Hi everybody- I'm in Idaho Falls on my way to Florida from California. I'm afraid the manual transmission on my 89 Wolfsburg may be on its way out. Though it comes and goes, it's getting hard to put the van in gear. Sometimes I have to force it a little bit, especially in reverse. However, so far I can always get it into gear and I haven't felt anything funny while I'm driving. I was hoping that I just had a leak, but I checked the fluid and it is fine. I'm wondering if anybody has any advice or experience with this sort of thing. How long does it take typically before I am completely dead in the water? Is there something I can do to nurse the transmission so that it will last longer? I have about 140,000 miles on the van, so I know it's due for a new transmission. I'm just hoping I can make it another 2700 miles before I have to deal with it. Is this realistic? If the transmission is going, will pushing it make the repair more expensive in the long run? One final question. If I get stuck in some small town trying to deal with it, what should I expect to pay? Is this something I can trust to a regular transmission shop, or should I hold out for somebody with Vanagon experience? Alternatively, does anybody know how to stretch one tank of gas 2700 miles so that I can just get it into fourth and keep going? Thanks for any help. I'm off the list right now, so please reply pmail. Mark Schrope ======================== Mark Schrope 831-458-9363 (Home) 831-459-5139 (Office) 513 Koshland Way Santa Cruz, CA 95064 mschrope@nasw.org ======================== |
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