Date:         Mon, 2 Jan 1995 21:26:56 -0800 (PST)
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         "Thom Fitzpatrick" <thom@tim.com>
Subject:      '56 kombi - transmission: day 3/?

Waaaaaaahhhhh!

	Today I took the side plate off (again), cleaned it all up, gooped
it up, stuck it on, and let it fester for 3 hours while I did some errands.

	Put the fluid back in, and it still leaks :( :( :(

	So I said to hell with it, I have to get this thing out of the garage 
and get on with my life (for now) so I stuck the motor back in and got
another rude surprise.

	Before I tell you what that surprise is, I must say that I must be
the absolute king of motor installation.  Tonight I did it in the DARK!
I was getting it lined up, laying on my side under the bus, pulling the
motot on the jack closer to the bus, when the lights went out.  I've had
a problem all weekend, with the heaters and lights and all, I kept blowing
the circuit breaker (only 15A)  So there I am, under the bus, motor in 
one hand, and a useless light in the other.  So I just pulled the motor and
CLUNK, jammed it home.  Whooomp! There it is!  

	Anyway, the rude shock bit.  I get this puppy together, and I go to
start it, and I soon realise that I don't have a neutral.  Minor detail.
At this point, I can't even push the bus out of the garage.  Sh*t!

	After checking with my info sources, it appears that I may have one
or more of the following problems:

	A) Bum tranny.  I had a sinking feeling of this earlier, because when
       I rotated one wheel, the other rotated in the SAME direction. THis
       it not the way it's s'posd to work, unless you have a limited slip
       differential (yeah, right!)  Try it sometime, and you'll see what I 
       mean - I don't have the space here to explain how a differential
       works, but I do know how it does.

	B) Incorrectly installed nose cone, resulting in the tranny being in
       2 gears at once.  Possible, but I was concious of the potential 
       problems here from the get-go, so this should be OK.  Never know, tho.
		
	C) Warped side plate on the trans itself, which would explain the
       constant leaking.  I have done 5 or so of these before, and never,
       ever had one leak.  Until now, I didn't even think it was possible.
       This may also be a symptom of an incorrectly installed rear carrier.

	So now I am resigned to actually taking the whole mess apart again,
but I hope at the very least I won't have to crack open the reduction boxes.
If this trannyis toast, then I will, though :(  The weekend after the big
trip, I'll yank it out and check the nosecone install - if thats OK, then
I'll RMA the tranny.

	If anyone else has any ideas or experience in these matters, I'm all
ears!

Thanks for your patience!
Thom
-- 
> I'm as confused as a baby in a topless bar.
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:    Thom Fitzpatrick                             Transamerica Info Mgmnt  :
:  Systems Administrator                          1860 Howe Ave            :
:  tfitzpatrick@tim.com                           Sacramento, CA 95825     :
:   fax (916) 921-6781                            (916) 565-3346           :
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