I would suspect the final drive. It is not likey that the torque
converter would fail in a way the van will not move or make noises. It
is alo possible that something failed in the automatic section.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf
Of ok artguy
Sent: Monday, February 17, 2003 10:58 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: '90 Vanagon with bad auto trans... what am I getting into?

I have an opportunity to buy a running '90 Carat automatic (110k,
working
AC, nice body/int, alloys etc) for what I feel to be a veery low price.
The
owner tells me that it was driving fine until last week, when it made a
"slight grinding noise from the rear" while exiting the freeway. He
tells me
he got to where he was going and parked, and when he tried to leave an
hour
later the van wouldn't move in any direction. He says that he checked
the
fluid in the pan, and it was clean and at the proper level. He suspects
the
torque convertor, but isn't sure. I have NO experience with auto-trans
buses, so I'm not sure what obtaining a new one/swapping it out will
entail.
Overall, it sounds like it might be a good deal, but I wanted to get
some
input from the list first. Thanks-

JJ

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