Volkswagen: check engine light, nuetral, filter change

Question
I was driving my car when it almost cut off on the highway. I floored the gas pedal and kept it running but after doing that the check engine light came on. Car tried to die the previou day but no check engine light came on. My car is a 1999 passat wagon 1.8 lt turbo engine also when putting car into drive sometimes it wont engage but once you shift into nuetral and back it goes into gear. What could be wrong with that

Answer
Paige,
 You may just need a transmission fluid/filter change.  But if you have a constant "Check Engine" light, you should get an OBD scan to tell you what the specific error code is.  You can look the code up yourself at:
www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes
- Rick