It has been an interesting week for both me and my 85 Vanagon...

On my way to take my teenager to school Monday, I shifted from 4th to
third I lt my shifter go *crunch*. It suddenly became a real challenge
to shift as the shifter felt like it was depressed (like when you
press down on it to go to reverse). It was also very hard to find the
proper gears as it became real sloppy.

Nursing things along, I got my son to school and me to work. As soon
as I arrived at work, I called a friend of mine who fortunately owns a
garage and isn't afraid to work on my Vanagon if I don't have time or
if the task is beyond my capability or requires tools I don't have.
The van was towed to his garage and he disassembled the shifter to
find that the , I will use ball and socket for the lack of a better
term, had literally exploded. It was in about 100 pieces on the top of
my spare wheel. He mentioned that he couldn't believe that I had
driven the van at all after the shifter broke as it was completely
free from it's support. It is nice to say that 2 days later and 100
dollars later I have my vanagon back and the shifter feels better than
it has in years.

Take note that I have noticed that my shifter has been gradually
getting stiff and has felt a little sloppy for some time. Talking with
him, he informed me that this was probably caused by small pieces of
the plastic ball and socket breaking off over time. If you have
noticed your shifter getting sloppy or noticed that it seems stiff at
times you may want to look at the plastic parts to the bottom of your
shifter and possibly do a little preventive maintenance.

The replacement parts aren't expensive. We got mine from VOA for about
$60 including overnight shipping and the job can prevent you from
being stranded at the side of the road with a vanagon that won't shift
for you (I was real lucky in that I could still nurse mine along).

--=20
Doug Skinner from Bowling Green, Kentucky
85 Vanagon GL Weekender - "The Dub"
debug@wku.campus.mci.net