Date:         Mon, 9 Oct 1995 11:06:39 +0100 (MET)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         darie@hasler.ascom.ch (Darie Duclos)
Subject:      where'd my clutch go??


Hello!
	I had an exciting time coming home from the Swiss alps
to Bern last night.. with no clutch. We were driving in the
mountains this weekend, did a lot of steep switchback roads,
etc.. I had to shift a lot between 2nd and 3rd on the uphills
but it seems to me those shifts were smooth (no high-revving
with the clutch half in and so on). On the downhills, I used 
the motor's compression instead of the brakes as I've been
taught it's better (right??). Well a couple of hours away from
home I began to have trouble getting the first and second 
gear in (don't remember in what order they failed now). After
several tries I would get one of the two and be able to get
going. Then we hit a traffic jam... Ugh. We were left standing
there unable to get the thing in 1st or 2nd gear. Brian pushed
us to the side and after a bit of thinking we stopped the motor,
put the car in 1st and started it.. in gear. Would you believe
it started, even though it had to pull the Westy on a slight
uphill? 
	Anyway, we managed not to have to stop through the
traffic jam by keeping a good distance with the car in front
and by honking like assholes at anyone who got in our way (boy
I felt like an idiot in this country of courteous drivers! I 
still have Quebec plates too..). On the highway there was 
another traffic jam. We passed most of it on the shoulder
(looking like assholes again). Had to stop once in back of a 
police car that was on the shoulder, but managed to start it
up the same way as the first time, get back into traffic to
pass the police car and the fender-bender victims and return
to the shoulder. Oh ya, 3rd and 4th had gotten very difficult
to get into by then as well, but with a little luck, I could
go from 1st to 3rd.. and eventually to 4th.
	Got home in 3rd and had to honk at pedestrians passing
in front of our parking garage :-( They didn't move fast enough..
so I stalled. By now the clutch was pretty useless, couldn't
even keep the car from stalling when standing still. BUT, we
got it into its parking spot! Whew! 

	Now the question: what exactly is wrong and what do I 
need to change. Is it the clutch pad, the clutch cable, the clutch,
or can't you tell without looking at it? Furthermore, why did 
this happen all of a sudden? Is there something I did wrong on
the steep hills? Can you suggest something I might have done 
wrong which I didn't mention above? I intend to drive the Westy
into the mountains every weekend (after I've fixed it), I don't
want to burn a clutch every time..
	Note: this is the car I taught my boyfriend how to drive
standard on in the middle of Toronto rush hour traffic (when it
had to be hotwired to start), but that was almost a year ago and
I didn't really find the gears hard to get in until now.

Thanks a million!


Darie
'86 Westy