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• Transmission Fixes - Yes, I'm seen what you describe. There are a couple of possibilities here: 1) the transmission control selector on the console has a shorted board... if you spill anything around the shifter and it goes into the opening where the shifter is, it could short out the control board for the gear selector, it has happended a few times with my customers. Sadly, this is not covered by the powertrain warranty. 2) The transmission control is defective or the software has an issue... 3) The transmission has an internal issue causing the 3rd gear clutch to lock up and not release or the valve body control is defective. It is possible that you could have a couple of issues. The transmission control could be defective, causing the clutch to lock up, causing it to burn out for example. If I were working on it; I'd check the transmission fluid level, condition first, then make sure that the latest software was in the transmission control unit, then look at the gear selector switch assembly as the description of the transmission switch could be caused by a short in the gear selector. At least this is where I'd start. Sometimes a pressure check of transmission can help. Hope this helps, a car nut. Source(s): 25 years on/off in Volkswagen dealership service departments, from 1980 till December, 2005.

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