Date:         Wed, 18 Jul 2001 19:25:22 -0700
Reply-To:     Leon Korkin <korkwood@SURFREE.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Leon Korkin <korkwood@SURFREE.COM>
Subject:      Re: Automatic Tranny/Differential problem
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=iso-8859-2

Unless "local transmission place" is VW-specific don't waiste your time or
trust those people,
they are pulling your leg. First, have tranny cleaned to find out where
leak/leaks is. It can simply be rubber seal or gasket(like governor cover)
worn out allowing fluid to leak under pressure.
Don't take seriously suggestion of dropping engine to get to trans, not
needed. Trans can be dropped by itself relatively easy.
Leon
85 Subwagen Westy


Kimberly Jacobs wrote:

> 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