I occasionally rebuild an Automatics for local shops and most have had
direct or forward clutch's that fried from hard driving or consistently
heavy loads around 100k to 150k miles...They are definately not
foolproof.  As long as the fluid is changed fairly regularly during its
life and the user is not in too much of a hurry...they seem to work a bit
better than the manual tranny's that have never had the 3/4 slider
replaced...I have a few 4 speeds out there with well over 200k on my
rebuilds with no problems...all it takes is fluid changes once in a
while...hint hint....
Daryl of AA Transaxle
Duvall, WA.(Seattle area)
(425) 788-4070
1-877-377-0773 toll free
http://www.aatransaxle.com (web site)

On Tue, 1 May 2001 17:26:17 -0400 Edward Maglott
<emaglott@buncombe.main.nc.us> writes:
> 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