TheSamba.com :: View topic - Help on the road please! 4th gear problems

Sat Jul 19, 2014 7:27 pm

84 tin top
20k on complete trans rebuild by reliable builder
Just started happening today
Shifts great into and out of 1,2 and 3
Goes into 4th fine
But can't shift out of 4th
Till I come to a dead stop
Then will come out of 4th with a little force.
No grinding no whining no unusual noises
Anyone know what is happening? Thanks much!
Looking for some advise since it's the weekend and trans shops are closed.

I am also running a trans cooler with about 130-140 temps.

Sat Jul 19, 2014 8:22 pm

I would guess at a cracked 3-4 slider.

Sat Jul 19, 2014 8:51 pm

Can I drive it for two more days till Monday? Will it blow up? I am in Seattle. Thanks.

Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:05 pm

Unanswerable question.

You've got the bones in your hands--roll them together and toss them.
See what you come up with.

Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:10 pm

Just looking for some advise
I am on a road trip near Seattle now
Home is Los Angeles
But it is the weekend
Not a great time for this
That's all.

Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:17 pm

My advise?

If you have one iota of an idea that the trans or whatever is screwed up, and you want to get it where it's gotta go without creating any more catistrophic damage, put it on the back of a roll off bedded tow truck and get it home.
Of course you have AAA supreme towing coverage.

descriptions of whats wrong from the side of the road are so vauge via the internet it's real hard to suggest anything other than towing it.
The trans might hand grenade on the way home--your call--the dice are in your hands--ready for the roll.

Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:18 pm

Get ahold of Matt at AA Transaxle ... I had the exact issue in the winter ... 4th gear bearing going ... only I kept driving it a bit ... easy (I thought) and just got it out of 4th when stopped.

I should have stopped running it at first sign ... bearing eded up getting trashed ... needles everywhere which resulted in trashing half of the innards, 4th gear set, pinion bearing ... a whole bunch of other stuff . way beyond a 'basic rebuild'

Park it, remove the tranny and call Matt.

Daryl helped out immensely with mine and Matt did a great job w the work.

Others may have a different idea ... regardless ... DON'T drive it.

Good Luck, John

Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:20 pm

There are some :"floating" inter lock pins near the nose cone which can get sticky. They prevent the trans from shifting into to 2 gears at the same time.

If one is damaged it may cause some odd shifting behavior.

Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:31 pm

two things can happen here;

(1) you & the van make it home.
(2) you and the van are on the side of the road DOA.

Now, you have to decide how big your gonads are--
The bigger the explosion, the more Dracma's your going to have to come up with to repair it.
This move is your deal--your call.

Sat Jul 19, 2014 9:37 pm

Save some yourself some money down the road.
Park it, rent a car if you need to still travel.
Get it towed home or find a local shop and have the tranny pulled and inspected. Hopefully your reliable builder still has a warranty? :?:

It is always no fun to get stranded, sorry to hear about tranny issues for anyone.

:cry:

Sat Jul 19, 2014 11:24 pm

So, I had my 3/4 slider crack while 70 miles from home. Obviously not 100% sure that's what it was while on the side of the road puzzling why suddenly with no untoward noises it simply would not go into 3rd, but I knew of the issue. So, I checked the trans fluid, noodled around checking other things on the side of the road while my brain wrapped itself around the catastrophic failure. Shift linkage fine, shifter box up front fine, shift rod center splined link tight and recently adjusted. Crap.

So, knowing that power would not be transferred through that cracked slider in 1/2 gears, I limped home with the flashers on and got lucky. Stripped the trans and found a textbook cracked slider.

The trouble with this particular failure is you can't diagnose it 100% on the side of the road. Check the trans oil and it may be clear and the magnet just the usual small beard of metal dust. That's because the failure is simply a stress crack that suddenly lets go, not a slow grinding problem that would tell its tale in the oil color and magnet.

The other trouble is the slider may fail in the classic manner like mine where it remains in place cracked. OR you may get unlucky and a chunk of this beefy hardened synchro slider falls off, jams something and the entire transmission is instantly reduced to a bunch of oily parts laying on the road. Case, internal gears, shafts - everything.

As Terry says - it's a total crapshoot if you continue to drive it. Right now, it's a trans that needs to be stripped down, the slider replaced, and then put back together. Perhaps $500 in parts and whatever labor it is. But blow the side of the case out and it's a whole lot more.

In a perfect world, someone in Seattle would have a used trans you could toss in and drive home, and bring the damaged trans to whomever built it (and perhaps did not replace the 3/4 slider) to see if they'd help you out with a light rebuild. But driving it with what is probably the correct side of the road/internet diagnostic of a cracked slider is a toss of the dice.

Bummer.

Sun Jul 20, 2014 6:21 am

If I was in your shoes I'd be asking for a used tranny in the area and swap it in and drive home.... :D

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=591107&highlight=

Sun Jul 20, 2014 8:32 am

Good idea--

Tools , time , & energy kick in here though.
If he has all of the above this would be a good path to take.

If not--call the hook, or even perhaps one of the transporter flat beds on a return run to his neck of the woods.
Might do the job for fuel costs.
This he can find on the internet while he's sitting thinking of what his next move is going to be.

Lots of possibilities here, and I for one would examine one of them way prior to driving it with an on the way out or half smoked trans.