Don't know about the automatic, but it is much easier to pull the standard tranny than to pull the engine.

Karl Wolz

> -----Original Message----- > From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of > Craig Oda > Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2004 9:50 PM > To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM > Subject: Broken bolt on torque converter > > After crawling around under the van I found a sheared bolt which looks > like it came from the torque converter. At least, I think it is the > torque converter. See here: > > http://oda.bz/vanagon/2004_07/ > > The van started making noises about 30 miles from my house and I drove > it home. It's on jack stands now and won't start. Sounds like > something is jammed in the metal plate shown in the picture. The > threads in the plate look damaged and I think there is a piece of > metal in there that was causing havoc. > > I plan to take out the engine to look at the plate this weekend. > > Is this the torque converter plate? I have an automatic transmission. > > If the plate is damaged, what should I do? Should I attempt to repair > it by sending it into a shop or buy a new one. How much would this > plate cost? > > Besides dropping the engine for further inspection, any other suggestions? > > I guess this puts a damper on my plans to go to Lake Shasta. Though, > if the plate is cheap and that's the primary thing that's damaged, I > can probably drop the engine, swap the plate out and jack the engine > back in over a weekend. > > Or, maybe this is too optimistic and I've got more serious problems > here because I drove the engine on the freeway for 30 miles after the > bolt sheared off? > > Thanks. > > Regards, > Craig