Date:         Sat, 13 Jul 1996 10:47:30 -0400
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         VWwesty@aol.com
Subject:      Vacation ends with a braacckk!

Well, I thought this was going to be a glowing report on how well the 
'81 Campmobile did on vacation after our fuel pump relay fix. Actually 
we started out OK. Went from Cleveland, to Sugarcreek OH in southern 
Ohio. From there to Philadelphia. Philly to Kutztown PA. Back to Philly. 
Had a wonderful time everywhere we visited. Then hop onto the PA 
Turnpike to head home. And a few miles west of the Harrisburg West 
exit - BRAACCKK-K-K-K! I pull her over, Bob jumps under the van, and 
after he yells "Turn it off!", I knew what the problem was going to be, 
the torque converter flex plate had self destructed, again. This was 
the second one that has gone bad on the van. The first one self 
destructed 1,500 miles after a rebuilt engine was installed. It was 
from the old engine. We figured that maybe it had cracked when the 
old engine that had seized up.We installed a new one, and then this 
one died 1,500 miles later. Something is not right with this picture. 
It leads me to ask some questions:

1) Has anyone else had flex plate problems, and what was the cause?

2) Could the torque converter be out of balance? It was incredibly
crusted with rust when it was pulled to install the new engine. Alot
of the crust was chipped off. Could this unbalance it? Or could it have
been thrown out of balance when the old engine dropped a valve seat
and seized up?

3) Does the crankshaft end play have to be adjusted when installing an
engine with an automatic trans? The factory manual only describes
checking end play when intalling the engine with a manual transmission.

Any input on this problem will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Lisa