jim,
many years ago, a very wise man told me,  " Son, you probably need to rebuild that transmission, but go over to Motor Bearings (friendly local flaps) and buy a can of TransX, a transmission filter, and enough fluid to change your fluid. If it doesn't work, the TransX folks will give your money back."  I did and drove that transmission (early 70's chyrsler/amc) for 150k more miles, repeating the process every 30k miles. Cannot say I have direct VW experience with your problem, but I still follow the man's advise.

Good luck, drive well.

Jim Henry
Durham, NC
84 westy

Jim Morgan wrote:

I am new so please be kind. I have a 86 GL that I have recently purchased from a friend. Only 193k on it. now the automatic trans  will not go into reverse when it is cold . Will go in all forward gears ok and reverse when warmed up. the bently is usless . I   figure it is trans time but would like to know what is wrong before we do the transplant. Any info or prayers would be appreciated.