Kind Fellow wrote:

> hi fellow listees,
>
> i'm a newbie to vanagons..actually, have never owned a
> volkswagon before....but a buddy of mine has his 87
> wolfsburg vanagon for sale, so i would like some
> honest opinions on if i should buy it.
>
> here's some details on it...
> it's an 87 wolfsburg vanagon, 190,000 miles...has a
> rear bench that folds out into a cool bed w/a cushion
> in the back above the engine and has 2 seats facing
> towards the rear (pretty cool)...the interior is good,
> no tears in the carpet or seats...the seats facing
> towards the rear have some side plastic pieces
> missing...he's got some plywood in place of the
> missing plastic pieces but they work just fine...has a
> working flourescent light inside...there's a crack in
> the front bumper, not that noticable, no rust as i can
> see, no cracks in the glass, the windows roll up and
> down, the right mirror doesn't work though...not like
> the left mirror where you can control it from
> inside...air conditioning doesn't blow cold air, but
> he says it just needs freon (isn't that illegal
> now)...it does blow air though when i turn it on...now
> for the engine...starts okay...it didn't turn over the
> first time (he says cause it was cold), but it did the
> second time...the weirdest thing is that when i put it
> on drive (it's an automatic), it moves but didn't seem
> to go into the next gear quickly...it took a few tries
> of stepping on the gas and then it seemed to 'catch'
> and then was fine from there...i drove it on the side
> streets and seemed to accelerate okay, except for the
> first few minutes (he said it needed to get warmed up
> but might need some transmission work)...freeway
> driving was great...i know it's a huge car, so i
> wasn't expecting it to go quickly (i know it has a 4
> cyclinder engine).
>
> so that's most of what i know of it, from him telling
> me and me test driving it...he's asking $3000 for
> it...is that too much? good deal? i've check
> kellybluebook online and it seems to be right in
> comparison to trade in value and retail value....what
> about the 'catching' as I stepped on the gas? he said
> transmission work and that totally scares me...what's
> a new transmission go for on a vanagon like this?
> should I offer a price minus the transmission work (if
> it's really needed)?
>
> well, any advice i'll take....
>
> Chad,
> vanagon newbie
>
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Chad:
  Freon (R-12) isn't illegal, it's just very expensive and getting more
so.  You might want to find out if there is a shop that can convert it
to R134A and is knowledgeable and confidant enough to stand behind their
work.
  The VW automatic transmissions of that vintage have been fairly
durable, but I have encountered some problems.  Some times sluggish
shifting can be improved by changing fluid, using additives, or cleaning
the governor, or valve body.  I have owned two or three VW automatics
which were sluggish in the morning, but warmed up in about a minute and
were fine.  The seal between the trans and the differential (final
drive) sometimes fails and the gear oil mixing with the trans fluid is a
bad thing.
 If the seller will agree to pay the cost of trans work if needed,
you're OK.  A used trans, with any warrantee will probably run around
$1000., a rebuild considerably more.  Try to get a diagnosis and
estimate from a shop with some experience with these transmissions; the
ones in the Rabbits are quite similar.
  On another front, you should check carefully for coolant leaks off the
bottom of the engine.  These are symptoms of bad gaskets/corrosion
between the cooling jackets and the heads.  This is generally repairable
but a significant job.  Learn more by reading the files at vanagon.com.

Good luck,
Larry A.