Date: Tue, 31 May 2011 20:36:13 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Not able to engage any gear
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I concur ..
it has to be one of two areas basically ..
one is clutch hydraulics.
If you checked that the lever at the back is moving ...
like when the slave pushrod pushes down on it, that's a good sign.
if that lever is being pushed far enough .......and the clutch still does
not disengage fully with engine running..
then you start thinking 'inside the clutch area.'
Not real likely to be a throwout bearing. Usually there is a sound or weird
feel if that acts up.
Pilot bearing comes to mind ...
they go out often ...but usually don't result in the trans input shaft and
crankshaft being solidly linked together.
how old is the clutch ?
Many people don't have lots of other vanagon clutches to compare the feel of
theirs too..
but often when a clutch gets lots and lots of miles on it ....the effort
required to push the clutch pedal down goes up.
Like if you feel a smooth new clutch pedal ....not very high effort, feels
nice and smooth.
If I drive a Vanagon ..and the clutch pedal effort is kinda heavy ..
and it's a stock clutch ...and it likely has a lot of miles on it ..
that can be a sign of a very old clutch.
basically ...check out the entire clutch hydraulic release system..
and if it's not external to the bell housing/ clutch area ...
then it's the clutch itself most likely.
check that the clutch slave bracket is not flexing or cracked.
sometimes people leave the forward support bracket off ..
which can lead to cracking and flexing of that bracket, which could result
in failure to disengage completely and fully.
Scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "BenT Syncro" <syncro@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, May 31, 2011 7:35 PM
Subject: Re: Not able to engage any gear
Just a wild guess. Your clutch is not disengaging. Maybe the slave cylinder
is not working as you think. Or the throw-out bearing is broken and not
permitting the slave to push the plate away. Feel free to fill on the
correct technical terms. My brain is on leave of absence at the moment.
Anyway, when the engine is NOT running, there is no force trying to spin the
output shaft so the releasing the clutch is nor always needed to shift
gears. That's not the case when the engine is spinning.
BenT
sent from my electronic leash
On May 31, 2011, at 7:08 PM, Kevin Plichta <plichtakevin@HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:
> Looking for some wisdom.
> My 91 stock manual, I can not get it to engage in any gear while to motor
> is running. If I start it with the clutch to the floor and in 1st it acts
> like its engage (wants to jump forward).
> I have check the master and slave clutch cylinders and they are not
> leaking and seem to move when the clutch is pushed down. Seems that with
> the motor running makes it not want to go into any gears and the motor off
> goes easily into all the gears? What is different when running or not?
> Thanks for your help.
> Kevin Plichta
