I took in my vanagon to the local  mechanic and gave him my wish list.  
He called me back with an estimate:   
1. Bottle for re-fill tank, level  sensor, hose over transmission: don't make 
it anymore, so needs to figure out  and make one that fits. Previous owner 
put a hose on that was too big and even  fully clamped down, leaks. Hose is to 
the oil cooler on the transmission. He  needs to fiddle with it until he finds 
the right hose: $210.00   
2. Transmission leaking everywhere,  pan, gasket, torque converter, seal 
between transmission and differential.  The transmission has to be taken out and  
resealed.  A new clutch will be put  in and basically needs a re-build.  This 
has to be done before I begin doing damage to the hard parts:  $1,100.00 (he 
takes it out and brings it  to the tranny guy across the street) 
3.  Lubricated the doors and locks, now my  doors open like butter (was 
having trouble with my back door lock and passenger  side lock was not opening, 
sliding door has no key).  I have three keys:  ignition, door and gas  cap. 
4.  Oil Change 
5.  Clamped the filler pipe for the oil so  it doesn’t vibrate off, it was 
cracked. 
6.  As for the sliding window.  It locks but it vibrates open after  driving. 
 So I need to check if it  is locked.  I thought it was the  weather 
stripping or the guide rail on the bottom.  He said it needs a new lock for the  
sliding window and I can look on ebay, samba, go westy,  etc. 
7.  The starter is working.  Sometimes you have to wait for it to  start.  He 
said the starter is full  of transmission fluid from the leak, so it may have 
to be replaced.  He said the starter could be okay and I  could wait to 
replace it until it fails but while he has the tranny out, there  is no labor cost 
for changing the starter:  $155.00 (its up to me if I want a new starter put  
on) 
8.  The rear brakes are shot that’s why I  need to pull the parking brake all 
the way up:  $250.00 
I plan on giving him another  list: 
1.  I gave him the original keys.  Need to check if the key copies work  like 
the originals on the two doors he lubricated. 
2.  Show him what I know about the sliding  window lock, may or may not be 
the lock itself. 
3.  I put on a new passenger side rear view  mirror.  It did not hold its  
position, so I took it off and twisted the base to tighten the screw mechanism  
inside.  I put plumbing goop in  between the rubber washer and the door and 
between the mirror and the  washer.  Do I need to reapply the  glue between the 
washer and mirror again.  I haven’t tested it yet on the highway to see if it 
holds position.  Did I twist it too much?  Is it a defective mirror or did I 
loosen  it by twisting it when I was trying to figure out how to install  it. 
4.  Blind spot mirrors for the side  mirrors.  Where to put them and how  big 
to get? 
5.  Show him the extra parts such as fuel  filter, window roll up handles, 
belt, spark plugs, fuses, light bulbs  etc. 
6.  Is it possible to set up a hammock or  rack to hang surf boards from the 
ceiling of the vanagon.  To access the engine, I have to move my  surfboards 
to the front of the vehicle. 
7.  The van doesn’t have AC.  How much of the hardware for the AC was  
removed and a price on installing AC. 
8.  License plate holder for front  bumper. 
Eric 
1984 Vanagon GL H2O 
Asuan  Brown