'01 119k, 01M valve body replace - worth it? DIY job?

Hi,

My 01M on my '01 Golf is coming up to 120k soon. I've read a lot of posts that this tranny likes to fail soon and have been advised by my mechanic to replace the valve body to prolong the life of the tranny.

I've also read that some people have done this, so I was wondering if the people who've done the valve body replacement think it's worth it.

Also, I was wondering if this is something I can do DIY. I've done most of the maintenance on this car, but I let my mechanic do stuff like the timing belt change and the recent drive axle replacement cuz I don't have all the tools.

If you've had this work done, can you please comment on whether or not you think 1) it was worth it, and 2) if it's a DIY job for you.

Thanks.

Alex

Alex, My son and I just did a repair to his valve body. Torque converter was slipping. We installed Sonnax TCC repair kit. Did the research in taking apart. Used butter knife and ground down small jig saw blade to remove ribbon plug. This was the hardest part. We were lucky to use my friends garage lift. Did not take anything special other than nerves of steel. We did filter a couple of weeks ago hoping it would fix. Took about 4 hrs but we took our time and a huge learning curve. It can be done. Email me if you have any questions.

Car was a 2001 Jetta w/ 139K. Bought with bad head and found Torque converter was slipping when we got fixed. We did all the work! Sons first car. Wanted him to put some sweat equity into it. He has about half the $ total into it than if he bought and everything is done right, No worries