Van will not move

1993 VOLKSWAGEN EUROVAN
156,000 MILES • 4 CYL • 2WD • AUTOMATIC
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DENISEBURKE
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While driving down the street at about twenty five miles an hour the van made a very loud sound and stopped. Had to push it into a parking place. Several days prior, while driving the van went into second gear with a jerking feel and I began to smell gas while I was driving but I was not losing gas just smelling it. I do not know if that matters.

Now the van is parked in front of the house. It starts and stays running but will not move. I need this van more than you can imagine. It is all I have. With my son ill and being on disability myself I just need to know if its fixable? Thank you for whatever you can help me with.
Feb 6, 2017 at 4:20 PM
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STEVE W.
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Anything is repairable. The issue is determining what actually failed, and the costs of repair.
From the description it's hard to give you a "replace this part to fix it" answer. That said, it sounds like it may be a broken one way clutch inside the transmission. It would mean either a rebuild or a used transmission if that's the case.
It also could be that it's something outside of the trans like a failed axle shaft or CV joint. If that's the situation it would be much less money. Without seeing it myself that is about as far as I can advise. You would probably be better off to have it towed to a shop and let them look it over to physically see what failed.

The gas smell could simply be that the gas sloshed in the tank and some made it out the tank vent into the vent line.
Feb 7, 2017 at 9:51 PM