Date:         Sun, 30 Apr 2000 14:51:24 -0700
Reply-To:     Shawn Wright <swright@MAIL.SLS.BC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Shawn Wright <swright@MAIL.SLS.BC.CA>
Subject:      Trans Noise with Redline MTL?
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Has anyone experienced increased transmission noise with
Redline MTL?

Last year, I had the trans rebuilt in my '88 Westy, to replace a noisy
pinion bearing. I asked to have Redline MTL put in, as I've used it
before. The trans was nice and quiet after the job. It has been off
the road for 6 months, and only driven ~8k km since the rebuild, but
I now notice that the noise seems to be coming back - a constant
whine which increases with acceleration and speed starting at
about 60km/h in all gears. Letting off the throttle slightly will reduce
the noise. It may be my paranoia, but it seems the noise is getting
louder in the few weeks since I started driving it, although not nearly
as loud as before the rebuild.

What makes me suspect Redline? Well, I just did the clutch on my
'85 Jetta TD, and checked the trans oil level while it was out. It
seemed a bit lower than I thought it should be, so I added about 1/2
liter of Pennzoil 75w90 to the existing Redline MTL. This
transmission has never been touched, and now has 440,000 km on
it, but was starting to get a bit noisy at idle in neutral mostly.
Amazingly, after adding 1/2 of regular 75w90, the noise is almost
completely gone! This noise had been present for several years,
and possibly started soon after I added Redline MTL...

Has anyone seen this before? If I want to try another oil in my
Vanagon trans, what would you recommend other than Redline
MTL? (I'd like to dump it to check for metal, and maybe try
something else.)

I really don't want to damage my newly rebuilt trans! Help...

ps: Please cc: to my e-mail, as I am not on list at the moment.

Thanks!
Shawn Wright, I.T. Manager
Shawnigan Lake School
swright@SLS.bc.ca
http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright
http://www.sls.bc.ca