Anthony, I'm pretty sure you are not near me, but if you were, I would
tell you to grab a six pack and come on over. Throw out or pilot
bearing is likely. Pull that tranny and take the opportunity to
rebuild all the bits on the shift linkage. Oh and, also while the
tranny is out, replace the accelerator cable with a new one and make
your old one a spare. That's one little item that's caused me some
grief in the past! PITA on a Syncro in da'woods!
Good luck,
Miguel

On Mon, Aug 17, 2009 at 11:31 AM, Greg Potts<greg@pottsfamily.ca> wrote:
> That sounds a lot like a throw-out bearing failure to me, or possibly a
> really bad clutch problem. Either way you won't be out a lot of $$ for
> parts; it's the labour for re-and-re of the transmission that will make up
> most of the bill.
>
> It might also be a pilot bearing issue; and that one could be tricky since
> the pilot bearing finds its home in the end of the crankshaft.
>
> No matter how you slice it, it looks like you're gonna have to pull the
> transmission to find out.
>
> Greg
>
> Quoting Anthony Egeln <regnsuzanne@YAHOO.COM>:
>
>> Thanks to everyone for their insight.......
>>
>> Yesterday I had never tried to shift it while the engine was off.   Today
>> I tried to shift it with the engine off and I can get all the  gears with
>> little difficulty.
>>
>> So this points to the clutch, right?
>>
>> Just a few weeks a ago I had it in the shop for a gear oil flush,  and
>> they said that the clutch slave was leaking.  They replaced that  but they
>> kept it an extra day because they said they couldn't get  the clutch
>> adjusted.  Then later, after I had picked it up I noticed  a new sort of
>> low-pitched whiney noise only when the clutch pedal  was released, i.e. it
>> went away when the clutch pedal was  depressed.  You may recall that I asked
>> the List about this.
>>
>> So maybe something with the clutch adjustment may have doomed it?
>>
>> Thanks, Anthony
>> '89 Syncro GL (Hidalgo)
>>
>> --- On Sun, 8/16/09, Anthony Egeln <regnsuzanne@yahoo.com> wrote:
>>
>> From: Anthony Egeln <regnsuzanne@yahoo.com>
>> Subject: Transmission or clutch gone
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Date: Sunday, August 16, 2009, 5:31 PM
>>
>> Well, I had a catastrophic something failure a little while ago....
>>
>> Driving down the road at 45 mph, and suddenly the car shakes like it  went
>> over a pile of rocks.
>>
>> Then it smoothed out and I went another 1/4 and tried to shift and
>>  couldn't shift.  I turned into a subdivision and pulled over.  I  can't
>> shift it and when I let out the clutch it seems like it is  still in gear.
>> Got a ride home and now awaiting AAA to bring the  van home.
>>
>> My first thought was that the viscous coupling kicked in, because it
>>  shuddered & shook so bad for that brief moment, and I never heard of  a
>> clutch suddenly failing.  So I'm wondering if its the clutch or  maybe the
>> tranny granaded.
>>
>> Any thoughts?
>>
>> Second problem is I have absolutely no place here in north Florida  to
>> take it for repair anymore.  There was one shop but
>>  for various reasons, I no longer have confidence in their ability  to
>> work on a vanagon.
>>
>> Thanks, Anthony
>> '89 Syncro GL (Hidalgo)
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>