Bryan: Actually, you should be pushing the clutch all the way down to shift. Is it shifting hard? That, is - is it hard to get into gear? Three simple (and least expensive) things to check first: 1. Look at the Master cylinder (in front of the steering column under the dash, close to the floor) and the Slave cylinder (open the engine campartment and it is attached to the driver's side of the transmission. Check for leaks. Cylinder will often appear "greasy" or wet if there is a leak. Also look for brake fluid drips on the pavement undre the van. 2. Check your brake fluid level. To do this, remove the cover on the instrument cluster in front of the driver. Small white container has a "filler" cap. Level indicators are marked on the right side. It is very important not to let the fluid level drop below minimum, otherwise air can get into the brake/clutch lines. 3. Back at the transmission, look at the connections where the clutch actuator attaches to the transmission housing. The upper-most connection attaches to an "ear" on the housing. I have seen this "ear" cracked on several vanagons. If it is broken, it may be that there is not enough "travel" when you are pushing the clutch pedal down. The housing is aluminum, but can be welded. The transmission should be removed to do this. Good luck. Mike Vickey vickrail@velocity.net 84 Wolfsburg (parts) 85 DblCab PickUp light gray 87 GL Syncro #1 Wolfram gray "Flash" 87 GL Syncro #2 dove blue met. "The Blue Flash" 87 GL Syncro #3 Wolfram gray 87 GL Brown "Betty" 91 GL Westfalia Camper Orly blue 93 Eurovan MV Tornado red |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.