Mine, which died this spring, started with occasionally popping out of 4th.
I had never heard of the 3/4 slider issue, so I always just assumed I'd not
managed to get it all the way into gear. Then I started having problems
shifting out of 4th occasionally. That's when I started doing some research
and learned the bad news.

Joe

On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 5:52 PM Richard Koerner <rjkinpb@sbcglobal.net>
wrote:

> I've got 251,000 on my original manual transmission in an 85 tintop.  I
> drive it really gently, always have, and my van is really light; I'm the
> second owner; bought with 32,000 miles.  I now have 2.2 Subie motor but
> only use the extra power occasionally.  Shifts silky smooth too; just got
> shifter ball replaced, it broke after 250,00 miles....just went "pop" one
> day while shifting into reverse to back out of garage.
>
> BTW...what are the "warning" signs when a transmission is starting to die?
> Rich
> San Diego
>
>
>       From: Dennis Haynes <d23haynes57@HOTMAIL.COM>
>  To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>  Sent: Tuesday, August 1, 2017 3:21 PM
>  Subject: Re: Borescope: Inspect Transaxle 3/4 Slider Hub?
>
> You are a lucky one! Not the only one but lucky just the same. Are you the
> original owner? Proper care and feeding along with gentle driving pays off.
>
> Dennis
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of Steven Shelton
> Sent: Tuesday, August 1, 2017 6:17 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Borescope: Inspect Transaxle 3/4 Slider Hub?
>
> I have 287,755 miles on my original transaxle.
>
> <
> https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=icon
> >
> Virus-free.
> www.avast.com
> <
> https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=webmail&utm_term=link
> >
> <#DAB4FAD8-2DD7-40BB-A1B8-4E2AA1F9FDF2>
>
> On Tue, Aug 1, 2017 at 4:30 PM, Neil N <musomuso@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Would suggest it depends on how it's driven, type of gear oil used,
> > engine type, is it a rebuilt, by who, etc. My buddy has at least
> > 400,000 KM's (250,000 miles) on his '85 original transaxle.
> >
> > Neil.
> >
> > On 8/1/17, steve meassick <stevem@tdhvac.com> wrote:
> >
> > > What is the consensus on how long the manual transmissions really
> > > last before they start failing?
> > > Steve
> > >
> >
> >
> > --
> > Neil n
> >
> > Blog: Vanagons, Westfalia, general <http://tubaneil.blogspot.ca>
> >
> > 1988 Westy Images <https://picasaweb.google.com/musomuso/New1988Westy>
> >
> > 1981 Westfalia "Jaco" Images, technical
> > <http://tubaneil.googlepages.com/>
> >
> > Vanagon-Bus VAG Gas Engine Swap Group <http://tinyurl.com/khalbay>
> >
>
>
>
>