2000 TDI vibrating and stalling when cold?

[jaed_43725]

2000 Jetta TDI autotragic: Dies going in reverse when engine is cold. Wife said it vibrates a little then dies until it's warmed up. It feels like it wants to die in D when its cold when you stop. Wife also says she hears a metallic clunk at time. We replaced the valve body with a better unit from Valve Body Builders (had the line pressure bumped up about 5psi). We also recently had a decent leak on the injection pump. But we had it resealed. So my questions are if it is the trans is it just the torque converter or is it something else? If I take the pan off and look what should I be looking for? Could it still not be getting enough fuel? If it is a fuel issue, could I just vagcom more fuel at idle?

By all means as questions and any comment is welcome. Really at my wits end with this autotragic (and the wife refuses to drive a manual so dont bother asking).

And one last note. If the whole thing is just garbage and we decide to sell the car off would it be advantageous to get a MK3 TDI auto, or is that the same mess?

[srgtlord]

From everything I have read, the autotrans are garbage generally after 100,000 miles. But given your symptoms it sounds like an engine issue. See if you can have somebody scan the computer to see if it is throwing any codes.

[theman53]

I would scan it and if nothing happens see what the timing value is...and keep going if that isn't it until you find it. I think the MKIII had the same auto issues.

[libbydiesel]

I believe that the O1M is a weak transmission that does not like being repeatedly subjected to full TDI torque.  Because of this, many people who treat the accelerator pedal like an on/off switch can destroy the O1M in few miles.  That said, the original O1M in my '02 Jetta lasted 240,000 miles when it lost reverse (probably the reverse piston seal but I haven't pulled it apart to see).  I installed a used O1M that works perfectly but I drive it very conservatively as does my wife.

[jaed_43725]

I believe that the O1M is a weak transmission that does not like being repeatedly subjected to full TDI torque.  Because of this, many people who treat the accelerator pedal like an on/off switch can destroy the O1M in few miles.  That said, the original O1M in my '02 Jetta lasted 240,000 miles when it lost reverse (probably the reverse piston seal but I haven't pulled it apart to see).  I installed a used O1M that works perfectly but I drive it very conservatively as does my wife.

Ya, they used college dropouts for engineers and make them out of basically pot metal. So that TDI torque just hammers them. We sold it and got another Outback. I am going full Subie again at some point.