sounds to me like it the shift linage may have been making metal-to-metal
contact with the trans, since shift parts were out of place....and it was
transmitting normal trans sounds to the cockpit,
and now you've fixed that, thus less noise.
 ( one check is to see how much metal is on the magnetic drain plug. You
don't have to drain the trans to do that really...and some metal there is
normal. )

if you want to hear 'nice' transmissions noises while driving..
have someone else drive and put your ear right down on the shift knob..
you'll hear trans noise nicely.

Scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Jensen" <bluesbug@VERIZON.NET>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Monday, October 31, 2011 2:55 PM
Subject: Whining Transmission

> I've been having my transmission whine in first, second, and a little
> bit in third for a little while now...maybe three or four months.
> Today when I was parked, I discovered my linkage had come unbolted at
> the transmission.  After crawling around for
> a little while, getting greasy hands and whatnot, I got the arm bolted
> back on to the transmission again.  It seems that
> the whining of the transmission has lessened quite a bit as a result of
> this tightening of that linkage bolt.  How does this
> make sense.  Could it be that I'm just imagining that the whining has
> diminished?
>
> John Jensen
> johnjensen@johnjensenartist.com
> http://www.johnjensenartist.com
> bluesbug@verizon.net