Date: Tue, 1 Feb 2000 15:43:26 -0500
Reply-To: Martin Jagersand <vwjag@HAMMER.CS.JHU.EDU>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Martin Jagersand <vwjag@HAMMER.CS.JHU.EDU>
Subject: Tranny oil change: How to *not* do it.
Karl F. Bloss wrote:
> What is the tool to use to remove the plug in the transmission?
> From the Bus Depot on-line catalog:
> Socket, 3/8", 17MM Allen/Hex Head, Transaxle Drain Plug, all Air-Cooled &
> Vanagon $3.55 part # 38103
>
> Forget all the tricks with bolts and 2-3 nuts welded together.
> Just spend the $ and get it. It works great.
Mechanics has just become too easy ;-) Before all these new-fangled
on-line vendors it took some ingenuity to making tools and parts
that the local hardware store didn't have. In protest I'll stick
with my 3-nuts-bolted-and-epoxied-together ;-)
I still remember my first tranny oil change. Friends advise was:
"Check that you can get the fill plug out before opening the drain
plug and emptying the tranny.
Martin's improved procedure: Test open fill plug before even buying
new tranny oil.
Fill plug came out all right, so I put it back in and happily
drove to buy the GL4 oil. Next, back in the driveway, I crawled in
under the back, got my 3-nuts-b... tool on the drain plug and started
to unthread it. I carefully hand turned it the last few turns, feeling
for the end of the threads.
I was startled when suddenly the plug flew out of my hand, followed
by a jet stream of hot tranny oil soaking me completely. Took me
precious seconds to roll out of the way of the oil shower and
manuever the drain pan in my place.
All soaked I contemplated my mistake. It had been a cold, crisp morning
when I test opened the fill plug. At that point I had pressure equalized
the tranny to the high denstiy of the cold morning air. Plugging the
tranny back up and driving it to the aut store had heated it up
from maybe 5C to 50-60C. Normally the trannies are supposed to pressure
equalize slowly, but apparently not this one. Hence when I opened the
drain plug the oil was under pressure.
Those were times when even a tranny oil change was a major accomplishment
for me. Now several trannnies later it's routine. Even replaced the
messy filling procedure laying under the bus with a piece of garden hose
and a funnel outside the rear tire.
Cheers,
Martin
--
Westy 1.9l Turbo Diesel
Quantum 1.6l Turbo Diesel
New and used parts for sale, gas and Diesel:
http://www.cs.yale.edu/~jag/vw/forsale.html
Martin Jagersand email: vwjag@hammer.cs.jhu.edu
Computer Science Department
Johns Hopkins University
Slow down and visit the VW diesel Westy page:
WWW: http://www.cs.rochester.edu/u/jag/vw
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