TRANSMISSION, STRANGE PROBLEM

OK, here is the background. 550 Beck Spyder with 1915cc and 3.88 freeway
flyer. Total of 8000 miles on combination. Cable shift. Hydraulic clutch,
Kennedy 1700#

Here is the problem: The shift has been great until recently. Works great
when cold.....gear selection is easy, lockout if fine, precision gear
changes. After hot, it becomes a little harder to put in first. After
hotter (normal operating temperatures) it becomes very difficult to find
first and frequently ends up in third after stopping and trying to go
again. Takes an abnormal amount of pressure to engage. ALSO something to
note, if i slip it into first while slowing down, just before I stop it
seems to slip in easier. After a while all the gears get hard to
find........

I have my ideas but will keep to myself to prevent biasing any ideas out
there.... Something of note, I do not pound this tranny......


Thanks in advance,
Joe Gliebe

"ALSO something to note, if i slip it into first while slowing down,
just before I stop it
seems to slip in easier. After a while all the gears get hard to
find........ "

If I had to take a guess I'd say the clutch is not fully disengaging.
Easy way to check, when you have difficulty shifting..at a complete
stop put the clutch to the floor, wait 2 or 3 seconds, then attempt to
get into reverse. If it grinds, the clutch is not releasing far enough.
Could be air in the lines expanding when it heats up, or perhaps a
pushrod needs adjustment.

Chris

OK, here is what I found. It was indeed the lack of disengagement of the
clutch. I use hydraulics for the clutch. The slave obviously had leak by
the seal of the pulling piston; however, the only indication of this (and I
was not smart enough at the time to recognize it) was that the clutch pedal
did not go down as far as it used to. In my defense, if there is any, it
was a gradual thing. The fluid was slowly filling up the other side of the
piston over a period of couple of months or so. The was very little
external leakage from the slave cylinder, apparently the outer seal around
the moving shaft was pretty tight. However, what little leakage there was
expertly hidden by the dust boot.

Any way, picture this. The opposite side of the pressure seal was slowly
filling up with fluid, I would guess a little bit every time it was
operated. This slowly lessened the throw of the shaft because of the fluid
on the other side of the seal that was hydraulically locking the motion.

SUMMARY.
Very little leakage, so no discernable level changes in the sump and no
tell-tail dripping since it was pretty well contained in the wrong side of
he seal and in dust boot.

No radical change in pedal feel, since it was gradual

Heat probably expanded the fluid on the wrong side of the seal when it got
hot further limiting the movement and preventing the clutch from
disengaging.

Problem solved, thanks for the insight.......

Now I have to go back and undo all the adjustments I did to the cable
shifter......but boy do I know how that works now......

Joe GLiebe

Joe,

Couple years back I had a 67 beetle that kept losing the clutch
adjustment. I would get it set up perfect, and a day or so later it
would be grinding/hard to get into gear again. I would tighten up the
cable, and the problem would go away.

After a few adjustments and readjustments I knew something was changing
but I wasn't sure what exactly was going on. As it turns out, the pin
that goes between the clutch pedal and the actuating arm was slowly
shearing off(probably original from 1967), which allowed the 'hook'
inside the tunnel to retract further and further back, thus robbing me
of the needed travel to fully disengage the clutch. What surprised me
is how little the thing had to move to throw my whole clutch adjustment
out of whack. I pulled the pedal cluster, installed a new pin..and
never had any more trouble from the clutch.

Sometimes the problem is quite simple to fix and understand, but
finding it initially takes a bit of work.

Chris

Well, I am living proof of that, lol. Thanks again, Lesson is look for the
obvious!!

Joe
"Hal" > wrote in message
oups.com...
> Joe,
>
> Couple years back I had a 67 beetle that kept losing the clutch
> adjustment. I would get it set up perfect, and a day or so later it
> would be grinding/hard to get into gear again. I would tighten up the
> cable, and the problem would go away.
>
> After a few adjustments and readjustments I knew something was changing
> but I wasn't sure what exactly was going on. As it turns out, the pin
> that goes between the clutch pedal and the actuating arm was slowly
> shearing off(probably original from 1967), which allowed the 'hook'
> inside the tunnel to retract further and further back, thus robbing me
> of the needed travel to fully disengage the clutch. What surprised me
> is how little the thing had to move to throw my whole clutch adjustment
> out of whack. I pulled the pedal cluster, installed a new pin..and
> never had any more trouble from the clutch.
>
> Sometimes the problem is quite simple to fix and understand, but
> finding it initially takes a bit of work.
>
> Chris
>