Volks,
My 89 GL Westy had the 4spd replaced with a rebuilt older transmission (I believe the PO said it was from an earlier 80s model.  Something about those trannys being more reliable, he said.)  He also told me that he spent a bunch of time with the Bentley adjusting it.  Well, there are a couple of things about it that concern me.  As a newbie who's still trying to figure out where all the various pieces are, I'm hesitant to dive into this one.  I'm going to take it to my local independent VW mechanic who's highly competent but who hasn't worked with a lot of these (we just don't have many of them around for him to work on).  Anyway, the transmission whines through the shift lever (you can hear it in the cabin through the shift lever).  It whines on acceleration and deceleration but you can make it quiet down when there's no load on the motor.  The shift pattern is also weird.  1st and 2nd don't line up vertically.  2nd is definitely more to the left.  Getting into reverse is kind of a spongy push down and over.  3rd and 4th seem to be ok but nothing really "locks", its all kinda spongy.  Any suggestions I should take with me to my mechanic?
TIA
Jim Fritz
91 Passat Wagon GL
89 Westy
66 Beetle
Decorah, Iowa USA
jfritz@decorah.k12.ia.us
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