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Date:         Sat, 11 Dec 2004 08:53:29 -0800
Reply-To:     "Tom L. Salicos" <TomSalicos@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         "Tom L. Salicos" <TomSalicos@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Struck Oil, Rebuilt CV's and a Tense Trip Home
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

A few weeks ago I posted about finding oil in a rear, inside CV boot on my Syncro. I had also bought two rebuilt rear shafts I had intended on installing myself. With the oil problem, I took Ravenous to my mechanic and he fixed the oil seal. He also installed the "new" shafts. Charged me for 1.6 hours and about $6 in parts, I think.

I put on a couple hundred miles before taking my annual Oregon-Socal Thanksgiving trek. The trip down was completely fine. Not a drop of anything underneath when I stopped. Half quart of oil per 1000 miles, no change at all to coolant. That's at fairly fast freeway speeds (but trying hard to keep it under 130).

Once there, after 50 miles or so, I started hearing a metallic rattling when I took off. I also thought my front wheels were scrubbing on acceleration. I posted this and got a few suggestions. One said he thought I had a CV joint that was about to leave me stranded.

I talked a gentleman from VW Paradise in San Marcos into listening to my sound. Thanksgiving Eve, ready for a long weekend, they didn't have much time to offer. He thought there was a problem, but that the van was drivable. I decided to drive back home (1100 miles) but baby it all the way.

Once home, I took Ravenous to my mechanic who diagnosed the sound as a rear CV joint. When he put the van up on the rack, the axle just fell out of the bearing assembly. He said the other side was noisy and didn't really want to leave it. So we put my two original axles back in. By then my most excellent list vendor was already shipping me a replacement for the first one.

I will send all three rebuilt axle shafts back. The name on the green box is "ARI". My mechanic says they are the same ones he gets from NAPA. He said he checked his records and found that he had 11 out of 46 of these things fail. He doesn't like to use them, but folks don't want to pay $500 to have just the CV joints replaced. I think this is something I am going to learn how to do, thanks to a couple of great web sites.

I pick up Ravenous today, so I don't yet know how much I will have spent, only to wind up with the same shafts.

I guess it is a good vehicle if it gets you back home.

Tom Salicos '87 Westy Syncro


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