Mmm, it wasn't the shifter plate either... but I am a little baffled. I can get all gears with no effort when the engine is off, but turn the engine on and changing gears becomes impossible, which seems odd to me... could it actually be a clutch-related problem, eg at the gearbox end? (I checked the cable, it felt a little loose but otherwise fine...) _________________ ....Woz
Mmm, it wasn't the shifter plate either... but I am a little baffled. I can get all gears with no effort when the engine is off, but turn the engine on and changing gears becomes impossible, which seems odd to me... could it actually be a clutch-related problem, eg at the gearbox end? (I checked the cable, it felt a little loose but otherwise fine...)
Woz will give it a go tomorrow while I'm off buying the all importanat xmas beer supply. _________________ "Consistency is the last refuge of the unimaginative" (Oscar Wilde).
Yeah, it turned out to be a stretched clutch cable... a few quick turns of the wingnut and we got most of our gears back (all but 2nd, although I was worried about tightening too far - especially with Alice warning me not to break anything!). I was quite chuffed it turned out to be so minor - we celebrated by heading straight off to Marysville for a family Xmas, where we stayed for a couple of days. I think my mother was quite impressed with the resilience of a kombi! Even without 2nd gear, Woger ate up the hills and the Black Spur was a real pleasure to cruise through... we enjoyed it so much that we now plan to return for New Year's Eve!
I hope to replace the current cable (once I obtain a replacement) - if it is stretching then it is also probably close to breaking. We have already booked Woger in for a new gearbox in mid-January.
After spending an enjoyable afternoon reading John Muir's idiot's guide, one of my New Year's resolutions is to purchase all the spare parts and tools that I am ever likely to need (especially spare cables)... my other resolution is to do all the servicing of my kombi myself.
We decided to send our kombi in to our mechanic to get the engine dropped and a replacement gearbox installed (a 5-rib 002 "1800" box).... they had a lot of trouble removing it as our tow-bar (welded to the chassis) was in the way... they also discovered that the clutch cable was only joined by a couple of strands (as we expected) so replaced it at the same time. After reinstalling the engine and box, they then discovered that the clutch itself was also burned out... so they will now have to remove the gearbox again. Of course, being a lowlight, the replacement kit is relatively expensive...
$1300 so far... Alice could have bought a beetle for that! Oh well, at least we know that Woger will last a lot longer now... it had to be done. _________________ ....Woz
Yeah, we are looking forward to having a full set of gears.... we are also looking for forward to the lower revs (and better fuel economy) that we will get from the 5-rib (as we have a type iv engine)... it is more than we hoped to pay to fix the problem, but it will no doubt be worth it.
That's one more "to do" crossed off.... only 300 to go!
I am now glad we chose to send it to the mechanic - if they had difficulties, how would I have gone??! Such an experience could have psychologically scarred me!
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