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Date:         Sun, 8 Jun 2003 01:42:00 -0500
Reply-To:     mostd@JUNO.COM
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Most <mostd@JUNO.COM>
Subject:      Re: clutch slave cylinder question
Comments: To: drillock@earthlink.net
Content-Type: text/plain

Hi Mark. Thanks for the thoughts. I had a new clutch installed by a shop in southern CA 14k ago, and they would have waranteed the work had I been able to bring it to them. When I told them about the minor sound that I've heard for the last six months, they told me that it was the likely the throw out bearing and that I shouldn't worry about it unless it got worse.

The recent problem developed in a matter of one day, and I tried to immediately bring it to a shop here. Unfortunately, they told me that they couldn't look at it for two weeks, and they encouraged me to drive it home rather than leave it on the street near the shop (they had no room on the lot itself). It's a short drive of a couple of miles, but that was enough to make things potentially substantially worse.

I don't know that the sound that I've been hearing for months is related to the recent failure (e.g., cross shaft may have failed - though I don't know if this would have caused the problem of inability to disengage). In retrospect, I probably should have disregarded my CA mechanic and had the sound diagnosed. Of course, this would have involved the expense of dropping the tranny, and my mechanic led me to believe that I'd have more warning if there was a serious problem. And, again, we may have corrected the cause of the original sound while not preventing the current trouble.

The real problem on my end is that, in New Orleans, I have yet to find a mechanic who knows more about vanagons than I (and that's not saying much, though I've learned a little during my eight years on this list). As I don't have a second vehicle, I'm afraid to dismantle too much myself. I'm moving back to Colorado in two months, and this should make things a little easier.

Thanks for all of your help, and I hope that my poor judgement will help others. I'll let everyone know the outcome (other than my bank account being drained).

David

On Sat, 07 Jun 2003 21:10:28 -0700 mark drillock <drillock@earthlink.net> writes: > Since you are seeing that much movement of release lever by the slave > cylinder it sounds like the problem is inside the clutch area. > > NO ONE can tell you exactly what is wrong in the clutch area without > separating the engine from the tranny and inspecting all of the > parts. > Since you continued to drive it long after you knew something was > wrong > you should plan on pretty near worst case. That means probably about > $300 in parts and flywheel machining. Add $300-400 more for labor if > you > don't do it yourself. It could be more or you could get lucky. > > When metal parts breakup inside the bell housing small pieces often > get > embedded in the flywheel face. Hopefully machining can fix this or > you > can add even more $$ to the cost. If the pilot shaft bearing chewed > up > the tranny input shaft add still more time and money. If you do it > yourself you can take shortcuts and reuse marginal parts but most > shops > won't want to do that as it risks you coming back too soon. > > Mark > > David Most wrote: > > > > If, when a helper steps on the clutch pedal, I can see the clutch > slave > > cylinder piston push the release lever down at least one inch, > does this > > mean for certain that the clutch slave cylinder is working > properly > > (i.e., it's not bad)? > > > > Thanks for the help, > > David > > (with stuck '87) > > > > By the way, a mechanic that I've used in California insists that > the > > clutch not disengaging (my current problem) must be due to a > hydraulic > > failure of some sort rather than a failure of the throw out > bearing. He > > says that a bad or broken bearing would lead to clutch slippage > rather > > than an inability to get out of gear. Any disagreements here? > > > > >

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