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Bought a lemon, Now need a transmission -- HELP PLEASE (Especially Philly area users)

2K views 5 replies 3 participants last post by  Seafishman 
#1 ·
Hi all - I purchased a 2002 Golf GTI 1.8T just before Thanksgiving. Fast forward 1.5 months of normal driving, and now the (automatic) trans slips in 3rd and 4th gears. It seemed to have gotten worse on the last day I drove it, when I did about 120 miles of highway driving (pretty consistently 65-80 mph), then about 20 miles of city driving (20-40 mph).

QUESTION: Can anyone recommend a good transmission repair/replacement shop in the Philadelphia or Southern NJ area? Any other advice is welcome.

Thanks!
 
#3 ·
It crossed my mind, and I would certainly consider it further. A few questions for you, if you don't mind me asking:

1) How much did you wind up spending for the auto trans parts & labor? ... and for the 5 spd?
2) How "plug and play" is the swap? (wondering how the clutch safety / shift lock / etc. features all get changed)
3) Did you do the work yourself? I have a garage and moderate mechanic skills ... would consider doing it myself since I have a temporary daily driver alternative.
 
#4 ·
I did it myself, with no garage haha. It's fairly straight forward mostly just remove auto stuff and install the manual stuff. Some minor wiring involved but nothing too scary. It's best to find someone parting out a car, I paid 750 for literally everything I needed

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#5 ·
I realized yesterday that the check engine light was on. Took it to Autozone to run the code, which came back as P0171, "System Too Lean (Bank 1)." I bought some CRC Mass Air Flow Sensor cleaner, cleaned out the housing and sensor (which wasn't really dirty to begin with), reinstalled, and took it for a test drive - same problem persists. As soon as the trans shifts into 3rd, the engine revs and torque and speed is lost. I can actually go faster by using the tiptronic, staying in 2nd gear, and revving up to ~3,500.

QUESTION: Could a faulty MAF Sensor be the root cause of the transmission slipping in 3rd gear? If so, I will order a new part and see if that helps. If it's unlikely, I'd rather not waste the money.
 
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