Date:         Wed, 23 Nov 1994 19:05:15 +0000 (GMT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Marcus Grant <mty016@coventry.ac.uk>
Subject:      Re: I lied, and Problems with Ms. Pickle

 [lots of pain deleted]
>  
> In the next day of driving, it got increasingly more difficult to find 
> first gear, and eventually, even second.  On the way back from Little Big 
> Game (Cal-Stanford fumble-fest), I had to start out in third a couple of 
> times (great for the engine, huh?).  So last night, I managed to nurse 
> her back to the shop in S.F. on the off-chance that the problem is  
> serious enough that it is covered under the drive-train warranty 
> included when I bought the bus (from the above-mentioned garage). 
> Now I am waiting to hear what it will cost me to get her back.  My 
> suspicion (hope?) is that it's the shifting train, since it doesn't 
> pop out of gear once it's in; it just won't go in easily.  But the 
> main operating part of the shifting train is inside the tranny case. 
>  
> It's costing me $60 to find out what the problem is, and 
> if it is the rear shift train connection, they estimate about $175 parts 
> and labor.  

  One thing that it may be is the cage thing (technical huh? I can't
  remember what its actually called) right at the back of the gear
  change system-just above the gearbox. This bit consists of two square
  pieces of rubber at each end of a kind of metal cage. A self tapping
  screw goes through the centre of each piece of rubber and into a tube
  which is connected to the gear linkage. The rubber has a tendincy to
  perish/wear over time and leads to sloppier gear changing until PING,
  one of the bits of rubber falls out completely. This happened to a 
  friends bus, he lost 1st gear totally and second was availiable 
  occasionally. We played with the plate under the gear lever (if this slips
  it can lead to similiar problem) before discovering that both his
  rubber bits had dissapeared. The replacement part cost around 20ish pounds
  I seem to remember, and was a little awkward to fit, but not to bad.

  Of course it could be anything inside your tranny, in which case
  ignore everything I've just said.... 


-- 
__
Marcus Grant
mty016@uk.ac.cov