Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2010 07:37:06 -0400
Reply-To: "Peter T. Owsianowski" <pnoceanwesty@GMAIL.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: "Peter T. Owsianowski" <pnoceanwesty@GMAIL.COM>
Subject: Re: Auto Transmission advice
In-Reply-To: <AANLkTi=t2a2qO7UwtznOVX0wkj9UQfFDynJcaaf9qXJA@mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1
HI, Peter:
Unfortunately for my wallet, I am in the "not much of a mechanic" category.
That being said, have been hyper-maintaining our buses for going on 9 years,
now. There are some good garages around Northern Indiana, plus our little
bus community here has provided group wrenching with me relying on some good
advice and help. Always try to get things in order before any massive
breakdown. The bus will tell you it has a problem if you listen.
The Transmission on our '87 (Auto) started heavily leaking last Winter after
-14F temps. I got all the new seals, O-rings, and fluids for the trans and
differential, got the group together and went through the whole procedure by
the book with help from the list. After we buttoned it up, it leaked worse
than before! And this is a group of Volks that has rebuilt 3 waterboxers,
too. Don't know if we had "bad" gaskets, O-rings or we just couldn't get it
right. So, you might want to get a quote from a local transmission place
getting a check-up and refurb. I ended up doing that - cost about $500 to
have everything re-sealed and it has been perfect since April. Your
slipping problem may be different than my leaks, but I think you get the
idea. Make sure you change out the transmission oil cooler when you getting
that doine. Those are around $250-300. Even Muir says he doesn't mess with
Transmissions, maybe you shouldn't either. Just my $.02.
Pete
'79 Westy "Aardvark"
'87 Westy "JoesVan"
WWW.Busesbythebeach.com
On Thu, Nov 4, 2010 at 1:18 AM, Peter Lapp <carrothospital@googlemail.com>wrote:
> Thanks for all the suggestions, guys. I may try that Lucas Transmission fix
> stuff for now to hold me over a little longer. Like I said before, it's not
> too bad yet, and only slips a little bit sometimes, but I know the day is
> coming.
>
> I definitely agree with you, Scott, about taking care of your van and not
> just fixing things when they break. Unfortunately, I'm not much of a
> mechanic and really only find out how to do things when they break(which is
> how I've learned nearly all I know about the Vanagon.). I do treat my van
> as
> best as possible and do as much preventive work as I know how to do, but
> without the expertise I'm sure I miss a lot.
>
> Thanks for all the input.
>
> On Wed, Nov 3, 2010 at 8:34 PM, David Beierl <dbeierl@attglobal.net>
> wrote:
>
> > At 04:15 PM 11/3/2010 -0700, Scott Daniel - Turbovans wrote:
> >
> >> The typical vanagon to me, needs about 300
> >> spots lubricated on it...many of which have never been done since they
> >> built
> >> it in Germany.
> >>
> >
> > How about a list? Seriously.
> >
> > Yours,
> > David
> >
>
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