Golf 4 -no gears but car starts perfectly

You probably know the answer to your question but I will make it official. Your Golf’s transmission is toast. I know you probably have suspected this is the case, well, your suspicions are certainly correct.

To confirm my thoughts, you will have to have the Golf trailered to a service area where a technician can do a complete diagnostic workup. To do the workup, the tech will have to insert and OBD-II scanner into the diagnostic port and let it run its tests.

At the end, the tech will have a pretty good idea of where the problem lies.

From my vantage point behind your computer screen, I can’t see your Golf as well as I want to so I can only tell you the most general ideas.

There are a number of points of failure. It might be the torque converter or the torque converter unit and turbine. It might be the the converter, turbine and gearing. It could be the gearing, bands and clutches. Or it might be the transmission control module (TCM), which is the computer that specifically controls the tranny and talks with the rest of the Golf’s systems over the multiplexed controller area network (CAN).

Honestly, the last point gives me an idea. When your tech is looking over things, be sure that close attention is paid to the TCM. If the TCM fails, then you have no transmission and the Golf acts as you describe.

If it is the TCM, then you are in luck because it will only cost you between $1,200 and $1,400 to have it fixed which is a far cry from the $3,400 you would have to spend for a rebuilt transmission.