In a message dated 98-06-06 01:17:49 EDT, Frank wrote:

<<  While driving my '89 Vanagon today, as I pulled away
from a stop and  shifted into third gear, the trans got stuck
in third. >>

Todd Francis said it first and I agree with him.  Sounds
like the dreaded 3rd/4th clutch hub crack and failure.
The only way to fix it is to rebuild your trans and install
the updated style clutch hub.  I've seen a lot of this type
failure in the later watercooled 091 transaxles.  The new
style hub seems to be working as I haven't had any
comebacks on my rebuilds!

Todd Hill
VolksWerks Transaxles
Olympia, WA