Ed, I just put a rebuilt engine in my Vanagon.  Before the engine
transplant, I had not changed a spark plug myself on the van.  Yes, I made
many mistakes in the process and it took much longer and cost more than I
thought it would.  Yes, this LIST was key to my success.

If you have good manuals, you are careful, have a clean place to work, and
plenty of time, you should be ale to do it.

John
----- Original Message -----
From: "Edward Maglott" <emaglott@BUNCOMBE.MAIN.NC.US>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, September 20, 2003 5:14 PM
Subject: Auto Trans dilemma

> Well, I thought I would get some feedback from the list on the latest in
my
> AT woes.
>
> History:  My AT was going bad.  I got a spare trans and rebuilt it
> myself.  I put it in and immediately had troubles.  No shift into 2nd,
then
> it would shift into second, but not well, and never got any 3rd gear.
Also
> leaking at the troque converter seal, which I replaced with the one in the
> rebuild kit.  I tried swapping the governor and valve body (separately)
out
> of my original (bad) tranny, but no improvement.
>
> So in frustration I took the van in to a professional transmission rebuild
> place.  They quoted me a "very broad ball park figure" of $1200-$1700.  I
> suppose that is not an unreasonable amount.  For that they will take both
> of my trannies and try to make one good one, and buy whatever other parts
> it needs, and give me a 12month/12k mile warranty (iirc).  The appeal of
> this is that if it has trouble, I just take it back to them and they
handle
> the removal, repair and replacement.  Option 2 would be to buy a rebuilt
> trans and put it in myself.  Seems like I've seen these advertised for
less
> than the $1200-$1700 the trans place quoted me.  There I get a warranty,
> but actually using the warranty would be a royal pain.  Removing and
> shipping the trans, etc.  Option 3 is to get a local used trans and slap
it
> in.  cheaper, but what am I getting?  Could be just another dog.  Option
4,
> continue trying to fix it myself.  I am just getting sick of it, and have
> surpassed my level of expertise.  I would have to start throwing parts at
> it, and that would be expensive and possibly still not effective.
>
> Anybody been down this road and have any advice for me?
> Edward
>