Date: Wed, 24 May 2000 22:11:33 -0700
Reply-To: Max/Joyce Wellhouse <maxjoyce@IPA.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Max/Joyce Wellhouse <maxjoyce@IPA.NET>
Subject: Re: Oh Shit!
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
Per: It ain't the syncros!!! Try Tom C's article on the dreaded 3/4 slider
hub and his description of symptoms will match you to a tee!!. The slider
hub cracks and prevents the 3/4 motion. You're lucky by getting back into
neutral under 30mph. I have to roll to a stop and wait a minute or two.
The hardest part is breakingthe habit of going from 2-3 and risking not
getting out again. I've been doing this so long, when the new tranny
arrives, it will take a while to get back in the normal shift pattern
groove.
Since you and I are both on a budget(I've had this for 3 months now), I've
simply been driving my 90 GL in second gear up to about 4800 rpm and then
shift into fourth. The 2.1 is tolerable from about 1800 rpm on up. Must be
what a 1.6 diesel performance like. I'm real close to scraping up the dough
for my rebuild, but a few days away.
Subject for list debate: If you had to be without one of your 4 forward
gears, which one would you most easily live without? Third can be lived
without except climbing windy steep 2 lane roads in the Ozarks and the
Ouachitas!
-----Original Message-----
From: Per Lindgren <lindgre@ONLINE.NO>
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Date: Wednesday, May 24, 2000 10:41 AM
Subject: Oh Shit!
>It has finally happened! The nightmare of all Syncro owners! The damn
>tranny is kaput.
>
>I was just driving along, and when I was to pull it out of 3rd into 4th,
>it was stuck in 3rd. I couldn't get it out of 3rd until the speed was
>below 50 km/h (30 mph), and it was not smooth. It sorta clunked out of
>gear. It shifted smoothly into 4th, and also into 3rd. It goes out of
>4th smoothly, but not 3rd. 1st and 2nd is unaffected.
>
>So what went wrong? Since it will not go out of 3rd smoothly, but 4th
>seems to be ok, I assume it is the 3rd synchronizing ring, not the
>3rd/4th synchronizer. And since I am on a very strict budget now, just
>dropping the van or even the tranny off at the dealer is not an option.
>That would cost as much as the value of the Van with a good tranny!
>
>So I figured I could maybe do what very few Vanagon owners would do, I
>wanna go in and fix it myself. This leads to a row of questions. I
>looked through the pages of the Bentley (thanks again, Tony!), and it
>looks like I may be able to do the job myself.
>
>I feel qualified to the job, I do have access to a 25 ton hydraulic
>press, and access to a mechanic that has worked a few years in a Vanagon
>workshop. I have not spoken with him yet, but am going to do so in the
>weekend. He was about to buy the car, but backed out when he heard of
>the tranny problems. Maybe, maybe he will buy it if I fix the tranny.
>
>The things I wonder about:
>
>1) It is a bit unclear in the manual, do I have to remove the diff to
>get the main shaft out, and do I have to remove the pinion shaft to
>remove the main shaft?
>
>2) Can I get through this "rebuild" by just replacing the damaged parts,
>and leave everything else as is? I was hopping for this, as it would be
>cheapest. I don't care how long it will last, I'm selling the car.
>
>3) Which parts "must" be replaced except the 3rd/4th synchronizer and
>the 3rd and 4th Synchronizing rings?
>
>TIA, more questions are on the way, guaranteed.
>
>PerL
>87 Syncro 112i
>
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