As far as I know in a case like this, I would check the transmission working
without the stick, laying under the car and moving the shifter of the tranny
by hand to see if it does find the other gears at all.  Look at the
connection on the rod and see if I can move it by hand from the bottom just
the same.  The system is simple enough.  If the tranny is really not good
and it does not select any gears, only then I would go ahead and change it.
Unless there is someone else with better idea.
Zoltan
----- Original Message -----
From: "George Thorburn" <thorgk@ACCESSCOMM.CA>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2008 11:51 AM
Subject: Re: 4 speed transmition stuck in fourth

Hi Roger,
The van owner stopped at a garage in Whitewood,  I hope they checked for
obvious external problems but who knows.  I will bring him all the
suggestions as soon as I can make contact with him.  He was having the van
towed to Regina where I'm sure he will be looked after.
Warning NVC coming up.
I'm sure he will have a day or two to check out the new RCMP Museum.
He missed last nights CFL game where the Riders (GO GREEN) handled the
Montreal Allouettes and are now 4 and 0 and first place in the league.  Did
you know that there were four player (2 on each team) originally from Regina
(Hughes, Flory, Foord and Woldu)
  ----- Original Message -----
  From: Roger Whittaker
  To: George Thorburn
  Cc: vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com
  Sent: Sunday, July 20, 2008 12:24 PM
  Subject: Re: 4 speed transmition stuck in fourth

  dear van troubles
  what year of bus is it
  next course of action would be as kenneth suggests
  laying under neath to see what happens
  then report the diagnostic findings back to group
  it could be as simple as a c clip let go or a kotter pin wore
  could be linkage issues
  gosh it will be great when every one has a video camera in their hands
  and submits the diagnostics .. as things are presently
  we are saying i have a dog
  it was running from the back field with my son
  both were hunting grouse
  the dog coughed excessively and then farted ...
  on my way to vet what should i expect

  responses so far ...
  dog must have been shot by son expect big $$$ to retrieve buckshot
  dog must have been stung by bee expect moderate $$ to remove stinger
  dog has clearly gone rabid .. better put it down before you get to vet
...lucky no one was killed or injured
  my dad had a dog that did that and he was on a hunting trip too ... cost
him plenty
  then the dog died at the side of the road from the result of indigestion

  i sure hope that the fellow with the troubled bus finds his self in a shop
that is run by decent folks
  and that the owner of the van and his family enjoy regina
  home of the RCMP (Royal Canadian  Mounted Police )
  and the Roughriders of the CFL
  ;o)
  yours

  On Sun, Jul 20, 2008 at 11:05 AM, George Thorburn <thorgk@accesscomm.ca>
wrote:

    >>I received a call yesterday from a fellow with a broken down vanagon.
    >>He is on his way from Whitehorse to Ontario and is currently in =
    >>Whitewood Saskatchewan.  He can only find 4th gear.  Is this the =
    >>notorious 3 to 4 slider problem or are there other possibilities?  He
is =
    >>having the van towed to Regina.  What should we check for before the
    >>repair shops open tomorrow?  If it is the slider is the best bet to =
    >>replace the transmission?

    The consensus seems to be that the transmission will need to come out.
There were some suggestions that the linkage be checked first.
    If a transmission is needed does anyone nearby (Manitoba, Alberta,
Saskatchewan) have a known good transmission they could ship to Regina?How
much would one of AA Transaxels re-built units cost? Does Daryl keep
re-builds on hand or would the broken transmission need to be shipped to him
and then back to Regina?

    George
    '85 Westfalia

  --
  roger w
  There are two kinds of jobs in the world:
  Picking up garbage and telling people things.
  Successful people do both, with the same good attitude. (riw)
  -----------------------------------------------------------
  View the growing list of video work at:
  http://revver.com/find/video/?query=LastonLastof&search_on=owners
  and ... older work at
  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7135104650374818257
  http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=3259745150182742364