Date:         Wed, 10 Apr 2002 10:48:25 -0700
Reply-To:     Eric Unrau <eunrau@YAHOO.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Eric Unrau <eunrau@YAHOO.CA>
Subject:      Clutch Problem?
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="Windows-1252"

Hello all,

I got home last night from a little roadtrip to San Francisco and back
from Vancouver, BC in my ’89 Westy.  Everything ran smoothly until about
half way home when shifting became extremely difficult.  After a long
run in 4th gear, downshifting to 3rd became nearly impossible (very
difficult to get out of 4th and tough to get into 3rd without grinding)
and after stopping, shifting into 1st and 2nd proved to be equally as
difficult.  At times, it seemed that the clutch was not working at all;
while pulling into a gas station I was trying to shift out of 4th and
managed to stall the engine with the clutch pedal fully depressed.
Eventually I learned that double, triple, quadruple clutching improved
my shifting success rate, and constant clutch pumping at a standstill
would allow me to get into 1st when necessary.

My mechanic replaced the clutch about a month ago; before I go back to
him, I’d like some diagnostic help from the group.  Does this sound like
a clutch or a transmission problem?  How do I trouble shoot the
master/slave clutch cylinders?

As always, thanks for all your help.  This list is a real
lifesaver/walletsaver!!

Eric


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Eric Unrau
eunrau@yahoo.ca
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~