Date: Tue, 13 Sep 2011 15:25:13 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Drivetrain Diagnosis Ideas Requested
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Your initial impressions could be right ..
re
I thought wheel bearings, but all four are rock solid when shaken. "
if you don't get the wheel off the ground..
and really check for wheel bearing play ..
and roughness of turning ........
just shaking the wheels hardly counts....
seems to me you are still in the inspection phase..
and without having things off the ground ...
nothing really counts.
put it on solid jack stands in the rear and drive it at 30mph ..
see if that reveals anythiing.
oh ..well..........it's a SYCRO !
WHOLE OTHER story !!
here's a typical one for you ..syncro westy, very distince vibration on
deceleration from 50 down to 30.
No amount of inspecting with the whole van in the air , or running it in the
air ( pretty scary on a syncro with four spinning tires ) would reveal
anything.
I was 'suspecious' of rear wheel bearings ...but couldn't really get any
rumbly sounds listen to them with a 'listening stick.'
front wheel brgs didn't seem to be it ...though those can be 'nebulous'
....like all syncro drivetrain issues can be ...
actually .........when you find something for sure 'busted' ........you're
real happy to find it. Often it's not that clear at all.
on this particular van I finally checked the magnetic drain plug on the
trans..
lots of fine particles plus a piece of gear tooth.
Owner says, pull trans and send it out for rebuilding.
During that process I found a stiff rear U-joint in the driveshaft..
and a broken off lower left engine mounting stud..
a whole new yoke type driveshaft, fixing the broken engine mount stud and
rebuilding the trans fixed it just fine.
while there .....and that ownwer just loves throwing money into his cars we
did a new clutch, a new starter........and since it had been 'very silightly
uneven right at 3,200 rpm ..
which I knew to likely be the AFM ...we put a new one of those on too..
we were spending so much money anyway ..why not ..and sure enough ....it was
the AFB making the uneven running at 3,200 rpm about.
and....the way the power and gearing are on that syncro ..
most of the time you drive right near that rpm for normal 'driving nicely'
....wears out that spot in the AFM sweeper contact thing,,. being right at
the same air flow a lot, in the AFM.
good luck.
there are 3 levels of inspecting say u-joints in a driveshaft ..
one is what you can see or feel or find with driveshaft in the vehicle.
two .....after you take out the driveshaft sometimes you can feel/see
something..
and three...........sometimes you can't tell until you take the u-joint
apart..
not saying it's the driveshaft especially..
but you could start by removing it , to inspect it carefully ..
and to see how it drives without the driveshaft.
100K miles on CV joints are a lot ..
I commonly find them dry of grease almost . I don't think the stock amount
of grease is enough.
I'd for sure look into CV joints ...
I find the inner rears wear the most often , due to heat there I believe.
let us know what you find .
Scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Anthony Egeln" <regnsuzanne@YAHOO.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Tuesday, September 13, 2011 12:57 PM
Subject: Drivetrain Diagnosis Ideas Requested
Greetings,
Wife was driving the van home from work last night and said that when she
got it into 4th gear on the highway, she couldn't get it to go over 2000 rpm
and it "sounded weird".
When I drove it I didn't get out of first gear, just over 10 MPH, before it
sounded and felt like I had a flat tire....low rhythmic bumping, so I pulled
it back into the driveway. I thought wheel bearings, but all four are rock
solid when shaken. None of the CV boots look bad or have too much movement
either, but I wouldn't rule out rear CVs since they haven't been replaced
since I've owned it (about 100K miles). Less than 10K on front CVs.
Might be my imagination, but it looks like the van is listing slightly to
the passenger side.
I hope it isn't the transmission. It's a Darryl (AA Trans) rebuild right at
the 24 month mark.
Any ideas?
Thanks, Anthony
'89 Syncro GL (Hidalgo)
