Ken,

It's toast.  Slippin' & slidin' is the end, and usually it's reverse that
goes first since it is the lowest gear and demands the most from the
clutches and the highest pressure from the pump. You can either take it to a
transmission shop (www.german-transaxle.com is a good one), or have the kids
rebuild it, if the instructor is willing to tackle that.  You will need to
buy them the parts and a Bentley manual.  They will have two junk boxes to
work with and could maybe get one working unit out of them for you!

Stuart

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Ken Taylor
Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2008 8:14 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Replaced auto tranny doesn't work. Advice needed!

After my 1990 Vanagon Multivan sat unused for about a year because of an
automatic transmission failure, I finally found someone in my area with a
used auto tranny from an '86 Westy for sale.  The auto shop at the high
school where I teach installed it for me under the guidance of the auto shop
instructor, who is a former VW mechanic.

Sadly, it's still not usable. Now, when I put it in reverse, it feels as if
I'm trying to back over an enormous speed bump.  It backs up very slightly,
but stops, seemingly as if it's trying to back over something far too steep.
Yet, if I put it in reverse and don't apply pressure on the gas pedal, it
will roll backward slowly but freely.

The former owner of the transmission, who has since moved out of the area
(meaning that I'm on my own with this problem), seemed like an honest young
man who claimed that it came from a Vanagon that he owned and that it had
worked fine when he removed it.

Could there be another explanation other than the transmission not working
correctly when I purchased it?  What would be a next step in diagnosing the
problem?

Thanks in advance for any help and suggestions.

Ken
Western Washington