Mine started doing that last year. What I read on thesamba.com convinced me
it was time for a new tranny. Got one from German Transaxle this spring.
Hope to be rolling again in a few weeks.

On Sat, Apr 17, 2010 at 4:21 AM, Rob <becida@comcast.net> wrote:

> 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
>