Date: Mon, 12 Oct 1998 22:34:48 -0500
Reply-To: Tim Marciniak <tmarcini@MAIL.EXECPC.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <Vanagon@vanagon.com>
From: Tim Marciniak <tmarcini@MAIL.EXECPC.COM>
Subject: Re: ATF leaking & level too high on dipstick - '89 Westy
In-Reply-To: <8825669B.005A1189.00@notes_svr.bpicorp.com>
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At 9:23 AM -0700 10/12/98, Cory Sytsma wrote:
>I've owned my westy for about a month now, and recently noticed a leak
>coming from the bottom of the transmission (automatic). It looks like it's
>coming through the gasket on the bottom pan. So, I checked the dipstick
>(while the engine was cold), and the level was over the MAX mark, up to the
>twist in the dipstick. I then referred to Bentley. He said, if the ATF
>level is too high, check the oil level in the final drive. How do I check
>the oil level? I'm hoping that the PO was just ignorant, and over-filled
>the transmission with ATF. If so, how do I drain the excess fluid?
>
>Any one else ever have this problem? If it is the seals between the
>transmission and final drive, how much am I looking at to get it fixed?
>Supposedly, the transmission was rebuilt not too long ago. BTW, does the
>final drive use ATF or gear oil?
>
>Thanks in advance,
>
>Cory
>'89 Westy
Cory,
Make sure you check your ATF level after the van has been driven for at
least six miles. I believe this six mile figure is right out of the
Bentley manual. Also aside from being driven so that both engine and
transmission are warmed up your van should be in park and the engine should
be idling while you pull the ATF dipstick out. If you check the ATF level
when the van is cold or after it has been parked for a while the dipstick
will read like the tranny is overfilled. If the seals between the final
drive and transmission are leaking the ATF fluid will most likely be over
the the max mark because the gear oil in the final drive has leaked into
the transmission. You can somewhat confirm this by removing the fill plug
on the final drive housing. This fill plug is located on the side of the
final drive and when you remove this plug the gear oil should be at just
about the bottom of this fill hole. If its dry or significantly below the
fill hole you probably have a leak. The cost for repairing these seals is
in the $600 to $700 range--all labor of course since the tranny has to be
removed--the seals probably only run about $50 to $100. The other bad
thing about this situtation is that you can never really get all of the
gear oil out of the transmission--all you can do is a couple of ATF fluid
changes to try to replenish the ATF and decrease the gear oil that is mixed
with the ATF. I think all this sounds worse than it really is because the
seal failure happens to a lot of Vanagons and it seems that if you get it
fixed and not ignore it the transmission will provide a normal length of
service even though athe ATF is somewhat contaminated. In your case it
this tranny was rebuilt I doubt the seals are bad, you are probably just
not checking your level the correct way. Hope this helps.
Tim Marciniak
90 Multivan
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