I kinda knew what i was getting into...

[rickadoe]

well my fellow beetle/vw enthusiasts it is time for me to give update on our new(1st) beetle experience. I am hoping i place this thread in the right spot since we(me and daughter) recently acquired Kirk(as in Hammet from Metallica), a 1998 auto 2.0 black beetle. this was her surprise x-mas gift. Yah, i know we are halfway thru this year but we finally got him registered in our name and ready for college life. I put our x-mas story in the new member forum.
Anyway, we just got Kirk back from our best buddy mechanic and we are happy as can be because i feel we dodged a bullet. The transmission stopped going reverse a couple of months ago, and i knew when I got Kirk the tranny was going to be an issue. i was just hoping not so soon. So we looked and looked for a used tranny. had some luck and bought one on e-bay, yah i know e-bay, for 200 bucks! i figured its better than $800! so had it shipped to my mechanic friend, Mike. And he worked his magic fingers and put it all back in working order. now he shifts smoothly and goes reverse! my daughter was ecstatic!
I just wanted to tell our story to give hope to fellow enthusiasts and tell them, hang in there. Because i was stressing out there for a while i tell ya!
And if anyone is in the Fresno, Ca area, my buddy Mike is A GREAT guy! he has worked on all our cars. from audi to our suburban. I try to send referrals his way cause he could use extra $$. He is a mechanic for a Visaila shop. His roots from working on cars for over 15years, started in San Jose. He is honest and strait forward. he can be funny too. well if ya'll need any more info i would be more than welcome to help . Have a super day! God bless....

[MichelleRoze]

Glad to hear you found a good working auto. Make sure to change the fluid every 40K and hopefully you won't have that issue again. Because I NEW automatic (might be different from the 2.0 to the TDI) is about $5K not including installation. My automatic just died in my car (hit 150K and down it went), and I had it swapped for a 5 spd. Took a little bit to learn, but I think once I'm more confident...I'll end up LOVING it. I already kinda do. So much more control!

Anyway, congrats on finding a good fix. It can be stressful when the tranny goes out. I know! Hopefully that'll last her a long while and she'll have many miles of beetle enjoyment!!!

[dnyed]

It's good to hear you didn't give up on it.

[rickadoe]

ya-know I did think 5spd swap...but right now i am recovering from 3 shoulder repair surgeries and Mike(my mechanic) would have a handful trying to do a swap. so i guess its ATF changes every 40k with synthetic and hope for the best!