Once had a squeaking noise as well, clutch pedal down trying to engage
first.  Hard to shift into reverse from a standstill, squeaking noise there
too.  Even once moving from first gear and trying to upshift to second it
was very difficult and many times impossible.  Turned out the pilot bearing
was gone.
Pulled the tranny and the pilot bearing was almost non-existent, needles
were in pieces with some damage to the transmission shaft.
As info.

Claudio Cella
1987  Vanagaon GL  7 pass.
1990  Jetta  TD
1999  Ford Taurus (for sale)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Bob Stevens" <mtbiker62@hotmail.com>
To: <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
Sent: Friday, October 10, 2003 10:47 PM
Subject: Re: very mysterious tranny problem...

> 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.
> >
>