The only band in there is the 2nd gear brake band. IIRC it only engages in
second, so if I'm wrong somebody correct me. There's a table that gives that
in either the Bentley or my A/T rebuild manual but as they're out in the van
and it's 2am I'm not gonna go look tonight.
How is it in reverse? There's a third gear/reverse clutch in there; there
are other things that could cause that in the valve body, or the governor,
etc.
How many miles on the transmission? I'd be surprised in an '83 if it hasn't
been rebuilt before, and if it's only been rebuilt once it probably needs it
again, or it will soon.
How are your mechanical skills, or those that are available to you for
food/beer? I just rebuilt mine myself, and I consider myself an average home
mechanic.

German Transaxle sell rebuilds for ~$700, iirc. I think you can get the
rebuild parts for something like $200/250.

That's all that comes to mind at the moment.

Good luck,
Robert

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Rob
Sent: Saturday, April 17, 2010 1:22 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Auto tranny lost 3rd gear

My daughter bought an 83 Vanagon with an automatic transmission, I
was told it won't go into third gear. A "band problem" is all I know.
I'll start dealing with it in the morning.

I have not even looked at the Bentley yet but I did do a search of
the archives.

Any suggestions at this point? FWIW there is a guy on craigslist here
who sells rebuilt trannys for $1k.
Thanks,

Rob

becida@comcast.net
Western Washington State, USA