Transmission Longevity

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mattg
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Transmission Longevity

Post by mattg » Thu Jan 25, 2007 8:02 am

I was just curiuos how long the average transmission will last. I have 150,000 on mine and it seems to work well througn all gears although it does have a little whine to it on occasion while decelerating in 3rd. Anyone replaced theirs and at what mileage?
I'm all out of ideas and I've tried nothing.

77 Westy 2.0 FI

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chitwnvw
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Post by chitwnvw » Thu Jan 25, 2007 3:50 pm

Mine had 190K when it went south.

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Emily's Owner
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Post by Emily's Owner » Thu Jan 25, 2007 4:31 pm

120,000+ for mine, although it took 27 years..........
Margaret



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vwlover77
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Post by vwlover77 » Thu Jan 25, 2007 5:01 pm

When I got my Bus, it was already noisy in the final drive, but shifted fine. That was at 208K miles. When I saw what the drain plug looked like, I decided to get it rebuilt sooner rather than later......

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Don

---------------------------
78 Westy
71 Super Beetle Convertible Autostick

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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Fri Feb 16, 2007 10:59 am

Ouch, Don, good idea.

This Squareback has shot input shaft bearings. Its a growler/whiner and the drain plug had a beard like yours.

My bus had a decent 150,000 miles on the original transaxle when i decided to upgrade to a 5-rib. That gave me ten years with unknown total mileage and a penchant for kicking out of reverse. I replaced that with an 091 in 2002 which has gone 80,000 miles since I installed it.
Colin

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chitwnvw
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Post by chitwnvw » Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:09 pm

Amskeptic wrote:when i decided to upgrade to a 5-rib. That gave me ten years with unknown total mileage and a penchant for kicking out of reverse. I replaced that with an 091 in 2002 which has gone 80,000 miles since I installed it.
Colin
Have you kept the original 091 gearing?

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hambone
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Post by hambone » Fri Feb 16, 2007 1:59 pm

I've heard of em' lasting up to 400k miles with proper maintenance....
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Amskeptic
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Post by Amskeptic » Fri Feb 16, 2007 4:15 pm

chitwnvw wrote:
Amskeptic wrote:when i decided to upgrade to a 5-rib. That gave me ten years with unknown total mileage and a penchant for kicking out of reverse. I replaced that with an 091 in 2002 which has gone 80,000 miles since I installed it.
Colin
Have you kept the original 091 gearing?
Nope. I have a little 66mm revver in the engine compartment that wanted at least the 4.86 rear axle from the old 5 rib. That is so I can launch decently with my puny 63 net hp. But, with the earlier 4th gear ratio of .82, I get good long legs for freeway, slightly longer legs in fact, than the stock 091 with the .89 4th they installed to keep the longer stroke 71mm 2.0 engine from flinging its innards.
Colin

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stealthcamper
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Re: Transmission Longevity

Post by stealthcamper » Mon Oct 10, 2011 1:11 pm

My '78 buses tranny has 409,000 original miles on it. I change the non-syn 80w every 10k.
It is still quiet in all gears, though it leaks a little and shifts hard when it is really cold outside.

Brian.
1978 Type II custom campmobile: 409k
Brian.
1978 Type II Custom Campmobile; 409k, Original paint.
My first car, owned since 1988.

"Goin' where the climate suits my clothes"

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airkooledchris
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Re: Transmission Longevity

Post by airkooledchris » Mon Oct 10, 2011 4:18 pm

stealthcamper wrote:My '78 buses tranny has 409,000 original miles on it. I change the non-syn 80w every 10k.
It is still quiet in all gears, though it leaks a little and shifts hard when it is really cold outside.

Brian.
1978 Type II custom campmobile: 409k
welcome to the forum. did you join just to post an update to a 2007 thread with that stat?

if so - kudo's. that's frickin' awesome.

when do we get to see pics of this machine?
1979 California Transporter

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stealthcamper
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Re: Transmission Longevity

Post by stealthcamper » Tue Oct 11, 2011 3:09 am

airkooledchris wrote:
stealthcamper wrote:My '78 buses tranny has 409,000 original miles on it. I change the non-syn 80w every 10k.
It is still quiet in all gears, though it leaks a little and shifts hard when it is really cold outside.

Brian.
1978 Type II custom campmobile: 409k
welcome to the forum. did you join just to post an update to a 2007 thread with that stat? if so - kudo's. that's frickin' awesome.



when do we get to see pics of this machine?
Thanks for the welcome... I just decided to join because I recognize quite a few folks on here.
There are pics of my steed on my profile/gallery. You may be familiar with the backdrop ;)
Brian.
1978 Type II Custom Campmobile; 409k, Original paint.
My first car, owned since 1988.

"Goin' where the climate suits my clothes"

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yondermtn
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Re:

Post by yondermtn » Mon Jun 25, 2012 7:18 am

vwlover77 wrote:When I got my Bus, it was already noisy in the final drive, but shifted fine. That was at 208K miles. When I saw what the drain plug looked like, I decided to get it rebuilt sooner rather than later......

Image

I drained and refilled my trans this weekend. When I pulled the drain plug I found something very similar to vwlover77. About the same amount of filings on the plug and I had one of those gear teeth too. Lots more filings were seen in the drained fluid as well.

What does the broken gear tooth mean? How worried should I be? Is this trans on its way out? It has had a howling noise since I've owned it, but that seemed to improve quite a bit after putting in the new gear oil.
1977 Westy 2.0FI
1990 Vanagon MV 2.1 Auto

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Bleyseng
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Re: Transmission Longevity

Post by Bleyseng » Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:21 am

mine had 120K on it when it was rebuilt. I pulled the drain plug to find a beard and hardly any oil (I got it with 114K) and it howled and whined.
Too many parts were shot to list but mostly the upper bearing and it toasted the plate too. The ring and pinion were like new thank god.

Keep em full of oil and they will last a long time!
Geoff
77 Sage Green Westy- CS 2.0L-160,000 miles
70 Ghia vert, black, stock 1600SP,- 139,000 miles,
76 914 2.1L-Nepal Orange- 160,000+ miles
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yondermtn
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Re: Transmission Longevity

Post by yondermtn » Mon Jun 25, 2012 11:50 am

Here are pics of my findings. 134,475 miles on it, as far as I know.

Image

Image
1977 Westy 2.0FI
1990 Vanagon MV 2.1 Auto

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yondermtn
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Re: Transmission Longevity

Post by yondermtn » Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:06 pm

I also noticed this strange blue/green liquid in the drained fluid. Any idea what that is?

Image

And here's what I filled it up with.

Image
1977 Westy 2.0FI
1990 Vanagon MV 2.1 Auto

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