The tranny experts here will give you the best diag. Wes, but it does sound
to me like the 3rd-4th slider is going or gone?? The other "squeak" sounds
to me like the plastic mechanism under the rubber boot on the floor at the
base of the shifter. I lifted mine the other day and greased it with light
grease and that made things very smooth. I also spray some silicone on the
two sliding supports on the shaft under the van and that also makes a big
difference in smoothness.
Bob Stevens

http://groups.msn.com/BobsPhotoShare
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/tiico

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wesley Alden Pegden" <wes@CS.UCHICAGO.EDU>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, October 10, 2003 5:44 PM
Subject: very mysterious tranny problem...

> So...
> If I go out to my van right now and start driving around, it will shift
> like butter.  I mean reallly smooth.  I just put redline mt90 in 2 weeks
> ago, and it feels like it.
>
> But after driving through the city for ~30mintutes or so, it gets tougher
> and tougher to shift, to the point where it takes a couple tries to go
> from 4th to 3rd gear.  Next day?  Smooth as butter.  What's going on?
>
> On a possibly unrelated note, the shifter (not the tranny, I think)
> sometimes makes a sqeaking noise along the 1st-2nd gear axis, kind of like
> a window wiping noise.  Is there anything I can lube to fix this?
>
> Thanks for any help on these!
> wes
> '84 (manual) vanagon.
>