I had a similar situation once, not with a vw trannie, but same symptoms.
Everyone said "$900 rebuild" but this was 1976 , transmission only had 50000
miles on it, and I had no money. I happened to go by one more transmission
shop, supposedly the best in town, owner was in middle of shop, sitting on
inverted 5 gallon bucket, cleaning parts. He told me to "drain the fluid,
change the filter, and add 1 quart of a product called TRANS-X." Said it was
guaranteed to work or they would refund my money. I did, it worked, I did
this every 25000 miles there after, and sold the car for $200 dollars in
1985. The transmission still worked fine.

Just my $.02 worth. It sort of goes with Don's suggestion.

Jim Henry
Durham, NC
84 westy

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM]
> On Behalf Of Don in North Carolina
> Sent: Friday, May 27, 2005 3:59 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: '88 Westy Transmission Repair $2500?
>
> On 5/27/05, Chris Paquette <cxp36@yahoo.com> wrote:
> > The automatic transmission in my '88 Westy has started to stick and
> > slip, apparently indicating the impending end of its
> natural life. My
> > regular mechanic (whom I trust) says that a "worst case" price to
> > repair it is $2,500. Note that he doesn't work on transmissions
> > himself, but rather removes it from the vehicle and then
> sends it out
> > to a specialist. The price quoted came from that specialist.
> >
> > The key phrase is obviously "worst case", but I'd like to hear from
> > any other listees who have had this repair done whether that sounds
> > commensurate with what you paid so I can decide whether I
> need to take
> > it somewhere else for repair.
> >
> > Thanks for any help.
> >
> > Chris Paquette
> > Santa Monica, CA
> > '88 Westy, "Rocinante"
>
> Chris,
>
> Before I went the rebuild route, I would go with the cheap
> repair attempt.  Drain the transaxle, remove the pan, replace
> the filter and adjust the second gear brake band, reassemble
> and refill with Redline
> D4 ATF.  While you're down there, drain the final drive and
> refill with Redline 75W-90 oil.
>
> The above may be a waste of money - or it may correct your
> shifting issues.  It's also something that most home
> mechanics can easily handle (or a trans shop can do it
> easily, also...).
>
> --
> Don in Reidsville, NC
> 1986 Kawasaki Concours
> 1988 Vanagon GL (Sylvia)
> "I reject your reality and substitute my own." - Adam Savage
>