Re: are Volkswagens off-topic?


"Paul E. Schoen" <pstech@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"John Larkin" <jjlarkin@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in
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Well, my 93 Golf finally refused to transport me, for the first time.
I was about to come to a stop at a stop sign on a downhill (I *do*
stop at stop signs) on Diamond at 29th, and it felt like I'd run into
a boulder... it absolutely jammed. The engine and clutch worked, it
shifted, but it moved like it was welded to the Earth, ie, not a mm.

So I called the tow truck. Luckily, the location is high and green,
breezy, with a nice view of downtown, so the wait was pleasant, even
though the car was in the middle of the street. I got a few dirty
looks and 5 offers of help, a pretty good ratio.

The tow-truck driver asked to try it himself before he towed it away.
It was still locked solid, but he put it in reverse and it backed
right up! Going forward, it locked again in a couple of feet; backed
once more, and it was fixed. Smart guy! I drove it to my repair guys,
they pulled the tranny pan, and of course they found a gear tooth.

This car has 62K miles on it, and I drive mostly on hills, and I must
shift 20 times per mile, so that's a million or two shifts so far, so
I guess I can't bitch too much. The synchronizers had been getting
soft lately, so the gears have taken a beating.

So,

1) Should I keep driving it for a week or so, until I get a new car?
There's no audible nastiness, so I must have just knocked off the top
of a tooth.

2) Should I get another VW? The 5-cylinder 2.5l looks interesting.

3) Manual or automatic? Shifting keeps me amused and feels macho, and
an automatic would make me feel like a little old lady, but these
hills are hell on clutches and manual gearboxes.

And why did they call them Rabbits in the first place, then call them
Golfs, and now call them Rabbits again?

John


I have driven manual transmission vehicles exclusively since 1970, and
never had a problem with a transmission. Clutches, yes, and a broken tooth
in a differential once, but never in a tranny. I have had a 1965 Chevy
Malibu, 1961 and 1966 Ford vans, 1972 and 1977 Toyota Corollas, a 1982
Toyota pickup, a 1986 Isuzu Trooper, and presently a 1997 Saturn SW1 and a
1998 SL1. Most of these vehicles had over 200,000 miles when I sold or
junked them, generally because the frames were rotting away. I never
changed the tranny lube. I have never owned a VW, but they seem to have a
good reputation. It is possible that a manufacturing defect could have
caused the broken tooth, but your comment on the synchronizers makes me
wonder if there was another problem. Usually when my vehicle has had
problems shifting, I have found problems with the clutch, causing poor
disengagement and harsh shifting. If your vehicle is otherwise in good
shape, and you like it, I would suggest getting a used or rebuilt tranny
(and a new clutch). It would be a good idea to disassemble those
components
to see any other clues to their demise. In general, I would rather give
money to a hard-working local mechanic than buy a new vehicle from
manufacturers who refuse to offer high efficiency vehicles, and insist on
pushing their zoom-zoom-zoom mentality.

Good luck,

Paul




The only transmission I ever had a problem with was when I had my 5 speed
1985 MPFI Camaro, at about 220,000 km's. I drove the *crap* out of that car
(stuff like kicking it to the floor in 1st and doing a burnout, 0-100 km/h
in about 5.5 seconds, sometimes a little better if the fuel injection was
just right for the weather and could quickly hit 100 km/h in 2nd gear, wide
open launches where everyone in the car is slammed to and glued to the seat,
etc), and eventually 2nd gear's syncro went bad (sheared the 8 or 10
alignment pins right off of it!). When the syncro went bad, trying to get it
in second gear, probably too quickly a few times, I smashed the tips off the
shift fork! This caused shifting into first to be progressively unreliable,
and finding second was getting rare (but going from 1st to 3rd was no big
deal, as the car had enough power to not need second at all, unless the
extra performance was wanted). Being on a low budget at the time (student) I
took a syncro and a shift fork from an S-10 transmission and fixed it. The
newer transmissions went to a Borg Warner T-5 "World class", from the
standard T5, which were built stronger, and used better 3 piece sycros.


.

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