Date: Tue, 28 Jun 2005 15:46:58 -0700
Reply-To: Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Karl Wolz <wolzphoto@WORLDNET.ATT.NET>
Subject: Re: Trans report : SOLVED!
In-Reply-To: <42C1C416.8080906@eucasafari.vendioweb.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
Chris,
A few years back, when I was trying to figure out why my clutch was
chattering, it was suggested by someone on this list that it could be a
bad tranny mount. I crawled under the van and pushed, pulled, yanked,
and wiggled at the mounts on both my vans, deciding that perhaps the
chattery one was a bit more flexible than the quiet one, but not
significantly.
I grabbed myself an old tire I found on the side of the road and cut
some strips out of the side of it, dipped them in contact cement (or
perhaps rubber cement?) and pulled them through the gaps in the bracket.
This didn't have any affect on the chattering, but did make the floor of
the van a giant sounding board, transmitting every little bit of engine
noise into the vans interior.
Replacing the tranny mount is a piece of cake - takes about fifteen
minutes, and you should be able to pick up a perfectly adequate used one
for a song. I'm pretty sure I have one here that you could have for the
price of shipping and $5.
BTW, the chattering seems to almost always be a worn throw-out bearing
yoke.
Karl Wolz
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
Behalf Of
> Chris Renz
> Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 2:42 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Re: Trans report : SOLVED!
>
> so, after all that, they just called while getting the 3rd trans
> installed for me to pick up to say they found the cause of the noise :
>
> the PO had replaced one of the transmission mounts with a solid piece
of
> metal, which is why it sounded so bad/loud at highway speeds.
>
> im going to pass on having them repair it for me for now as I dont
know
> 100% about how I feel about their ability to troubleshoot or work on
my
> van.
>
> cr
>
> Chris Renz wrote:
>
> > Hello fellow listee's
> >
> > 81 aircooled vanagon, manual transmission.
> >
> > local shop here in Eureka, CA : Honest Engine
> > rebuilt transmission from: German Transaxle, from Bend, OR
> >
> > The short of it:
> >
> > wife was driving to SFO and dropped 3rd gear while
downshifting/'climbing
> >
> > AAA towed to Honest Engine about a month ago.
> >
> > H.E. removed the old one, swaped it with the new rebuilt from G.T.
and
> > said they heard funny trans sounds, so they sent it back.
> > G.T. send a second, same issue. Sent this one back as well.
> > Waited for new one to arrive, installed, same issue. NOW they
realize
> > its probably something else and have already lost their asses on it,
> > so I can either give them the word to start ripping everything out
of it
> > till they find the real source, or 'wait for whatever it is to get
worse
> > and fail'
> >
> > I guess it shifts fine, it just makes a noise while driving. they
had it
> > up on the lift, tried to locate with stethescope, no dice.
> >
> > I just dont know how I feel about it. the last transmission did make
a
> > somewhat loud noise while driving, but I thought the new tranny
would
> > correct that.
> > I know the trans had to be replaced anyway, its just odd that a shop
> > that works on these went through three transmissions trying to track
> > down the cause of this noise and
> > failed to do so.... I doubt I'll find it on my own. they checked the
> > clutch and it seems ok, swaped out the axles with rebuilt ones and
that
> > wasnt it either.
> >
> > I guess its time to bring it into another shop to get a new 'eye' on
the
> > project.
> >
> > I do have faith in Honest Engine, at least for one or two of their
guys
> > that ive spoken with anyway, so I dont think its their own lack of
> > knowledge.
> >
> > Anyway, any tips, suggestions or misc tomfoolery is welcome....
> >
> > cr
> >
> >
> >
> >
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