Date:         Fri, 1 Apr 2005 21:59:59 -0800
Reply-To:     Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Subject:      Re: is my tranny near death?
In-Reply-To:  <20050402052054.16740.qmail@web50104.mail.yahoo.com>
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

On 1 Apr 2005 at 21:20, greg crone <l_levi1@YAHOO.COM> wrote:

> I've got an 85 westy that has a slight grind when
> going from first to second. If I wait 2 or 3 seconds
> it doesn't happen...only if I try to shift right away.
> Is this the onset of the fabled vanagon syndrome?

No, just standard 2nd gear syncros wearing out, very common on any manual trans.
Drain the oil, and get 3-4 qts of Redline MT90. It will make a difference, possibly
enough that you can go for years more before needing to rebuild. However, if you
find large chunks of metal on the magnet, as opposed to fine metal powder, then you
may want to consider a rebuild sooner. My ring & pinion failed soon after I replaced
all the bearings in the transmission. I suspect all the metal from failed bearings (slow
failure over several years) accelerated wear on the highly stressed ring and pinion.

My '85 Jetta trans ground 2nd gear at 200k. I switched to Redline, and it still shifted
great at 480k! I have tried many other gear lubes, and Redline is by far the best.
Shawn Wright
http://zuiko.sls.bc.ca/~swright
'85 Jetta D
'88 Westy 2.1L, soon to be 1.6TD 5 speed
'82 Diesel Westy