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
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
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-----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
