Date:         Mon, 13 Oct 2003 20:44:51 -0700
Reply-To:     Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Subject:      Trans oil leak into bellhousing?
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

Just got back from our 10 day trip from BC to Idaho and back - all went
well, with the van running *great*, and NO sign of any VS issues at all,
BUT... along I-90 before Moses Lake, Wa, I pulled off at the horses
monument at the top of a short climb. Having just replaced clutch and
leaking rear main seal, I decided to look underneath, and to my horror,
saw oil dripping rapidly from the crossover pipe bracket just to the rear of
the trans drain plug. The oil smelled more like gear oil than engine oil, so
after having no luck finding a 17mm hex socket in Moses Lake, I went to
Walmart and had them top off the trans oil - 4 "pulls" is what it took I was
told, maybe a pint... (and only charged me $4.50... :)

The rest of the trip I took to parking the van slightly uphill to allow any oil in
the bellhousing to drain out and hopefully avoid ruining my brand new
clutch. I also studied the Bentley trying to figure out how likely an oil leak
from the trans into the bellhousing is. Looks like the input shaft is the only
place it can leak. So does this happen often? Is it an easy fix?
I'm now wondering if my rear main seal was fine all along... (I remember
thinking the oil in the bellhousing didn't smell like engine oil, but I figured it
was due to the clutch dust mixing with it).

ps: We saw more Westies and Busses in the ferry lineup coming home
than we did on the entire trip to Idaho and back... but the ratio of those we
did see returning the wave in Northern Idaho was pretty good - 2 out of 3
or so... :-)

--
Shawn Wright
http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright
'88 Westy 375k
'85 Jetta D 263k
'85 Jetta TD 482k (retired)
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