Date:         Thu, 11 Dec 2008 22:55:39 -0800
Reply-To:     Luke Bakken <luke.bakken@GMAIL.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Luke Bakken <luke.bakken@GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Transaxle trouble.
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1

Vanagon list,

I may have cursed myself. I emailed SmallCar in Tacoma about their new
Subaru bellhousing and mentioned that my '89 Syncro's transaxle has
219K miles on it. The sales staff member there (Brian) mentioned that
was quite a few miles without a rebuild and I replied, saying that I
hadn't had any issues with my transaxle but that I might be interested
in upgrading from the current adapter plate on my Subaru engine to a
bellhousing, and wouldn't a transaxle rebuild be a good time to do
that?

Well, sure enough, I came to a stop light tonight and could not get
the van into 1st ... or 2nd ... or 3rd ... or 4th ... or reverse ...
or super-low. Two nice guys offered to push me to where I could park
and I found I could get the van into gear once it was moving. So I
strategically drove around in 2nd gear, timing the lights and (slowly)
running stop signs to get home. I had to stop one other time and
couldn't get it into gear again but another nice guy single-handedly
pushed me and I got it back into gear and managed to get home.

Now, I changed the transaxle oil and put in Redline MT-90 on Nov 24th
just prior to a 7-day road trip and everything was fine on the trip.
Is this just unfortunate timing for my transaxle to die? Am I a victim
of "transaxle sudden death syndrome"?
(http://www.gowesty.com/library_article.php?id=117)

Thanks for any advice you have,
Luke

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