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Date:         Sun, 18 Sep 2005 18:54:33 -0700
Reply-To:     David Marshall <mailinglist@FASTFORWARD.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         David Marshall <mailinglist@FASTFORWARD.CA>
Subject:      I had a fun weekend fixing my Syncro transmission in the middle
              of nowhere...
Comments: To: Mailing List - Syncro <syncro@yahoogroups.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"

Well, just like the show Gilligan's Island, it was only meant to be a three hour tour.... Saturday we took the Syncro Westfalia and the Golf Country out to a lake in the back country for some mild 4x4ing and to do some biking and paddling and to do some ATVing with some friends and be back after an evening BBQ.

While exploring a side road that went nowhere, I decided to turn my Westfalia around on this one lane road. At the beginning of this road is a nice creek that you must ford and some deep mud holes that need crossing. Anyhow, when turning around the transmission was really hard to get into reverse, so I put it in G again to move ahead a little and then back in to R with no problems. The turn around was done and I continued back to the road intersection, thus crossing the stream and going though a lot of deep mud holes. We then drove to the lake and I went with my friend on an ATV to see where this road eventually went to. When I got to the area where I turned around I saw a big dark spot on the gravel... didn't notice it before so I stopped and had a look... oh oh... GEAR OIL, smell like $20 a liter Red Line MT-90... then a piece of nice silvery gear box material and an M8 x 40 Allen bolt... looks suspiciously like a VW Allen bolt... oh dear.. Upon going back to camp, I looked at the transmission on my Syncro Westfalia... the plate that covers the reverse gear had a golf ball sized hole in it! The M8x38 bolt that holds the casing together came out and the spinning gear forced it through the cover thus making a big hole for oil to go out of and water to come into. I drove about 3km with almost no gear oil in the transmission and no doubt got some water in there.... well fudge! So, what to do... well, gotta get it fixed right!? Well, it's 4:45 and the stores close at six, so off to town in the Country. We stopped at Canadian Tire with only minutes to spare and got some silicone gasket material, 5L of gear oil, roll of paper towel and some brake cleaner. Then off to home where I just so happen to have a Syncro transmission on the garage floor - removed that cover and headed back to camp - getting there at close to 8pm where it is now dark. Hélène goes back to town with the Country and Scott and Jeff and I sit watching a nice harvest moon come up with a full cooler of European beer, some chips and marshmallows and a roaring camp fire. After a cold (-1C) night my freezing cold friends get out of their Jeep and tent (my Westfalia has a nice factory installed furnace so I was OK!!) and we prepare some breakfast and get ready for the upcoming repair. BTW, Jeeps and ATVs don't carry a lot of breakfast so owning a Westfalia is a good thing once again. Well, the removal of the old plate and installation of the new one went pretty smooth - 10mm socket and wrench with the black silicone stuff and that was done. Then, we had to remove the skid plate to drain the 0.5L of remaining "oil" left in the transmission... actually the oil looked fairly good with not much water in it - much to my surprise. Then the hard part. How do you get freezing cold 90 weight gear oil to fill the transmission... so... after struggling to get 5L of oil through a piece of flexible tubing we looked at a job well done, had a beer, cooked some European wieners and vegged for a while as the sun is starting to warm everything up.

The drive out was uneventful, shifting was smooth, no noises. Highway speeds were fine too. Upon getting home, the gear box wasn't hot and there were no leaks. But, instead of getting it rebuilt in November when I start my TDI conversion, it looks like it has to go now... bummer...

So, a pretty major failure this weekend that could have went undetected and could have left me with a grenaded transmission in the middle of nowhere. It's a good thing to have a wife that can drive the Golf Country though mud soup and get me to the store in time, it is a good thing that I have friends who will freeze their asses off to help another friend. Also, I think people saying that Synthetic oil is over rated are full of crap! That was the best looking $100 puddle of oil I have ever seen seeing how my gear box last 3 tough kilometers with almost no oil and with the addition of some water! Am I lucky or what! ;-) David Marshall

Fast Forward Automotive Inc. 4356 Quesnel-Hixon Road Quesnel BC Canada V2J 6Z3

Internet: www.fastforward.ca Email: sales@fastforward.ca Phone: (250) 992 7775

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