warren@ihnss.UUCP (Warren Montgomery) (11/21/84)
This morning, my '79 Rabbit developed a problem with it's 5 speed transmission. It always has been hard to get into second gear when very cold. Today, on a day when it was about 15F (-10C), I had that problem for the first time this year. unfortunately, it didn't improve and spread to fourth gear as well. The car shifted perfectly in warm weather before, but now won't go into either second or fourth. 1, 3, 5, and reverse continue to funciton just fine. The lever just won't go much below the neutral position anywhere, as if something were blocking it. My current plans are to go over the linkage looking for blockages or bent parts, assuming that doesn't work, anybody have any ideas? Who (chicago area) should I take it to if it's more than just a ben't linkage part? Any suggestions appreciated.14 linkage part? Any -- Warren Montgomery ihnss!warren IH ((312)-979) x2494
warren@ihnss.UUCP (Warren Montgomery) (11/26/84)
I found the apparent cause of my recent shifting problem while looking at the shift linkage (Rube Goldberg would have been proud of this design). On my car, a white hose leads from the air inlet back to the exhaust manifold, apparently diverting air warmed by the exhaust back into the inlet. I discovered a couple of rusted out brackets falling off of the manifold and pipes, and the hose and a baffle attached to it had fallen into the shift linkage, jamming it. I recommend that anyone with shifting difficulties of any kind on a rabbit take a good look at the way that the linkage moves when shifted. (If you've never seen it, it's a whole bunch of levers and rods coming off of the back end of the transmission underneath the brake booster. What I need to find out now is what this hose and baffle are supposed to be fastened to. The baffle seems to be complete, but there is no apparent means to fasten it to anything. There are two bolts sticking out of the manifold that don't seem to be holding anything, but unless some intermediate piece of metal cleanly dissappeared, I can't see how these held the baffle. Neither the Bentley book nor Poor Richards offer any insight on these components. Do any rabbit owners out there know how these things attach? -- Warren Montgomery ihnss!warren IH ((312)-979) x2494