Date:         Fri, 18 May 2001 22:05:36 EDT
Reply-To:     Sersote@aol.com
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Paul M. Hillbish" <Sersote@aol.com>
Subject:      The bumpy ride....
Content-Type:  text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

This is related to an 86 Jetta. (For those of you who don't want to hear
about this)

About a week ago, I had a flat tire on my way to work. No biggy I thought,
fill it up, plug the hole, I'm done. I drove about a 10th of a mile to the
gas station, but it turned out that the air compressor there did not work.
Crap. Okay, I have fix-a-flat in the trunk. So I fill the tire with that,
fills up no problem. As I was driving though, I started getting an odd
vibration in the steering wheel, and then the car started shaking. That day,
I took it to a local garage/gas station near where I work, to get the tire
plugged. They did that, I figured it'd do the trick. I asked about the
vibration, and the guy told me that it is most likely because of the
fix-a-flat, that there is liquid in my wheel. It sounded reasonable at the
time, so I took his word for it. Days later, still happening. By then, all
the liquid that was there, would be dissolved right? It is now over a week
later. Here are the symptoms:

When I pull out, it is fine. The vibration starts the second I hit 40 MPH.
Then it gets progressively worse as I speed up. It feels like it is coming
from the tire that was flat (Front passenger side) but I'm not sure. The
vibration is similar to that of a bad CV joint (I've had all 4 replaced
recently) but without the telltale clicking. I am beginning to think that
this is transmission related. It seems to do it when it kicks in to 4th gear.
(It's an automatic GLI) It's getting really bad. The entire car shakes
violently when it does this, and leaves a sick feeling in my stomach when I
drive. I'm kind of scared, because this is my daily driver, and my only legal
form of transportation. I'm getting mad, because it's a fast, and peppy
little car. It's hard to obey the speed limit in her, and it is more than
annoying to have to keep it under 40 MPH. Any help on the situation would be
greatly appreciated. Sorry the post was so long. :) Thanks.

--Paul--

Van Content: My Van runs fine! I had to put more coolant in him a week ago.
PITA working the funnel and the antifreeze, and the door at night when you
are half drunk showing off the van to friends. There.