Date: Sun, 25 Feb 2007 23:51:47 -0500
Reply-To: Karl Mullendore <groups@WESTYVENTURES.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Karl Mullendore <groups@WESTYVENTURES.COM>
Subject: Catastrophic failure, a week-long saga, not-so-happy ending
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As a few folks have asked for an explanation of what happened to me/my
van, here goes:
First, I'm ok, it's only the van that is hurting. Well, truthfully, I've
gone through a lot this week because of this...
I've been trying all winter to get away on a roadtrip, and finally got
far enough ahead with work and such that I decided to attend a camping
event in Florida. (Full Moon Bus Club) The van seemed ready, even
though, as always, there were numerous 'small jobs' still undone. But
everything seemed in good order mechanically. I hadn't driven the old
van in a long time on any significant journey, and Sunday, without my GF
along in the passenger seat I for once floored the throttle on every
occasion I felt like. :-) It was then that I noticed the scraping noise
in the transmission, under hard throttle in first and second. No
worries, not too bad, and the camp organizer said he had a parts Syncro
at his place if needed a tranny by the time I drove the 1000 miles
south. A call to Daryl at AA confirmed what I suspected, that a
mainshaft bearing was likely on it's way out. The sound never really got
worse, but Monday morning as I left a friend's home near Harrisonburg
VA, I noticed an increasing vibration in the drivetrain. Nah, couldn't
be, I thought...so after a cup of coffee and some breakfast, onward down
I-81 I drove. About 20 miles later, the vibration became even more
robust. Now, I thought, what would a normal person do in this situation
(besides have a mechanic check it, but I was already there!)? I turned
tail and drove two plus hours back to my shop. Good decision. That
evening I pulled the tranny and disassembled it, finding the exact
bearing we had discussed to be MIA, as in the shaft was basically
floating in the gear carrier case. But the low-reverse gear housing had
to be pried and beaten to remove it, when normally it just slides
off...well, the dual-row bearing in low (or reverse, I forget which) was
totally ground up and had dug a nasty trench in the pinion shaft. OK, I
thought, this isn't going to be a quick-n-easy fix. The next morning, a
good friend of mine allowed me to borrow a good used Syncro tranny that
he had been holding onto for one of his many projects. Keep in mind here
that my 'old' tranny had undergone a gear change years ago and
third/fourth gears were much higher than stock, in ratio. No worries,
with the borrowed 'stock' tranny I would just drive more slowly. I
managed to get back on the road Tuesday evening, tranny smooth and
quiet. Somehow I caught up with my planned itinerary and made the vet
appt. I had for my dog in Asheville NC at noon on Wednesday. A friend,
who wanted to visit his mom in Tampa, rode along as we departed
Asheville Thursday am for an evening arrival in Tampa....or so we
thought. At a fuel stop in Greenville SC, I checked the oil, fine. I
could swear the engine sounded a little different, maybe just paranoia
after the tranny issues, I thought. About 30 miles later, driving down
I-85 toward Atlanta, we looked at one another and both had the same
words: the engine sounds a little different, doesn't it? A scan of the
six gauges showed oil pressure to be lower than I had ever noticed at
3000 rpm. I noticed a gentle throb in the clutch pedal, which when
depressed became a sickening BIG throb, and immediately the oil pressure
dropped, followed by several loud bangs, and silence. The starter just
clicked....
I couldn't believe a perfectly-running engine would degrade so quickly,
but when I looked under the van and saw the crankshaft pulley askew, I
knew it wasn't going to be a happy ending. I released all the belt
tensioners and then pried the pulley...nope, still attached to the
crankshaft, but why the angle? Then I pried the flywheel, it only moved
a quarter-inch at best. Oh, and the pulley? It didn't move with the
flywheel. My educated guess is that a rod broke (after losing it's
bearing), crashed into a fast-moving crankshaft, and snapped the sucker
in half.
The van is now resting at the friend's house near Asheville, empty,
waiting to be retrieved. It's very sad to say, but after these major
failures and once again seeing how deeply the east-coast rust has
invaded the 20-year old body, I'm inclined to throw in the towel for
saving this van and start anew with a different body. When I pulled the
tranny, I looked up to realize the only thing holding the fuel tank up
was the rust and debris, plus a short section on the ends of the
now-mostly-gone tank straps. Not so bad, except the place on the body
where they bolt on would collapse from rust if I tried to move the bolts.
This is a very sad thing, after spending ten years and almost 400,000 km
in the driver's seat of this wonderful old beast. I'd like to keep it on
the road, but I think it really is best to move on with a different body
now, and besides, won't it make a lovely guest cottage for visiting
friends?
Karl Mullendore
1987 Westy Syncro m-TDI (RIP?)
1990 Syncro 16" TD highroof
1995 *ahem* Euro-bago, coming...(I needed a get-in-and-go camper for the
winter trip and until I get the 16" project done!)
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