I have almost 4 years on an '84 I bought in '97.  Had fluid and filter
changed then and have changed in annually since then even though I only put
about 10K miles annually on the van.  No problems with transmission.

John Lauterbach
Macon, GA

----- Original Message -----
From: "Edward Maglott" <emaglott@buncombe.main.nc.us>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2001 5:26 PM
Subject: Vanagon auto tranny lifespan

> Looking for mid 80's vans, and finding some with automatic transmissions.
> What is the lifespan of these things?  I was looking at a van with 175k
> miles, with an automatic.  Is the trans likely to be a problem in the near
> future?  Can a run of the mill tranny shop work on them?  I generally
don't
> like automatics.  Will I be more or less annoyed by the vanagon with
> automatic than the average car with automatic?  Does the gas mileage
suffer
> much with the automatic?
>
> Thanks for any input,
> Edward