Jen:

My '87 syncro was very hard to get into 1st when
I bought it.  Varied some with temperature.
Moving the lever sideways back-and-forth was one
help to getting into 1st; the other was to start
from 2nd.

When I showed the problem to my mechanic, he
immediately knew what to do--some adjustment
that made it shift perfectly.

I suspect yours is a similar problem.

                        Richard A. Jones
                        Boulder, Colorado
                        '81 Vanagon   Mr Bus
                        '87 Syncro Westy   El Jefe