I have a VW 2002 Jetta 1.8T, last weekend I drove it out of town, I drove about 150 miles and then stopped for a break. When I got back on the road I drove about 5 miles and the battery light (generator light) came on and the car instantly died. Fortunately I was about 20 miles from my destination; I towed the car the rest of the way. The first thing I looked at was the battery; it had nasty corrosion and the positive pole seemed to be loose, I also noticed a wire that had tape on it, I removed a the tape and noticed that the wire was severely damaged (probably from a stereo system installation). I replaced the battery and the positive connector, the car still didn't want to start. Next I hooked up a battery charger and set it to jump start. The car started. At this point I finally felt a little relieve... I got in the car put it into reverse, heard the transmission shift gears and nothing... the car didn't move. I tried drive, second, third, fourth, nothing. Each time I could hear the transmission shifting and the motor change its pitch but the car just doesn't move; this is where I had a nervous breakdown. This car has an automatic transmission with the techtronic (sp.) shifting feature. After this series of events I immediately suspected electronics (I truly don't believe this is mechanical problem with the transmission, the car doesn't even pretend to move, in fact, once the gear shifts the motor sounds as if it is neutral, also if you try to push the car in park it doesn't go anywhere and if you push it in reverse it only goes backwards and in drive it only pushes forward), I checked all the fuses in the car (at least the ones I could find), I checked all the wiring harnesses I could find. This was a fruitless search, all the fuses were fine and all the harnesses snug, I think I may have tripped up the computer when the battery shorted (I wonder if there is a reset or something). Any help or ideas would be appreciated, right now my car is 180 miles from my house and I would like to avoid that towing fee if possible. Please help.
Thanks, Jason Cosby