Date:         Wed, 18 Jul 2001 14:15:53 -0600
Reply-To:     z5jacobs@QWEST.NET
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Kimberly Jacobs <z5jacobs@QWEST.NET>
Subject:      Automatic Tranny/Differential problem
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

We have not been on the list for a while but we try to keep up with
the archives. We are
having some troubles with our van and have just a few questions.
The search feature on vanagon.com doesn't seem to work right for
me, I keep hitting dead ends, so please forgive me if these are
questions that have been addressed before. If anyone can point me
to specific archives or has answers to these questions, it will be
greatly appreciated.

Recently we took our 87' Vanagon in to a local transmission shop
to have the tranny (automatic) checked out because we had
noticed a leak and were having to add fluid. When we came back
to pick up the van the guys at the tranny place said they looked at
it but wouldn't drive it because "they didnt want to do any more
damage to it". They said that the seals(???) gaskets maybe,
between the tranny and the differential were shot and were allowing
the two different weights of oils in the tranny and differential to mix.
We said ok, and thanks, and drove it home (they said they weren't
equipped to fix the problem anyway but that was OK because it
wasn't a place we would have had the work done anyway, they
were just offering a free check-up) We have not driven it anymore
since, this was last week, just in case. This last weekend we
talked to some fairly knowledgable friends about the problem and
one response we got quite a few times was that this was a
common problem. If fact one person told us that a similiar
transmission in Audi cars (maybe the 5000) had the same type of
problems and was subject to a recall. They suggested that maybe
the same was true for the automatic vanagon tranny too. Does
anyone know if there was such a recall? If there was that would be
great but if not we still need to fix it. The tranny place seemed to
think that we would have to drop the engine in order to get to the
problem but we thought otherwise, does anyone know for sure?
Also some publications suggest that you take the vehicle to a VW
dealer so that they can isolate the problem using "special
equipment", is this
advisable? We don't normally have VW dealers work on the van,
because, well it costs more than we can afford. Anyway we
appreciate any information you all might have, thank you

Kimberly Jacobs
z5jacobs@qwest.net
'87 Wolfsburg Vanagon