Date:         Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:15:16 -0800
Reply-To:     Trooz <trooz@ROADRUNNER.COM>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From:         Trooz <trooz@ROADRUNNER.COM>
Subject:      Re: Transmission Seal Leak!?
Comments: To: "Peter T. Owsianowski" <pnoceanwesty@GMAIL.COM>
In-Reply-To:  <e30c845b0902241854h24e6debax8f774bdd5f06139@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="US-ASCII"

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com]
> On Behalf Of Peter T. Owsianowski
> Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 6:55 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Transmission Seal Leak!?

>
> Does this sound like the Tranny Seal behind the torque converter leak?
>
> Is it possible the seal dried out and will be "reacitivated"
> once the bus
> (and the weather) warms up?
>

I dealt with this for over a year and it never stopped leaking, but mine is
my daily driver so it wasn't a case of just drying out.
Neither does it sound like mine was leaking as badly as yours.  Eventually I
got tired of dripping fluid all the time and having to keep an eye on the
fluid level so I bit the bullet and had it replaced.
The mechanic, who I sorta kinda trust, talked me into rebuilding the
transmission as long as they had it out.  With 200,000 miles on it, I
guessed that was not a bad idea so had it done.

When I picked the van up, he showed me the old gasket and parts.  The gasket
would just crumble between your fingers.

The bad news is that a few thousand miles later I also had to do the
flywheel seal, so you may want to think about doing them both.

It was spendy, but I'm much happier not having to worry about parking in
friends' driveways and leaving spots for them to clean up.

I'm still not sure about having the tranny rebuilt.  From what I hear, ATs
are pretty bullet-proof and I baby my van.  His argument was that if I had
to come back in twenty thousand miles and then have it rebuilt, that I'd be
ticked off at them for not doing it while it was out.
I couldn't really argue with that.

Bob Trousdale
'90 Westy