Hi Dan,

Fly til' failure.

My stock tranny, which never has had its oil changed, has 308,000 miles on
it.  I don't let my van read any of that stuff; however, my 88 which has
167,000 miles on it has a locked up tranny which I am replacing this
weekend.

Jere

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Daniel Brideau
Sent: Wednesday, August 25, 2004 8:42 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: should I get a new transmission?

Hi,

I'm going to take a 3 week road trip in September.  My '85 is running well,
and I'm confident it will stay that way.

The only item I'm concerned with is the infamous 3-4th gear failure.  My
Westfalia just flipped 140,000 miles - from what I read, this is the spot on
the odometer when the transmission is most likely to fail.

1) Should I get a new one now, or wait for this one to bust? I plan to keep
the van for few more years.

2) What's an easy way to see if the trans has been replaced before?  I
bought the van without any records of service.  I did have it out to replace
the clutch last fall, but didn't notice any signs of work. (but I wasn't
really looking)

Thanks for your guidance,

Dan