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Timwhy
Samba Member
Joined: January 01, 2009
Posts: 4002
Location: Maine
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Ahwahnee
Samba Member
Joined: June 05, 2010
Posts: 9796
Location: Mt Lemmon, AZ
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 Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 4:27 pm Post subject: |
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| dobryan wrote: |
| ...By hex socket I think he means a hex shaft that is housed in a socket so you can put it on a ratchet or better yet a breaker bar... |
Perhaps a photo to illustrate one such tool...
That bad boy will loosen them every time. |
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Alex Proulx
Samba Member
Joined: August 26, 2010
Posts: 294
Location: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
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| Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 5:48 pm Post subject: |
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You got me onto something dhaavers, we don't have Harbour Freight in Canada but I found out online that the Canadian equivalent is called Princess Auto. There is one in town and I have been driving in front of it for 2 years thinking it was a second hand car dealer, lol at me, its the biggest freakin tool store in town! I found precisely what I was looking for, a set of large metric hex key that fits on a 1/2" ratchet. Cool. But no gl4 magic tranny fluid. VW dealer is out of stock, going to check out Walmart tomorrow.
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Vanagon GL 1988 Full Camper, 4 speed manual, 2.1 stock engine
Audi A3 2.0T S-Line Quattro 2015 |
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Jake de Villiers
Samba Member
Joined: October 24, 2007
Posts: 5911
Location: Tsawwassen, BC
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| Posted: Thu Oct 31, 2013 9:45 pm Post subject: |
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| Ahwahnee wrote: |
| dobryan wrote: |
| ...By hex socket I think he means a hex shaft that is housed in a socket so you can put it on a ratchet or better yet a breaker bar... |
Perhaps a photo to illustrate one such tool...
That bad boy will loosen them every time. |
I have one of these and its perfect for the transaxle plugs.
_________________
'84 Vanagon GL 1.9 WBX
'86 Westy Weekender Poptop/2.5 Subaru/5 Speed Posi/Audi Front Brakes/16 x 7 Mercedes Wheels - answers to 'Dixie'
@jakedevilliersmusic1
http://sites.google.com/site/subyjake/mydixiedarlin%27
www.crescentbeachguitar.com
www.thebassspa.com |
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Wildthings
Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2005
Posts: 50331
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connorsvw2
Samba Member
Joined: August 16, 2008
Posts: 344
Location: Denver, CO
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| Posted: Mon Nov 04, 2013 10:58 pm Post subject: |
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I've found an extra FI fitting from my old VW GTI CIS-E fuel filter which happens to be 17 mm hex and fits right into the VW plug. You can then turn it in tight clearance with 17 mm open end wrench. Cost=$0.
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'85 Westy Wolfsburg camper/2002 2.5 Subaru since 2003.
'85 GTI 1.8L 1-owner 8v-gave up on 9A 2.0L 16v transplant. Keeping her stock!
'99 Passat 1.8T Variant-AKA "The Money Pit". Still limping along...
'09 Subaru Outback XT 5-speed, 245 hp rocket (wife's car) |
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Alex Proulx
Samba Member
Joined: August 26, 2010
Posts: 294
Location: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 1:54 pm Post subject: |
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Made some progress today.
First the bad news; my newly acquired 17mm hex allen key once installed on the ratchet was too long to access both fill and drain plugs, so I hammered the allen bit out of the socket like sugested earlier and used it with a 17mm simple wrench.
More bad news, the 17mm allen key does not fit in either of the plugs even after I cleaned them out thouroughly with a toothbrush until shinny.
Back to the store to look for a 16mm but they dont have it. The next smallest size available in town was a SAE 5/8 hex allen key so I got one. Had to hammer that one out of the socket too and used it with a 14mm wrench like on the picture below.
Some good news, the 5/8 key fit quite nicely and I managed to open first the fill plug then the drain plug.
More bad news, there was some metal flakes on the magnetic shaft of the drain plug and some yellow flakes in the the old oil. The oil did not look too bad but given the amount of gunk on the inside of the drain plug I guess that transaxle has not been serviced in a while, anyways I never did it and I own the van since 2009.
Some more bad news, the first couple of threads on both plugs have been hammered flat (see picture) and I am not sure why. They never leaked but I am thinking that cant be a good idea?!? I will order new ones shortly.
So because I am planning to swap the old plugs for new ones soon, I decided to put cheap motomaster gear oil 80/90 GL4GL5 in it and save my precious Penzoil synthetic 75/90 GL4 (16$/l) for later.
Took a while for the oil to go in, I used a long hose attached to a funnel and gravity fed the whole lot, from the side of the van, flush to the fill plug.
OMG shifting improved SO MUCH! Everything feels so much softer and easy! Quieter too!
Thanks Samba for the help and tips!
Alex
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Vanagon GL 1988 Full Camper, 4 speed manual, 2.1 stock engine
Audi A3 2.0T S-Line Quattro 2015 |
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randywebb
Samba Member
Joined: February 15, 2005
Posts: 3815
Location: Greater Metropolitan Nimrod, Orygun
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| Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 2:04 pm Post subject: |
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metal flakes on the magnetic shaft of the drain plug are common and no big deal - wipe them off
big bits would be an issue...
sounds like you either had the wrong oil in there, or it was in there way too long
how long was it in there?
I would replace that plug
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1986 2.1L Westy 2wd Auto Trans. |
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Alex Proulx
Samba Member
Joined: August 26, 2010
Posts: 294
Location: Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada
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| Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 2:20 pm Post subject: |
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| randywebb wrote: |
metal flakes on the magnetic shaft of the drain plug are common and no big deal - wipe them off
big bits would be an issue...
sounds like you either had the wrong oil in there, or it was in there way too long
how long was it in there?
I would replace that plug |
No metal bits, just super fine flakes. I cant say how long its been in there but I never changed the tranny oil in the 4 years and 20k miles I owned the van, I have no idea of the history prior to my owneship. I will absolutely replace those plugs.
Alex
_________________
Vanagon GL 1988 Full Camper, 4 speed manual, 2.1 stock engine
Audi A3 2.0T S-Line Quattro 2015 |
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Wildthings
Samba Member
Joined: March 13, 2005
Posts: 50331
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| Posted: Tue Nov 05, 2013 4:41 pm Post subject: |
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| Alex Proulx wrote: |
The next smallest size available in town was a SAE 5/8 hex allen key so I got one. Had to hammer that one out of the socket too and used it with a 14mm wrench like on the picture below.
Some good news, the 5/8 key fit quite nicely and I managed to open first the fill plug then the drain plug. |
Sounds like your drain and fill plugs are no longer stock as is. Go forward with care on this as the threads in the case may already have been damage by the use of a non standard plug.
There is almost always some fuzz on the magnetic plug, this is perfectly normal. |
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