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Date:         Wed, 5 Aug 1998 19:28:25 -0700
Reply-To:     Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Sender:       Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From:         Shawn Wright <swright@ZUIKO.SLS.BC.CA>
Subject:      CV or Trans noise while decelerating
Comments: To: vanagon@vanagon.com
Content-type: text/plain; charset=US-ASCII

I'm currently off list, but am checking in on the web archives. A while back I asked about a clacking noise while decelerating in 2nd gear in our '88 Westy. The most likely cause seemed to be CV joints, although it seemed odd that it only occurred in 2nd, or maybe I just couldn't hear it in 1st or 3rd?

Anyway, being busy and hot around here, I glanced under the bus, decided it was running far too well (other than the noise, the hiccups were cured with a shot of injector cleaner), and decided to ignore it, after thinking about greasy CVs in 90+ deg heat...

Well, after one more 400km backroad trip last weekend, the noise seemed to get worse, and I can now hear it in 3rd gear also. I had decided that it must be CVs, and put the bus on jack stands. I decided to run the engine in 2nd & listen for things while the wheels spun. At idle, the noise was fine, but giving it some gas, then 'coasting' brought on a terrible knocking/clacking noise until the wheels slowed down again. I found that even at idle, the noise was barely evident, so I placed a 24" extension bar to the trans, and the other end to my ear - the noise seemed to come from the trans (along with lots of other not so nice noises... :-( (No, I was not dumb enough to hold it on the moving CV joint...) This trans was a VW rebuilt at 165k, and is now at 350k km, with Redline MTL added at around 325k.

I'm planning to do the CVs anyway, which hopefully will cure the noise, but have a few questions: 1. Could this noise indicate imminent demise of my tranny? Would draining it and checking for excessive metal on the drain plug be a good idea? I hate to waste the Redline... 2. I found I could very easily stop one wheel by hand when turning in 2nd gear, causing the other to double in speed. Is this normal? Certainly not much of a limited slip... (is there a limited slip upgrade for 2wd vanagons?) 3. The CV boots don't seem to have clamps on the small end - should they? (they seem in good shape otherwise, although one is fairly loose around the drive shaft. 4. When swapping side with CVs, is it recommended to swap CVs on one side, or just do the whole drive shaft? Or is the shaft itself reversible on each side?

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

Shawn Wright, I.T. Manager Shawnigan Lake School swright@SLS.bc.ca http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright http://www.sls.bc.ca


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