What is the best brand of transmission fluid for my 2000 VW Jetta?

I can't afford to take my car to the dealership and I know sometimes there are other transmission fluid brands you can use instead, so I'm looking for some suggestions on what to use. thanks!What is the best brand of transmission fluid for my 2000 VW Jetta?Unless you're near a parts store that specializes in VW or Audi's, you probably cannot find the right fluid for your car (other than the dealership). On the web you can find VW parts specialists that sell the correct fluid for your car (should be the 052A fluid), but it will not be cheap, though it will be less expensive than the dealership.



From what I've seen, there appear to be three main brands of automatic transmission fluids that meet 052A specifications; Pentosin, Febi, or Maxxus. I have experience only with Pentossin, though the others meet the VW specification. It does appear that the Maxxus brand of 052A spec fluid is the least expensive, but all three brands are sold for less than the dealership charges for 052A fluid.



From personal experience, in my opinion, the fluid should be changed at 50k or every five years whichever is first. It does appear that if the fluid is changed more often, the transmission is far less prone to overheating failures, which is among the more common causes of transmission failure.

The fluid level in the transmission is not checked often enough (in my opinion!), which is another reason VW's automatic transmissions fail so often (if they get even only slightly low on fluid, they can overheat and fail).



However, to service the automatic transmission on your vehicle, it needs to go to a VW specialist (does not have to be a dealership, but someone who only works on VW and has a VAG-COM or aftermarket similar type machine. The transmission has a sealed cap where the fluid is checked or added to and one needs to be careful when removing the cap, otherwise they will break it and it will need to have a new one installed. You just cannot add fluid to the transmission, there is a proceedure to follow using the VAG-COM, and having the knowledge to do it right. It can be done at home without the VAG-COM, but it is far more difficult to service it without the right tool.



I realize that dealership service is expensive; in my area labour rates at VW dealerships run from $110 per labour hour to $150 per hour. Even independent NON dealership VW specialists run $90 an hour per labour hour up; but in order to have your vehicle be as trouble free as possible, it needs specialized service. Every make of vehicle has it quirks; VW-Audi's, have more than their fair share of them and in general, most european makes need people familiar with these "quirks" to service vehicle and keep it as trouble free as possible.



In my many years of VW service, I've seen all sorts of people attempt repairs on these cars; I go back far enough to remember working on carburetter model VW's and air cooled models. I have spent countless hours straightening out other people's "repairs" before even beginning to due the proper repair to a customer's vehicle. As expensive as proper service is, its cheap compared undoing someone elses mistake and ending up paying twice for a proper repair.What is the best brand of transmission fluid for my 2000 VW Jetta?None- semi-permanent. Don't mess with it. Where do you get the idea that the transmission fluid needs replacing?