> the PO had replaced one of the transmission mounts with a solid piece of
> metal, which is why it sounded so bad/loud at highway speeds.
> 
> im going to pass on having them repair it for me for now as I dont know
> 100% about how I feel about their ability to troubleshoot or work on my
> van.
>

Heh. That would certainly do it. I might be inclined to give them the
benefit of the doubt on this one, though. Depending on what the
jackass PO replaced the rubber transmission mount with, it might not
have been obvious. It seems to me that this is one of the problems
with older VW's: they frequently end up in the hands of "handyman"
types, who then apply a plethora of jury-rig repairs. These Vanagons
are easy to work on, but the parts are pricey and/or difficult to
procure, so often those temporary solutions just never get replaced.
Then when a responsible new owner brings it in to a real mechanic, the
poor guy is looking at all manner of crazy baling-wire repairs,
causing numerous interwoven symptoms. It's enough to make you start
tearing your hair out! I know that I could never have afforded to pay
someone to root out all the wacky crap I've found on mine. If these
guys were willing to swap out two additional transmissions on their
own dime to fix an odd noise, they don't sound so bad. I'd ask 'em to
show you what the PO had in there instead of a real mount. If it's
something like (say) a stack of big fender washers crammed in where
the rubber and sleeve were, held in place by a layer of black Henry's
roofing compound*, I'd shake their hand and congratulate them on
finding it at all! Tough call, though. I quit taking mine in to ANYONE
after paying one guy $200 to NOT find the clogged radiator.

* I saw something like that once on a generator mount. It was clear
they went out of their way to disguise the fact that they didn't have
a proper rubber isolator.