Date: Fri, 29 Apr 2011 17:42:40 -0700
Reply-To: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Sender: Vanagon Mailing List <vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com>
From: Scott Daniel - Turbovans <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
Subject: Re: Rented an '87, heard same 2nd gear thump
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="UTF-8"; reply-type=original
and besides, on the Big Island they don't really expect cars and vans to
work smoothly very much ..
many of the roads are quite funky.
What noise Bra, I don't hear nuthin' !
at least the van didn't break down on you while you were using it. What's a
little clunk here or there ?
- on the Big Island anyway.
how much was gas there ?
about $ 4.25 per gal for regular would be my guess.
It was probably nice to be somewhere warm for a change.
Aloha !
scott
www.turbovans.com
----- Original Message -----
From: "Rocket J Squirrel" <camping.elliott@GMAIL.COM>
To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 5:11 PM
Subject: Re: Rented an '87, heard same 2nd gear thump
> Yeah, yeah, yeah. I shoulda mentioned that Bud drove us back to the
> airport in Hilo, driving the same van. I asked him to put it in second
> and accelerate a bit and take his foot off the gas. Mrs Squirrel and I
> both heard -- or more accurately, felt -- the thump, but he didn't
> because he was on bumpy pavement, on the busy highway 11 and there is
> simply too much noise under those conditions for the untrained ear to
> hear the sound. But we two both detected it.
>
> Otherwise, I'd agree with your diagnosis!
>
> On Fri, 2011-04-29 at 16:59 -0700, Jeff Schwaia wrote:
>
>> The answer is obvious... it's the driver! :-)
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Jeff
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
>> Of Rocket J Squirrel
>> Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 4:18 PM
>> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
>> Subject: Rented an '87, heard same 2nd gear thump
>>
>> So a while back, I posted about a mysterious "thump" sound that can be
>> heard, and felt, when the drive train gets unloaded in 2nd gear in my
>> auto transmission '84, Mellow Yellow. This thump is best heard when on a
>> quiet, smooth street, when the transmission is in 2nd gear, the
>> accelerator pushed down enough to cause the van to get moving at a fair
>> clip, then the foot taken off the gas pedal. Thump.
>>
>> In some cases, when cruising along a moderate speed in 2nd, with just
>> enough pressure on the pedal to keep the van drifting along, sometimes
>> coasting, sometimes being pushed a bit by the engine -- thump, thump,
>> thumpty, thump.
>>
>> Two mechanics have looked everything over and I posted about it here.
>> Several folk responded with further suggestions of things to look at,
>> and they either have been, or will be when the tranny is dropped a bit
>> to put on the GoWesty ATF external cooler kit.
>>
>> So I have backburnered more inspection until then.
>>
>> Well, Mrs Squirrel and I just got back from a week in Hawaii. We rented
>> a Westy from HappyCampersHawaii.com. These folks have a fleet of
>> Westies, mainly 2.1L, but a couple aircooled, and some very fancy buses
>> and bay windows. Bud likes working on them.
>>
>> We rented an '87 with an AT (238,000 miles, second engine, very clean,
>> very tidy but we did miss the amenities that we've gotten used to in
>> Mellow Yellow).
>>
>> Several days into the trip we both noticed that it also thumped under
>> the same conditions, though not as dramatically as Mellow Yellow.
>>
>> Except for one night at the Hilton in Hilo, we camped on the beaches.
>> When we brought the van back, I asked Bud -- co-owner with his wife --
>> if he had noticed the sound. He had not.
>>
>> --
>> Rocky J Squirrel
>> '84 Westfalia: Mellow Yellow ("The Electrical Banana")
>> '74 Westrailia: (Ladybug Trailer company, San Juan Capistrano, Calif.)
>> Bend, OR
>> KG6RCR
>>
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