Trevor.

The auto tranny of old - in the earlier aircooled busses - gave a good
vit of trouble, but the manual trannies of the period were bullet proof.
With the arrival of the Vanagon on the scene that changed, and the newer
auto trannies in the Vanagons over the long haul hold up better that the
Vanagon manual trannies.

That said, it sounds like  you are getting ripped. Contact Daryl
Christensen at www.aatransaxle.com here in the States. He is an
excellent rebuilder and can provide you with invaluable info on how to
handle your situation.

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver
Chelsea, AL USA

Trevor Hislop (Training) wrote:
> I have a 1985 Transporter (1.9 water boxer) camper in  good condition.
> However its 3 speed auto transmission has recently destructed. These
> particular Transporters, especially autos, are rare in Western Australia
> and although I trust my mechanic I know he is also a bit unused to
> automatics on these vans and is relying on advice from others who may
> also be a bit unused to these transmissions. I have been told I need a
> new crown wheel / pinion ex Germany which will cost about $US2,200 then
> another $US3,000 for the rest of the rebuild (it seems a bearing seized
> and the crown wheel/pinion shatterred sending bits everywhere.  The
> total cost is about what I paid for my camper and about 2-3 times cost
> of locally built car. I don't mind paying, as we enjoy the car, and we
> got into it cheap, but want to know if we are being ripped off - eg is
> there another supply of crown wheel / pinions other than ex Germany? As
> you can probably guess from this email I am not very mechanically minded
> and would apreciate any advice.
>
> Regards
>
> Trevor
>
>
>