrivers in the tabs. Snake a piece of clean 3/4" (I think) tubing down through engine bay and put over fill port. Make sure it's a snug fit. Use a funnel on the other end and add back as much fluid as you drained. That's why you measured it!

4. Start it up and cycle through gears. Drive it a mile or two. I leave the tubing in place minus the funnel. Just pinch it over. Put the drain pan back under the tranny and take out drain plug. No need for ramps. Measure, refill, repeat. Tranny holds 5.3 L but you can only get 2.5-2.8 out. Takes 4 or more cycles to get a good % change. Drain overnight to get more.

On last change, put the standpipe in. After filling, get car running, cycle thru the gears, and measure temp of ATF. Need VagCom. level must be checked at a specific temp but I forget what it is. I wing it (no VagCom) and use an IR thermometer on the pan. I forget the temp, look around here. Keep car level and running. Open drain (with standpipe installed!). Add fluid until it's starts draining out. Plug it at first glug. Button everything up.

Look up posts by CoolAirVW. His website has lots of info as well.
Click to expand...

Nice. It's good to know that i can easily service this myself. However, i read somewhere that the transmission shouldnt really be serviced bc a lot of shops cant do it right, transmission will be 1/2 qt low and mess it up. Also, there a vw tech on here that says he sees so many bad transmissions and that the trans that goes bad doesnt seem to come from dirty trans fluid so he says not to service it or doesnt need servicing. What do you think about this?
 
F

fruitcakesa

Top Post Dawg
Joined
Feb 18, 2007
Location
Vermont
TDI
04 jetta 5 spd wagon
jyhuh28 said:
Nice. It's good to know that i can easily service this myself. However, i read somewhere that the transmission shouldnt really be serviced bc a lot of shops cant do it right, transmission will be 1/2 qt low and mess it up. Also, there a vw tech on here that says he sees so many bad transmissions and that the trans that goes bad doesnt seem to come from dirty trans fluid so he says not to service it or doesnt need servicing. What do you think about this?
Click to expand...

I think you should avoid having that tech work on your car.
I have done 3 fluid and filter changes on my 01M trans and it is still shifting ok at 205 k miles
 
sdeck

sdeck

Veteran Member
Joined
Aug 25, 2006
Location
Northern Colorado Front Range
TDI
2003 Jetta, 253K, 01M, DLC520s, VNT-17(sold); 2014 Passat SE 6M, 61,000 miles (Feb 16 buyback date)
Service it. you can see from the protocol it ain't a standard method so lots of non-VW techs will screw it up. A little high or low and it won't shift right. Also, what goes bad on these is usually the valve body. the bores get worn out and leak line pressure. depending on which bore, effects vary. Mine was a common one, it wouldn't lock up the torque converter. CoolAirVW has a mail in service to rebuild the valve body. mines been good for 90K since rebuild. Best to do this at the first sign of trouble as ignoring it causes hard part failure, hence the bad reputation of the 01M. Removal of the VB is not difficult, but you should get the cheap little tool for removing the ribbon cable from the solenoids. Kinda nerve-racking without it. Other than that, a few torx screws and the shifter linkage. Again, look up CoolAirVWs posts. worth their weight in gold.
 
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