At this age and mileage you have to plan on every system will need attention. The engine and transmission is at an end of life point and so are many of the support systems. If your plan is for a daily driver for your wife she will still need another vehicle to cover for when this one is down. ATF leaks only occur in one of four places. The governor seal is a common one where the ATF is in the differential housing. If leaking at the torque converter you probably need the bushing. Leaking from here can have ATF sprayed all over the engine bay causing a fire hazard . It also will ruin hoses and if getting on the head gaskets over time will kill them also. If the tranny has had repeated bought of running dry due to the leaks a rebuild may also require pump replacement. The may also be damage from the clutches and band slipping. Your symptom #2 is a sign that damage is already beginning. If you not willing to begin in investing on a regular basis don't bother. This will become a $10k van doing the work yourself. $15 if all is outsourced. Dennis
-----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of Aaron Sent: Thursday, March 6, 2014 2:19 PM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Auto transmission questions Hello all. I'm looking at getting an inexpensive Vanagon Carat ('91 with 175,000 miles, original engine and transmission) and have some questions regarding the Automatic transmission. I've only dealt with manuals in the past. The transmission is leaking ATF and the owner keeps filling it when it starts shifting poorly. I haven't checked levels on it, but it does a few strange things. 1. It won't start in Park. Assuming this is a simple switch to fix and can look that one up in the bentley. 2. When I come to a faster stop (not an emergency in any way), when reapplying the gas, it doesn't quite engage. It's almost as if it's in neutral, then "falls" into gear after a 1/2 second on the gas. I'll be crawling around underneath a bit more to see if I can find the leak(s) this weekend. If there are other common things I should be aware of for Automatics, It love to know. I'm trying to figure out if the transmission is serviceable as-is, or whether I should figure on fixing it now. The van itself is in decent shape but I don't know if it would be worth a new transmission, and I'm not sure how hard it would be to seal up the old one. Thanks! Aaron '87 Westy (manual) '91 Carat Automatic?? |
Please note - During the past 17 years of operation, several gigabytes of
Vanagon mail messages have been archived. Searching the entire collection
will take up to five minutes to complete. Please be patient!
Return to the archives @ gerry.vanagon.com
The vanagon mailing list archives are copyright (c) 1994-2011, and may not be reproduced without the express written permission of the list administrators. Posting messages to this mailing list grants a license to the mailing list administrators to reproduce the message in a compilation, either printed or electronic. All compilations will be not-for-profit, with any excess proceeds going to the Vanagon mailing list.
Any profits from list compilations go exclusively towards the management and operation of the Vanagon mailing list and vanagon mailing list web site.