05 Jetta TDI hesitation and shut off problems

I have an 05 Jetta TDI with an auto trans and 186,000 miles. When i pull out from a dead stop the car hesitates really bad, surges, and takes a while to shift first and sometimes even second but after that it runs fine. It never shows any codes at all so im completely stumped on what to look for. Every now and then i also have problems with the car losing all power, down shifting on its own, and shutting off but once i get the car started back it will run fine. The losing power problem doesnt happen near as often as the hesitation problem. Again no codes what so ever show up, it just runs like crap. any help would be much appreciated

I had a Gremlin once, that would just suddenly quit going down highway. I'd pull over, restart, and everything was fine after that.