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Date:         Mon, 30 Apr 2007 11:08:06 -0400
Reply-To:     Kenneth Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Kenneth Wilford <kenwilfy@COMCAST.NET>
Subject:      Re: Automatic trans won't stay in 3rd
Comments: To: Daniel O Stevens <dosteven@SYR.EDU>
In-Reply-To:  <150FA8AFF2107045B69F9BF548F3E8410F0813@SUEXCL-02.ad.syr.edu>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"

I would check the throttle linkage adjustment first to be sure you can rule it out.

Just because the PO had the transmission "rebuilt" doesn't mean that the people that did it actually did a good job. I had a similar scenerio. The customer had a receipt from the PO that had the trans rebuilt less than 10k miles ago but the trans was not working properly. I took it to my rebuilder. The transmission had a crack in the case which the previous "rebuilder" gunked up with permatex. All of the internal parts were still the original ones with the exception of a couple of new parts here and there, and the overall job was more of a disassemble, inspect, reassemble rather than a rebuild.

So you could be looking at a new transmission to get this going again. My guy does an awesome job, replaces many parts that most rebuilders don't. I have never had one of his have a problem because of this. But he isn't cheap either.

My point is that with rebuilders usually, you either pay now or pay later.

Thanks, Ken Wilford John 3:16 http://www.vanagain.com http://www.strictlyvwauctions.com http://www.eurovan.org http://www.vwcabrio.org Phone: (856)-327-4936 Fax: (856)-327-2242

-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Daniel O Stevens Sent: Monday, April 30, 2007 10:02 AM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Automatic trans won't stay in 3rd

So this new to us van has a receipt for autotrans rebuild about 25k ago.

We picked it up and drove it the ~200 miles home.. Acted a tad odd that didn't want to kick from 3rd to 2nd on a big hill.. But chalked that up to driver interference and only happened once. Consequent down shifts were on demand and predictable.

Drove it a few hundred miles around town, lend it to my father to get a safety inspection and on the highway drops outta 3rd into 2nd.. @ ~60mph... Revved like hell and slowed down, took 2ndary roads rest of way home..

So it'll shift into 3rd.. But only with no that's ZERO throttle action.. Touch the throttle and kicks into 2nd..

I've the Bently and reading thru the adjustment procedures, but this doesn't appear to be for a won't stay in 3rd scenario, but for a kick down setting.. I've hypothesized that it's related, but the linkages all appear to be in order..

Here's the PO story, he only had it for short time.. Wasn't into camping as much as he'd thought.. He'd replaced the Throttle cable, and corrected an adjustment in the linkages for 3rd to kick down better.. He'd ordered a screen & gasket kit.. (I have it now) just hadn't gotten around to servicing the trans fluid.. There's A LOT of talk on Thesamba about type'F' as a corrective/aggressive fluid change.. It DOES NOT SLIP in gears, and only on cold occasion takes a moment to build up and lock in the Torque converter on a 1st morning go.

So in hind sight the Pos story makes it appear he had ideas the trans was flakey.. And I do have a spare Autotrans here in the garage I can swap in a day or two.. But I prefer not to take knee jerk reactions..

I plan on dropping the AT pan, inspecting the insides, changing the screen and adding new ~75K valvoline ATF dexron fluid.. I suspect I may find bits of RTV from a pan gasket that would really gum up the werks.

Dan in NY


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