Date:         Mon, 30 Dec 2002 19:06:07 -0800
Reply-To:     Dale Goodvin <dgoodvin@EARTHLINK.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Dale Goodvin <dgoodvin@EARTHLINK.NET>
Subject:      Torque Converter Questin
In-Reply-To:  <200212301834.18tceD6sI3NZFl40@penguin>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII; format=flowed

After recently taking our westy (1990, automatic) to the vw dealer in
Tacoma, Trish and i have both noticed a dramatic change in how it drives.

What we really really liked about it before was how easy it was to keep
up with the rest of the traffic, regardless of the regular amount of
hills we have in our area.  Also, when we shifted down to 2nd, 2nd
seemed to have a really great range in both power and speed.

Now, it feels like the vehicle is about 1000 pounds heavier and on many
hills, we gradually lose speed almost like with Lily (our previous
westy, a 1972, standard transmission.  Even shifting down to 2nd doesn't
help much (unlike before the recent work was done, when we breezed up
the same hills).

This is what VW Dealer did:

"replaced all belts" (3 V-Belts)

"replaced oil seal, gasket, bulb and TORQUE CONVERTER" (vehicle was
leaking transmission oil)

The only thing I think of that has caused this change is the new torque
converter, but I know nothing about it's mechanical make-up, so I don't
know whether it may be poorly adjusted, poorly installed, a defective
product, or whether it will change with time or if the earlier
transmission was not stock or if there should be a different converter
for the Westy as compared to the plain vanagon and they put the wrong
one in or ???????????????????????????????????????

Any thoughts, advice would be most welcomed.

Thanks,

Dale
(P.S., there is a warranty of 1yr/12,000 miles on the work)