Date: Sat, 2 Apr 2011 10:27:52 -0700
Reply-To: Don Hundt <dhundt@BENDBROADBAND.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Don Hundt <dhundt@BENDBROADBAND.COM>
Subject: Re: More fun with mechanics
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="UTF-8"; reply-type=original
Rocky,
Gary is a great mechanic. I'm surprised he couldn't find the problem.
I had a persistent clunk in my truck, I put it on a lift and shook
everything I could grab, couldn't find the problem. When I put the truck on
the ground I shook one of the front shocks and there it was. The hole in the
end of the shock was slightly larger than the mounting bolt, every time I
went over a bump it would rattle. I couldn't find the problem on the lift
because the weight of the suspension hanging in the air was just enough to
put tension on the shock. YMMV
Don
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rocket J Squirrel" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Saturday, April 02, 2011 9:10 AM
Subject: More fun with mechanics
>I took Mellow Yellow to see a new doctor . . . I mean mechanic
> yesterday. There has been this mysterious "thunk" sound whenever I'm
> cruising at low speeds on flat surface streets and take my foot off the
> accelerator. Previous mechanic, here in Bend, Ore. (p-mail me if
> interested, not slamming here w/o him being able to defend himself) put
> it on the rack, poked at everything, could not find the cause.
>
> The noise originally showed up last year, and even after the
> transmission was removed, rebuilt by German Transaxle here, and
> re-installed, the sound persisted.
>
> I figured a new set of eyes on the problem might turn up something.
>
> But the new guy, Gary Young, found nothing. The axles has been replaced
> six years ago when the CV joints gave up, but we've only put on maybe
> 10,000 miles since then. Still he checked them out and found that while
> they did have grease in them -- and he's found plenty that had not been
> filled up when installed -- these were decently, though not completely
> filled. Unhooked them from the flange and moved them around and they
> felt fine. He mushed more grease in. Didn't improve the "thunk" sound.
>
> But while poking around he found a hose that was not connected, causing
> a vacuum leak. It might have been yanked when the prev. mech. removed
> and replaced the transmission, I know there were no loose hoses there
> last year when I was poking around under the cover.
>
> And he found that the e-brake cable had been routed incorrectly so that
> it was rubbing on the auto transmission linkage and a hole was getting
> worn through it.
>
> This, on top of the fact that when I picked up my van from the prev.
> mech. after the tranny work the radio antenna was broken yet he denied
> having done it, a lapse in character that did not sit well with me, I've
> decided not to bring my business to that guy any more.
>
> Anyhoo, with the darn vacuum cable re-connected, the engine idles much
> more smoothly now.
>
> As for the mysterious thumping sound -- it remains.
> --
> Rocky J Squirrel
> '84 AT Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
> '74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
> Bend, OR
> KG6RCR
>
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