Date: Thu, 5 Oct 2017 15:16:59 -0700
Reply-To: Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: difficulty shifting
In-Reply-To: <CACvdLxNX8sP8M_yJ212D9Tg4xTEjbF8fCzpgpKnQHAEJ5s1hcA@mail.gmail.com>
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You can go a long time shifting slowly and gently. As long as you can minimize the grinding to next to nothing, you're good. The brass syncro friction rings are the #1 wear item inside a manual transmission, and it's the second gear syncro that goes first since it has the most amount of angular momentum (spin) to stop. Here is a good video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17FG-GzVJyI
Stuart
-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of David McNeely
Sent: Thursday, October 05, 2017 11:39 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: difficulty shifting
Dennis, and all, thanks for the suggestions. I will check them all out. I guess I hope it is clutch, not transmission, if the latter means rebuild and the former offers the possibility of repair.
Does it make sense to put this off so long as it is relatively easy to shift without the resistance since I know how? Of course, if it is a master cylinder or other leak, that needs addressing, but I can't find any leak evidence. I guess I never considered a manual transmission to be a wear item, but then what do I know? Not much.
mcneely
On Wed, Oct 4, 2017 at 5:45 PM, Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@hotmail.com>
wrote:
> Manual transmissions on Vanagons can and do break. Often without warning.
> As a person that has been working on VWs since junior high school one
> of my jokes is that back in the day all VW mechanics and owners knew
> how to swap or even rebuild engines. Especially with the 2.1L engines
> we had to learn how to replace and even rebuild transmissions instead.
> By 1991 or so I was doing Vanagon transmissions and automatics a few
> years later. I do far more transmissions than engine replacements.
>
> 1st and 2nd gear are the most sensitive to a clutch not fully releasing.
> 2nd gear is also the most sensitive to oil condition and usually the
> first to wear out the synchronizer. Your first step is to determine if
> you have a clutch or a transmission issue. If at a standstill, it is
> difficult to get into gear with the engine running, turn the engine
> off and if it will now go easy you have a clutch problem. It could be
> the pilot bearing, the hydraulics, or the pressure plate-disc has
> failed. Having the disc break or the linings crack and separate is not
> that uncommon. Usually though you can feel that in the pedal if you know the cues.
>
> Dennis
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of David McNeely
> Sent: Wednesday, October 4, 2017 8:32 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: difficulty shifting
>
> Hello all, I have a 1991 Volkswagen Vanagon GL Campmobile, 2.1
> waterboxer,
> 4 speed manual transmission, silver-tan, with 180K miles.
>
> The clutch was rebuilt in 2013, and has functioned flawlessly since.
> So far as I know, the transmission has never been rebuilt, but manual
> transmissions don't break, right?
>
> This morning I noticed a grinding as I shifted from 1st to 2nd gear.
> I got it into gear ok, but it repeated the same thing several times.
> I discovered that if I shifted very slowly, hesitating a split second
> at the neutral point, and made sure to push the clutch pedal
> absolutely to the floor, there was no grinding. There is no problem with any other gear.
>
> Before I take it to the shop, please help me understand what is happening.
>
> mcneely
>
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