TheSamba.com :: View topic - can my 1981 ej22/westy limp home 250mi in 2nd gear?

Tue Dec 28, 2021 3:23 am

My family is presently "stuck" in Wilcox AZ, appx 250 miles west of home.

The failure occurred last night, when were zipping along around 65MPH about 30mi west of Wilcox,

The 4sp 2wd vw manual tranny thumped twice, and then 3rd & 4th no longer engaged. R,N, 1, 2 all work, though sound a bit grindy when accelerating, but not horrible. 3 & 4 grind horribly and provide no torque.

I believe ej22 red line is 6kRPM, so we limped to Wilcox at 5kRPM (40 MPH) in 2nd gear. The engine seemed happy at this speed. It certainly wasn't delivering much torque. Is this ok for sustained periods?

The tranny doesn't sound horrible in 2nd gear.

Should we try to drive it home or leave it here with a local mechanic?

Also: I purchased this tranny in 2019 from a rebuilder. It's probably been driven less than 10k miles. What responsibility should they take for this failure?

Thanks,
Eric

Tue Dec 28, 2021 4:57 am

Flat bed it home, or tow bar/dolly. If it’s in the diff, flat bed is preferable.

Quote: Also: I purchased this tranny in 2019 from a rebuilder. It's probably been driven less than 10k miles. What responsibility should they take for this failure?

At this point, none. Impossible to separate workmanship from damage after the fact

Tue Dec 28, 2021 5:26 am

Question is, what did the rebuilder tell you (give in writing) about a warranty?
It is a well known and documented fact that the much more powerful Subaru has an appetite for transaxles.
Some rebuilders even state that there is no warranty for such uses.

It is also well known that the 3/4 slider cracks. Any good rebuilder will replace it, even if it looks good.
If it isn't cracked now…… it's going to crack soon.

Do not drive it, tow (flatbed) it home. You've probably driven it too much already.
Making noise that isn't too bad……. Is bad.

Dave

Tue Dec 28, 2021 5:51 am

The UHaul location there at 1931 N Haskell Ave, Willcox, AZ 85643 has good reviews on Google maps.
The other UHaul on Hwy 10 at 1628 E Ramsey Rd, Benson, AZ 85602 is a little bit away, but also with good reviews.
Apparently you are not the only one who had car problems! Good luck.

Tue Dec 28, 2021 6:54 am

I had a similar failure 300 miles from home several years back with an EJ22/manual trans. With mine, I was able to hold it in fourth with all of my strength and made it home. The trans was toast, but we did make it.

If you're getting no torque at all in 3rd and 4th, probably best to flatbed it. You don't want compound the problem by trashing your good motor too.

Tue Dec 28, 2021 6:58 am

Unfortunately at this point you may have done a bunch more damage to the transmission. It may have been trashed even immediately after the initial breakdown but you likely have no warranty claim at all after driving it after it failed.

I'd go the UHaul route just to be sure I got home OK. You may be able to drive it home but then again you may get stuck many miles from help... YMMV.

Tue Dec 28, 2021 7:00 am

I agree with everyone else. Tow it home. You have metal shards in your trans, it's one wedged shard from getting a whole lot worse. The good news is you can do a u-haul + trailer like mentioned before since it still drives.

eric.freudenthal wrote: Also: I purchased this tranny in 2019 from a rebuilder. It's probably been driven less than 10k miles. What responsibility should they take for this failure?

Depends on who rebuilt it and what their rebuild policy. Rancho Transaxle has a 5 year/unlimited mile warranty for example. Who rebuilt your trans?

Tue Dec 28, 2021 7:39 am

I had several rebuild troubles with a rebuilder who refused to warranty my trans after more than 2 years even though the trans lasted less than 20k miles it was beyond the time limit. One failure was 11,000 miles. But past 2 years so….no warranty. That was years ago, back when I thought a “rebuilder” made an old trans “new& invincible”. And I also thought they required very little or no maintenance.

No rebuider in the world will accept responsibility if you knowingly destroy the remainder of the trans.
There are broken parts in there, grinding around, ruining stuff.
2nd gear works now but with broken pieces in there, and a terrible soup of grinding paste in there, 2nd gear too could be almost destroyed already, and almost certainly will be at 250 miles.

Think of it like a coolant leak.
You don’t get to destroy the entire engine knowingly…. simply because the leak was someone else’s fault.

I suspect you know this and are simply at wits end, putting out a discussion of all options.

Incidentally 250 miles at 6,000 rpm is wear&tear on your engine that you don’t need.
And…..there are trans rebuilders out there, that 19,000 miles is more lifetime that I would expect. Go with Mr Gas, Rancho, GTA, and there are others who will stand behind their work. There are others too. Some “others” will stand behind their work, but what good is another 19,000 miles to you?. I’ve been there.

Tue Dec 28, 2021 7:50 am

4Gears4Tires wrote:

Depends on who rebuilt it and what their rebuild policy. Rancho Transaxle has a 5 year/unlimited mile warranty for example. Who rebuilt your trans?

The rebuilder is well known and helpful at the time and didn't express concern about our naturally aspirated ej22. Otherwise i might have installed a subarugears.

Since they shipped the exchange tranny to the installer (a local vw shop), I never rec'd the paperwork.

At this point, I ssume good faith and that they missed a hidden failure in a reused component and don't want to them to suffer reputational harm.

Sadly, we'll likely be selling this wonderful beast after it's fixed, hopefully to a yonger family who will love it as much as we have. My wife and i are getting too old for the cramped quarters and started restoring an argosy 24 that's getting new motor and tranny in January.

Thanks to all for your help,
Eric

Tue Dec 28, 2021 8:11 am

Well, I guess you need to start with the shop and they can contact the rebuilder.

Please update this thread with your progress. If the rebuild warranty doesn't go well, you might be able to save another van owner.

Tue Dec 28, 2021 8:46 am

Sorry to hear of the breakdown. U-Haul or AAA Premium to get you a-in 50 miles then pay for the remaining 50.

An Argosy restoration? Do you have a link to a build thread? It would be fun tracking your progress on that solid foundation.

Tue Dec 28, 2021 12:27 pm

Likely you WON'T make it and you will need MANY more parts on the tranny rebuild...like $$$$. Likely more than the retail tow bill.

Possibly you'll make it and even if you do, you likely will still cause more damage than a retail tow bill.

Get AAA and extend your vacation the 3 delay days they have in their service.

Get a friend who has AAA to come to you and have him request the tow, even if just the sta me dard 100 mi closer to home....and then call another friend

Pay the retail tow bill

Get a friend with a tow strap and a day of time for you

To summarize - the cost/benefit ratio of driving as-is unlikely to work out.

Curious what you choose and how it works out....let us know

PS, you may find it cheaper or more beneficial to put in a subi/SubaruGears tranny than rebuild yours.