Date: Tue, 26 May 1998 15:48:30 -0700
Reply-To: "Steven X. Schwenk" <sxs@SCHWENK-LAW.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: "Steven X. Schwenk" <sxs@SCHWENK-LAW.COM>
Subject: Syncro Rumble...Syncro Whine Status
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Here's a status report on my drive-line symptoms. This all started when
I noticed a rumble/reverberation in the drive line at between 2600 and
3000 rpm. Then I noticed that the usual drive-line noise/whine at
freeway speeds over 60 seemed to have a "waver" in it, and seemed not to
be the flat, relatively quiet whine I was used to.
I first removed the front drive shaft ... yes indeed, time for new
u-joints, but the rumbling/reverberation was still there even with the
drive-shaft removed. Took it to a VW mechanic who said he thought it
was CV's or the transaxle. While replacing the cv joints, I discovered
that the brake adjustment tab rived to one of the new brake shoes had
come loose, and was dangling preventing proper adjustment so that one
rear brake was over-adjusted and hanging-up briefly once every
revolution while the other was under adjusted.
The CV's were not too bad, but worth replacing while all was apart.
Wheel bearings seemed fine. Repairing the rear brake mess took away
most of the rumble sound at between 2500 and 3000, but there is still a
fluttering like feeling in the drive-line at that RPM,and I was still
concerned about the whine at over 60 mph, and only under load.
I had another mecahnic from a strictly VW shop (nearly all busses and
vanagons) go out for a ride with me today. He thought the whine at over
60 mph was not bad at all and was very close to what it should be ... he
postulated that the bearings were fine since the noise was only under
load at over 60 mph. He thought that it might be the 4th gear itself
beginning to show signs of wear, but said it would be ok to drive
it...this would not do additional harm to other components in the short
term. The noise will likely get louder over time as the part begins to
wear out faster and will eventually require repair or other components
could get damaged or are likely to be wearing out, too. He had no guess
on the fluttering feeling in the drive line....I had to drive it to
reproduce it for him....he could not feel it while driving. When he did
see what I was talking about, he basically shrugged and indicated that
he could not guess what it was since I had covered all the usual
suspects already, but he did not think it was anything to be overly
concerned aboout. He also looked at my trans. oil sample I brought
along and said it looked fine for color with no visible particules.
So...what a pain in the b***. Still have the wavering....but thank god
I didn't jump when the other mechanic who drove it said to have the
transaxle rebuilt. Weedler Eng. expressed the opinion that it was
premature for my tranny to go since syncro transaxles usually do not
fail until between 120,000 and 150,000 miles. With this in mind, I was
compelled to get the second opinion I got today.
I am going to lower my max cruise speed to about 65 mph from 75 mph to
ease up the stress on the transaxle a bit and hopefully squeeze another
20,000 miles out of it. If and when I find out what is causing the
fluttering feel in the drive-line, I will post the result. If the high
speed whine gets worse, I'll post that info too.
steve
1990 syncro westfalia
(now onto the head leak survey...stay tuned for postings of a brief
summary of the raw data within the next week. Ian will then do his
formal analysis with his fancy software and know how.)
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