nesting in vlookup

[DKY]

I'm trying to use vlookup and have a column that shows the first two characters of a possible part number. I want to enter the part number in a cell and in the cell next to it have vlookup grab the first two characters of that part number and compare it to the reference. So, I'm trying to use left in my vlookup formula only it's giving me a #n/a error. Here is my vlookup formula:
=VLOOKUP((LEFT(B4,2)),A19:L26,5,FALSE)

If I replace the (LEFT(B4,2)) with the number 25 (the first two digits of the part number in cell B4) I get a value but when I put the (LEFT(B4,2)) back into the formula it doesn't work. Does VLOOKUP not play well with other formulas?

[DKY]

I just noticed, if I do this
=VLOOKUP(25,A10:L17,5,FALSE)
I get a value but then I put this in cell B2
=LEFT(B4,2)
and change my vlookup
=VLOOKUP(B2,A10:L17,5,FALSE)
and get a #N/A. I wonder why???

[VBA Noob]

Try

LEFT(B4,2)+0

+0 should convert to a number

VBA Noob

[DKY]

Beautiful! Thank you so much.