Itinerant Air-Cooled

All right, now it's in 1st and won't come out to go into any other gear or into neutral either. Scratch that, I didn't try to put it in reverse I just realized.
This is different from the last time in that I can't get it into any other gear with the engine off, either.

whc03grady wrote: This is different from the last time in that I can't get it into any other gear with the engine off, either.

This suggests something is failing in the shift mechanism, not the clutch mechanism. Potentially good, because you might not have to pull any engines or transaxles to find the issue.

Have you inspected every inch of the shift linkage?
- Shifter housing bolts tightened down (M8, 13mm heads)?
- Reverse lockout plate (stop plate) nudged towards the left of car when the above bolts are slacked off but not removed?
- Front shift bushing accounted for?
- Shift coupler in front of transaxle attached to shift rod? "Cage" metal not falling apart? Still attached to transaxle?

Can you re-do the inspection while someone else gently tries to shift from N to any gear and back? Watch every inch of shift mechanism and see where the work of the shifter is being consumed.

Robbie

whc03grady wrote:All right, now it's in 1st and won't come out to go into any other gear or into neutral either. Scratch that, I didn't try to put it in reverse I just realized.
This is different from the last time in that I can't get it into any other gear with the engine off, either.

Please gird yourself for possible big trouble. If Robbie is correct that it is a shifter problem, that would be very fine, but failure to get * out* of a gear is a death knell.
Colin

whc03grady wrote:All right, now it's in 1st and won't come out to go into any other gear or into neutral either. Scratch that, I didn't try to put it in reverse I just realized.
This is different from the last time in that I can't get it into any other gear with the engine off, either.

Also, is this a case of:
A) You can't get the shifter to move to any other gears?
or
B) You can move the shifter but the transaxle stays in first?

I assumed A, but you know what happens when……
Robbie

asiab3 wrote:

whc03grady wrote:All right, now it's in 1st and won't come out to go into any other gear or into neutral either. Scratch that, I didn't try to put it in reverse I just realized.
This is different from the last time in that I can't get it into any other gear with the engine off, either.

Also, is this a case of:
A) You can't get the shifter to move to any other gears?
or
B) You can move the shifter but the transaxle stays in first?

I assumed A, but you know what happens when……
Robbie

The Road Warrior's first transaxle went into 3rd and never came out. (April 1984)

asiab3 wrote:Is this a case of:
A) You can't get the shifter to move to any other gears?
or
B) You can move the shifter but the transaxle stays in first?

The shifter moves; it's not rigid. None of its movement, however, results in that oh-so-familiar-feeling-so-familiar-you-don't-think-about-it of coming out of a gear. Feelings and movement aside, in actuality it doesn't come out of 1st, nor does it go into 2nd, 3rd, 4th, or neutral (which I realize isn't a gear per se). So the answer to your question is, A and B.

Amskeptic wrote:Please gird yourself for possible big trouble. If Robbie is correct that it is a shifter problem, that would be very fine, but failure to get * out* of a gear is a death knell.

Such girding has been a constant state since I purchased my first ACVW on April 25 1991. The transaxle is a Rancho rebuild not 25,000 miles old, for the record.

Amskeptic wrote: The Road Warrior's first transaxle went into 3rd and never came out. (April 1984)

Did you tear it down and find out why? The interlock pin system has always baffled me. None of the manuals have good descriptions or diagrams that differentiate them from the detent balls.

asiab3 wrote: None of the manuals have good descriptions or diagrams . . .

The VW Workshop Manual does. Here's one that somehow didn't make it into the Bentley. The plunger #2 is called the "intermediate plunger".

kreemoweet wrote:

asiab3 wrote: None of the manuals have good descriptions or diagrams . . .

The VW Workshop Manual does. [/img]

Most excellent, thank you. Is that the blue or yellow version? I have the blue one here and it's very brief.

asiab3 wrote:Is that the blue or yellow version?

Actually, the cover looks purple to me. Workshop Manual, VW Transporter, Type 2, January 1975 Edition. 348 pp. Saw it offered on EBay, and snagged it. Full of
interesting tidbits. Big stack of Workshop Bulletins in the back. Illustrations are almost all very high-quality, makes the Bentley manual look pathetic.

kreemoweet wrote:

asiab3 wrote:Is that the blue or yellow version?

