Hi there.  I subscribed to this list last Friday and already I've received 
over 140 messages on it.  Whew!  If I'd known....

Anyway, my wife and I have a '84 Vanagon GL and an '86 Jetta GL.  (And a 
Triumph TR6 and a '51 Mk VI Bentley, but I don't think you folks are that 
interested in Britcars).  We tend to use the VWs as transportation and the 
English cars as holes to dump money into.

We used to take our VWs to "Beyond Repair" in Paceco, CA for service.  Bill 
Watterson ran it and was wonderful.  If he said something needed fixing, it 
always did.  We could trust him not to rip us off with unneeded repairs -- he 
could trust us to keep coming back. 

Well, we've moved to Palo Alto, Ca and Pacheco is too far to go.  Can anyone 
recommend a VW mechanic on the Peninsula we can trust?  I like doing my own 
work, but sometimes life is too short; I'd rather go on a picnic with my kids 
than spend another weekend under the van.

And speaking of fixing things under the van, recently the noise level from the 
rear of the van has risen.  THere's a steady humming/whining noise coming from 
the back.  It seems to only happen while the engine is applying torque to the 
drivetrain -- if I back off the throttle it quiets down.  THe pitch does NOT 
alter when I shift gears, indicating it's not a "gearbox" problem, but in the 
final drive or axles/bearing.

I crawled under the van to check the oil in the transaxle, and discovered I 
had to disconnect the shift rod to get the right purchase on the filler plug 
with my cheapo 19mm allen wrench.  I also discovered a wonderful feature of 
vans: when it starts to rain you can get your whole body under it and you 
don't have to jack it up!  

I added quite a lot of gear oil to the tranny, but the noise persisted.  I 
suspect something is qute worn now, but I'm not sure what.  Before I start 
putting in a new transaxle (which I REALLY REALLY don't want to do -- it's the 
hassle/mess factor not the bucks.  I'd really rather put the new carpets into 
my TR6...) does anyone have experience with this kind of noise?  Is it a 
"you're almost worn out but don't need to worry for a few months" noise or a 
"Oh my god stop driving NOW before you all die" noise?

Thanks.

  --berry

P.S. What's a "GNATT"?
--
Berry Kercheval :: kerch@parc.xerox.com