Date:         Fri, 28 Apr 1995 23:26:00 -0700 (PDT)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         David Schwarze <schwarze@superc.nosc.mil>
Subject:      '73 Safare Update - Hard to Shift?

So this being Friday night and me being a young single guy, I decided to
work on my bus.  :)  Went to the FLAPS and bought everything I needed for
a complete changeover to synthetics.  Bought 3 quarts of Mobil-1 75-90
Synthetic gear oil ($8 each, ouch!), 4 quarts of Mobil-1 Synthetic 15-50
oil ($3.79 each) and an "original equipment" oil filter ($5).

The oil filter is interesting.  I usually buy Fram, but they were out.
The guy behind the counter seemed pretty knowledgable and mentioned that
this oil filter had the bypass valve, and some mechanism for disallowing
oil to drain backwards through it so that the oil would be "primed" at
startup.  It will be interesting to see if he is right on that last claim.
I am a little worried about the filter, cause it is really, really light,
and looking inside I couldn't see any folds of material like I could in
the Fram.  In fact, if I didn't know better I would say it was hollow!

I vaguely recalled having replaced the transmission fluid when I bought
the bus 7 years ago, and figured I must have that 17mm allen wrench lying
around somewhere, probably in the bus.  After cleaning out inside one of
the bench seats in the back I was finally rewarded - one 17mm allen wrench
on the floor underneath a pile of rags, gaskets, spark plugs, wire pieces,
tools, and books.  I crawl under the bus with the wrench, a flashlight,
a pan, and a rag.  One minute later I am back in the garage getting a cheater
bar.  Back under the bus, I removed the transmission fill plug.

**Important** - Always TAKE THE FILL PLUG OUT BEFORE YOU DRAIN THE FLUID!!
		This so that you don't drain the fluid and then find that
		you can't get the fill plug out because you stripped it,
		or it is too tight, or whatever.  Take the fill plug out
		first, then if you have a problem you will not be stuck
		with a bus with an empty transmission!

Upon removing the fill plug, I am greeted with large quantities of brown
oil pouring out.  Looks like it was overfilled.  So, I put the plug back
in finger tight and remove the drain plug.  While the fluid is draining,
I try to look at it closely.  It's a muddy brown color, a little dirty but
not completely opaque, and no signs of metal fragments of any kind.  Good.

While the fluid is draining, I look around under the bus.  Notice that the
pushrod tubes are leaking again on both sides (arrrrgh!).  I decide to
look at the shift coupler at the front (FIF) of the transmission.  It is
completely covered with grease - can't see a thing!  I wipe it off with
the rag, and lo and behold, that little metal cage that holds the rubber
pieces is cracked off on one side!  I'm sure it has been that way for the
entire 7 years I have owned the bus.

I have had some problems shifting into second when the engine is hot, and
also problems shifting into first when it is *really* hot - I had always
thought it was something internal to the transmission, but now I'm hoping
that replacing that little cage will help or solve the problem!  So, it's
off to the junkyard in the morning for a replacement... anybody need
anything while I'm there?  Oh, thanks to all of the people who brought up
the importance of this little piece - I wouldn't have even looked at it
otherwise.  And whoever said it was a pain to remove was right.

-David

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David Schwarze                     '73 VW Safare Custom Camper  (Da Boat)
SAIC Comsystems, San Diego Calif.  '73 Capri GT 2800            (Da Beast)
e-mail:  schwarze@nosc.mil         '87 Mustang Lx 5.0           (Da Sleeper)
http://papaya.nosc.mil/~schwarze   '93 Weber WG-50              (Da Piano)
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