Thanks Dennis and Daniel - both good advice.  I'll try the high milage ATF additive and maybe that will help on a seal.  Meanwhile, I'll start pricing a rebuild and find a good mechanic for that.

Thanks again,

Dan
Los Angeles, CA
"Winky" the '85 Westy Weekender

On Oct 11, 2011, at 8:36 AM, Daniel O Stevens wrote:

> Your 2nd gear plunger could have aged/hard seals and taking abit more RPMs to pump sufficient fluids to engage the 2/3 gear set.
> This can be serviced in the vehicle by fairly normal but competent hands.
> Search on the vanagon forum over on www.thesamba.com and there�s some threads on the 2nd gear plunger. Should offer seal part #s and direction.
>  
> You can also use high milage ATF additive, these will often have a rubber seal conditioner if it�s not too late.
> If it�s only on turns and only after the lvl was reset, then possibly the AT prefers a little more ATF in the pan for one reason over another.
> The fluid can foam if low (or high) and that causes many issues with air suspended in the fluid.
>  
> Hope this helps some.. best of luck
>  
> Dan in Syracuse.
>  
>  
> Date:    Tue, 11 Oct 2011 01:26:47 -0700
> From:    Daniel Rotblatt < >
> Subject: Auto Transmission slipping
>  
> Thought I could get some input on how to milk as many miles out of my
> tranny as possible, or maybe there's a fix without a rebuild.
>  
> It's an '85 westy, with a 3 speed auto transmission.  It seems to
> slip most when accelerate after I go around corners, otherwise it
> works fine.  Fluid was a bit high when I bought the car last May, but
> when i had work done on it this summer they replaced all the fluids
> and the level is fine now except it seems to slip a bit more.  Last
> time I drove it I noticed the trans slipping after only a 5 minute
> drive back from a store - so it wasn't too hot.
>  
> Thanks in advance...
>  
> Dan
> L.A., CA
> '85 Westy Weekender
>  
>