Illustrations are almost all very high-quality, makes the Bentley manual look pathetic.

I have the yellow version. The Bentley Manual IS pathetic. They publish it with the very least amount of effort and rake in the cash. The poorly copied wiring diagrams have been shrunk yet again and have printing skips and illegible color keys.
Colin

asiab3 wrote:Have you inspected every inch of the shift linkage?
- Shifter housing bolts tightened down (M8, 13mm heads)?
- Reverse lockout plate (stop plate) nudged towards the left of car when the above bolts are slacked off but not removed?
- Front shift bushing accounted for?
- Shift coupler in front of transaxle attached to shift rod? "Cage" metal not falling apart? Still attached to transaxle?

Can you re-do the inspection while someone else gently tries to shift from N to any gear and back? Watch every inch of shift mechanism and see where the work of the shifter is being consumed.

I had Melissa move the shifter around while I looked at everything I could see, front to back. Everything moves, starting at the ball at the bottom of the shifter assembly all the way back to the nose cone. Whether it moves like it should, that's a question I don't know how to answer. It didn't seem as though there was a lot of slop somewhere eating up the movement.
I didn't see anything obviously missing, including the front shift bushing. The rear coupler was still attached and intact.
I'll check the shifter housing bolts and reverse lockout plate.

Everything moves, shifter to nosecone, end of story. Nothing is loose.
I topped it off with 80-90 GL-5 and then puttered around this morning as a last ditch effort, as advised by a nearbyish ACVW-friendly mechanic. No dice.
While I was out I drove it to the only local ACVW-friendly mechanic. He looked underneath while I moved the shifter back and forth, and front and back. He said he suspects either a syncro is stuck, or the shift rail is stuck. Either way, it's time for a drop. Hey! At least I can take care of the leaking front seal, more easily install the boutique gear reduction starter, and give the whole thing a nice cleaning up, right? And put on that new drag link.

QUESTION: What can I do with the transaxle out to see whether it needs to be rebuilt or just have a stuck part loosened? I assume a stuck syncro means a rebuild, but surely not a sticky shift rail?
QUESTION: As we've seen, the thing is stuck in first. Does this mean anything special for removal? I intend to drop the engine and transaxle as a unit, incidentally.

Damn. This saddens me; I wish I was there to do all kinds of kooky nonsense, like push-start the bus in first to see if the jar gives you enough movement to help the selector for get you out of first.

If you take the shift coupler off, can you use a pair of soft-jawed vise-grips to shift the nosecone shaft manually? (Remember that first is rearward, so neutral then second would be forward…) That would be the second-to-last test I would do before declaring the shift mechanism ok. Is your 2.0 T4 paired with an 091? Didn't the 091 come with a plastic hokey stick bushing? I'd personally inspect mine before calling the shift mechanism bunk. I'd also inspect for a broken selector link mount, as I saw a picture of a broken one on The Samba before.

I do not know what your next course of action would be if it is STILL stuck. Who will be fixing/rebuilding your transaxle? They would be a good person to ask about question #1. Question #2 won't help or hurt during removal; I like it in gear for engine/transaxle mating, but I've only dropped them a dozen or so times so there may be more nuances that other have found over time.

Here's hoping for the best,
Robbie

asiab3 wrote:Damn. This saddens me; I wish I was there to do all kinds of kooky nonsense, like push-start the bus in first to see if the jar gives you enough movement to help the selector for get you out of first.

Thanks, but it'd've provided no help. The issue was apparent the second I took the nose cone off:

Maybe not exactly apparent in that picture, but the upper bolt holding the intermediate shift lever bracket has stripped completely free of its hole. Once I took that pin outta there I just pulled the bolt out, material wrapped around its threads and all.

QUESTIONS: Can I remove the gear carrier and take it to a machinist to have a hole for a bigger bolt threaded there? Can I buy a helicoil and do it myself? Was this a result of overenthusiastic shifting or can I blame RANCHO PERFORMANCE TRANSAXLES OF FULLERTON CALIFORNIA for this <25,000 mile failure? If I can blame RANCHO PERFORMANCE TRANSAXLES OF FULLERTON CALIFORNIA, I will.