Tom:

Thanks for your note.. needless to say I pour overe each and every reply
looking for the silver bullet fix!!

My comments below:

At 07:08 AM 5/18/98 -0700, you wrote:
>On Sun, 17 May 1998, thetrans wrote:
>
>> Recap:
>>
>> Clutch refuses to disengage when shifting. Seems to happen somewhat
>> intermitantly, but almost guaranteed to happen at least once during any
>> driving outing. [snip]
>
>
>> [snip] came to a turn and went to
>> downshift into third, and no clutch release.. had to coast to a stop,
>> jiggle shift lever, pump clutch, etc..kicked back into gear.
>
>
>Bill:
>
>If the clutch really didn't disengage, how did you coast to a stop, since
>you should, at this point, be stuck in 4th?

Well maybe the term coast was innapropriate, roll to a slower speed may be
better. I guess I probably wasn't stuck in gear, since the engine didn't
stall when the clutch was released (as I jiggled the shift lever..
something I hate to admit I'm becomeing expert at!!). 4th was my last gear
and I couldn't get the van into another gear w/o juggling and a small bit o
grinding. After sitting and juggling, I can usually find a groove again and
pop it into gear. Sometimes thats all it needs and I'll cycle again through
the gears.. other times it may only last for a few 1000 feet.

>From your description, it
>doesn't sound like a clutch problem, it sounds like a shifter mechanism
>or tranny problem.

I agree on both culprits. I still need to better inspect the shifter rod
linkages (I haven''t gotten under the front yet), and I may have a loose
slave cylinder (moves a bit when the clutch pedal is pushed). Tranny..
hopefully not but maybe...

>
>When you san "no clutch release" are you saying the clutch pedal wouldn't
>depress, or are you saying that the pedal depressed OK, but you were
>somehow "stuck" in 4th?  If the latter, then start, first, by inspecting
>the shifter mechanism.

I get what appears to be fine movement from the pedal. I get resistance,
return, etc. Pedal depresses OK, but somewhere the translation to release
clutch and/or shift gets lost. I guess whats confusing is that there are
really two things going on here.. the clutch bucks a bit, almost always in
first gear when starting up AFTER I have had the gear shift problem, which
would seem to be a clutch pedal/master/slave problem, then there's the
shifting problem. I can't see how the two may be related through one cause
(maybe they're not!). Anyway, yet another long winded discussion. Thanks
for your help & tipz!!

Bill

"Once in a while you get shown the light in the strangest of places if you
look at it right"

Hunter/Garcia