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Date:         Fri, 20 Nov 2009 07:12:12 -0800
Reply-To:     most david <dmost@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         most david <dmost@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      hard shifting question
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-1


Hi all.  I haven't posted for a while, as my vanagon's been trouble free.  I'm a little concerned about a hard shifting condition that appeared suddenly yesterday with my '87 (manual trans, 197K miles).  Here are the symptoms:

1.  By hard shifting, I mean that the stick feels hard to move into all gears.  While shifting has never been a one finger deal (like in some small cars that I've tried), it's noticeably harder than it was the last time I drove.  It can feel quite a bit harder to shift when very cold outside, and it had been sitting for a few days, but the temperature yesterday was at least 40 degrees.  

2.  Though it feels hard to shift in all gears, there are no unusual noises or performance issues when driving.  The clutch feels good (slave cylinder replaced recently).  

3.  The hard shifting can be felt with the engine off as well as on (moving or still moving through the gears).

The clutch has around 15,000 miles on it.  I've had the vanagon for 40,000 miles and 10 years, and the tranny fluid has never been changed.  While it may not be relevant, a couple of days after the new clutch slave cylinder was installed, I noticed dripping on the ground in that vicinity.  My mechanic said that, coincidentally, a leak had developed at the rear main seal.

Given these symptoms, do y'all have any suggestions regarding what to do/check?  I recognize that changing the tranny fluid might be a good idea in any case (and current thinking on fluid choice - traditional versus Redline, for example, would be very helpful for me), I'm thinking that old fluid wouldn't be the source of the rather sudden problem that I'm describing, though I'd love to be wrong.  I've searched the archives a bit (and I've been on this list since 1995!), but I don't recognize this particular symptom.  I've had clutch parts go bad with other symptoms.  I've heard of 3/4 problems and problems with shifting only while driving/engine on.  

Thank you all for any suggestions.

David
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