Date:         Tue, 11 Jun 2019 11:54:19 -0700
Reply-To:     Sean Garrett <doit.outdoors@YAHOO.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Sean Garrett <doit.outdoors@YAHOO.COM>
Subject:      Re: Important maintenance item for those with automatic
              transmissions
Comments: To: stuartmacm@gmail.com
In-Reply-To:  <036901d52081$bb63af40$322b0dc0$@gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii

I have had 2 cables break on me far from home. Easy to repair with common hardware store parts for temporary travel. It is what I really love about the vanagon. Easy to access any part that needs a repair. 

SeanG 

> On Jun 11, 2019, at 11:16 AM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Accelerator cables have a hard life on the automatic. The cable attaches to
> the kickdown lever on the tranny and has a lot of pulling to do for both the
> kickdown and throttle.  At 160k miles my son's 87 finally broke Sunday. He

> was returning from a 300 mile trip and it broke 3 miles from me and my home
> shop, His first "ride of shame" since purchase 5 years ago. He was able to

> coast off the very busy road to a safe parking place. These vans have good

> "carma".  The cable is $35 with shipping from our vendors, and takes about

> an hour to replace the first time, mostly due to tight space around the
> tranny.
> 
> 
> 
> The cable wears at the point where it exits a protective tube and rubs on
> the metal end fitting there.  Lube your new cable there  (under the flimsy

> protective bellows)  before installing and be sure to check that you have
> full throttle when the pedal is  floored and that the tranny kicks down when
> floored while driving. I recommend doing this job every 100k now.  Be
> careful not to damage the bellows when you  install it.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> Stuart