TheSamba.com :: View topic - Plastic Particles in my Automatic 010 1991 Transmission

Tue Jun 27, 2017 9:38 am

Hello Everyone,
Last weekend I finally found time to swap out the old original valve body assembly in my 1991 Carat with a new old stock replacement from Porsche.

When I removed the AT pan I found these pieces of plastic? in the bottom of the pan with smaller shreds of the same material. No visible metal contamination was seen at all.

Any idea what these pieces are from? A plastic washer/spacer? not too sure.

I cleaned everything up with lint free cloths, replaced the filter and the valve body assembly and put it all back together with Mobil One Synthetic ATF.

Running great with faster shifting from the new valve body assembly.

Just curious what was in that pan....

Tue Jun 27, 2017 9:55 am

Hello!

judging by the thickness of the plastic thing, they look like the 3 prong thrust washers, but they are usually tan color, not black... It could be a piece of the one way clutch then. I would not run a transmission like that brother....

Tue Jun 27, 2017 10:07 am

Thanks for the reply Alika!
I found a similar thread on the samba for an 010 but it doesnt show any parts that look similar to the plastic chunks found

https://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=...mp;start=0

I agree that this is going to have to be further investigated. Time to tear it down :(

Tue Jun 27, 2017 10:13 am

Thank Kourt! :wink:

Could those chunks be from part 146?

Tue Jun 27, 2017 1:06 pm

Part 146 is steel.

Black plastic is used in the sprag assembly (part 654). You can still find sprag assemblies new in the parts marketplace. Thrust washers were usually white or brown, but I've also seen black. What I see there is larger, black, chunkier pieces from the sprag assembly. Pay close attention to the sprag parts--take it apart and see what's there. It's relatively shallow in the overall order of transaxle disassembly, so you don't have to go far to find it--just take off the ring gear and you'll see it.

This could also be black plastic from the dipstick grommet, where it seals at the top of the dipstick tube.

kourt

Wed Jun 28, 2017 5:00 am

Could be sprag bits..but that is typically a very tough unit..unless someone jerked the transmission rolling from reverse to forward while moving or something like that.

How is the transmission shifting and is it noisy? I ask because if the transmission works well..could be the plastic debris is from outside..dropped in the fill tube by accident ..something like those plastic "anti tamper rings" that are on ATF bottles caps that tear when you remove the cap.

If the transmission is noisy in first gear..that is very normal..any other noises?

Wed Jun 28, 2017 6:58 am

Any weird shifting symptoms? What led to the VB swap?

Wed Jun 28, 2017 8:11 am

The only thing that looks like those broken parts are a plastic "shoe" that runs along the inside of the sprag clutch. It is part of the plastic "link" and very odd if it has broken off..not much tension on that part at that location unless something really, really gave out on the sprag. Or..someone doing a repair broke a part of the link reassembling the sprag in times gone by.

It measures 4.4mm long and 3.5mm wide.

Wed Jun 28, 2017 9:58 am

Hello Everyone,
The transmission has been working very well both before and after opening up the transmission last week.

I changed the valve body assembly because I had an issue that happened early last fall. Upon startup in the morning (dead cold) the transmission wouldn't shift until warm (about 1-2 minutes of running) but after that it would be fine throughout the day. I thought it was probably some of the rubber seals that started to harden or wear out. by October though the issue went away completely.

Now seeing what was in the pan, this refusal to shift at warmup may have been caused by the plastic contamination in the transmission fluid.

I don't think any external contamination occurred as the plastic material that was found was very hard and the 2 pieces in the photo looked almost like teeth that were attached to a larger part before being broken off.

There is a very slight whine in the transmission but Its been with the van for the 2.5 years that we have owned it. You can't hear it over the road noise over 50km/hr.

I'll confirm if the dipstick grommet is still present.

Thank you all for the replies!

Wed Jun 28, 2017 10:17 am

AtlasShrugged wrote: T

The little tab on the picture, top left is what it looks like it comes from.

Wed Jun 28, 2017 12:25 pm

What Atlas said. I can't imagine that getting chewed up and you not noticing, so maybe from an earlier repair, and the debris wasn't cleaned out. And it doesn't look like anything else.