TheSamba.com :: View topic - Road trip woes (Blown engine? Oil Seal? tranny?)

Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:30 pm

Well took my bus out for the first long road trip in a long time about a 45mile trip so nothing to crazy, on the way there it did fine puttering along at 65 sounded good ran good, the next day I took it to a show ran fine the 5 miles or so to the show and back. Finally sunday I left and headed out on the 45mile trip back home. Set off fine ran smooth then about 10 miles in it started feeling funky and smelt a lil hot so I pulled over let it cool off checked the oil, checked gas lines. didn't see any problems so I set off again but I started to notice a loss of power sounded like the engine was revving harder but the car wasn't moving any faster. On the 45 mile trip to my destination it did fine going up hill in fourth it would keep up no problem but on the way back It would drop way down in speed and I kept having to shift down to third and crawl up hills. Then it started smelling really hot and I had to pull off the road in a cloud of smoke as soon as I pulled off I got my fire extinguisher ready fearing the worse. opened the engine compartment with smoke pouring out but no fire. nothing looked wrong in the engine. Underneath the bus oil was dripping everywhere, coming mostly from between the engine and tranny and some from the bottom plate of my extra capacity oil container.

A man pulled up to give us a hand and he said he was a vw mechanic back in the day. He told us he thought it was the seal between the engine and the extra oil compartment that was leaking and flying back on the muffler causing it to burn and smoke, he checked the muffler and said it was dry so the engine wasn't burring oil. I noticed that the gas in the fuel filters was bubbling so I know the gas got to hot as well. When the tow truck got there he tried to have me drive the bus up onto the ramp but in first gear it wouldn't climb it at all so Im scared I blew the whole engine or tranny

anyone know what the issue could be? do you think its blown?

More info:
Year: 1970
Model: Bus
Engine: 1600cc
Trans: Standard 4 speed
Miles: 17,000 on rebuilt engine
Engine was rebuilt in 1998

Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:32 pm

Sounds more like the clutch- happens to us all sooner or later.

Burning out a clutch makes a BUNCH of heat on the flywheel. this can ruin the rear main seal. Hence the oil and smoke. Good news is you may only be down for the week end.

You will most likely need the seal, clutch kit (Pressure plate,disc,throw out bearing,alignment tool) and Maybe a flywheel resurface-

If you can get a new/machined flywheel- you will be ahead as most machine shops will make you wait for the work.

Do not get a cheap clutch kit- the Korean ones are not dimensioned correctly and if you overextend your clutch, they grab the TO bearing/ pressure plate ring and self destruct.

Mon Aug 25, 2014 2:45 pm

A common problem with a manual transmission vehicle is that the clutch wears. The geometry is such that the pressure plate fingers move towards the throw out bearing and the cable tightens like you are pressing on the pedal. Back in the day when people took the car in for plugs, points and oil every 3,000 - 12,000 miles the mechanics normally checked the clutch cable freeplay and adjusted it for free. It takes maybe 30 seconds to check it and a couple minutes to adjust it. Well, now not many people know this so the freeplay gets less and less until the cable tightens and the clutch begins to slip. The heat can ruin the flywheel. It can also cause the main seal to go bad. Likewise - a leaking main seal can cause a clutch to slip and go bad. Most likely that is what you are looking at.

Mon Aug 25, 2014 3:54 pm

Can you post a link to a good clutch kit

Mon Aug 25, 2014 5:51 pm

addison5429 wrote: Can you post a link to a good clutch kit

pull it apart first to verify what the problem is.

Mon Aug 25, 2014 7:32 pm

addison5429 wrote: When the tow truck got there he tried to have me drive the bus up onto the ramp but in first gear it wouldn't climb it at all so Im scared I blew the whole engine or tranny
"Wouldn't climb it" as in rev it up and let out the clutch and the engine just bogs down and dies/stalls?, or rev it up let out the clutch and the revs stay up but the bus goes almost nowhere?

Mon Aug 25, 2014 10:25 pm

@busdaddy the engine was staying revved but hardly moving with the clutch out