New to the family 2001 Eurovan Weekender

[matics]

I'm curious about the conflicting advise on whether to add an auxiliary transmission cooler or not. I recently purchased a 2003 EV weekender, added a Scangauge to monitor the transmission fluid temperature and was alarmed that the temperature reached 250 while going through a drive thru in 65 degree weather. That seems way high and I've scheduled to have a transmission cooler installed because every time it goes north of 230, I start to freak out. Are you saying it could be the just the fluid.

[white_one]

[white_one]

Small Update while I wait on parts.

Cupholders are replaced.

I forgot to get a before picture, but here's the ones that were in the van

[white_one]

Another small update. The back 7 windows were tinted. And it's failing. I've continued on the tint removal.

This is not a picture of a house. It's the last moments of this tints existence.

starting to peal it off

most off, a little remaining. You are mostly looking at glue residue.

here's the horrible purple haze of the back window.

goodbye!

More pics to follow. Still waiting on wiring harnesses to arrive so I can reassemble the front interior.

[Abscate]

[matics]

[Zeitgeist 13]

It's less a controversy and more a minor difference of opinion. Theoretically the heat exchanger would keep the ATF fairly close to coolant temp, but doesn't always work out that way. High heat idling and long grades can heat soak the ATF pan supply, such that your temps far exceed those of the coolant.

Ideally there'd be a quality heat exchanger along with a thermostatically controlled aux. cooler for those times when you need one. There's probably a way to do this, but until then I opted for an aux. setup. Also, older or poor quality heat exchangers can and will dump coolant into the trans or ATF into the coolant. The former will kill a trans, and the latter is an ugly mess to clean up--BTDT.

The quip about the hose clamps is definitely a point of agreement. My next install will use threaded fittings.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[Abscate]

From the pentosin data sheet

[gesoffen]

After about 6 months of owning my '03 EVW, I recently installed the gowesty trans cooler. I elected to install the cooler due to the trans temps that I noted (scan gauge) during summer months. In stop and go traffic, I'd see trans temps up to ~260F.

The highest temp I noted was during an "off road" climb to a camp/hiking site. Quotes are around off-road because it was a gravel trail with a couple of shallow stream crossings - mostly uphill and a lot of switch backs. This trip saw temps into the ~270F range and I did get a OBD code P0741 (torque converter lockup) as a result. No significant drivability issues though.

My take away is that the fluid may be rated for temps up to ~275F but the ECU doesn't like it. Certainly, frequent fluid/filter changes are a good mitigation strategy as is using quality fluid.

I put the gowesty kit on this winter so have not had the chance to replicate the warm weather conditions above. I chose the gowesty kit due to the following:
- eliminates the stock cooler (potential failure point for ATF/coolant cross contamination)
- uses threaded connections in most places. The only place hose clamps are used in the ATF circuit is at the heat exchanger but they supply oetiker clamps (2x per fitting).
- has a thermostat that fully opens at 180F.

Components can be sourced separately for cheaper but then you don't get the benefit of one place to call if you have installation or warranty issues.

[matics]

[samba415]

Perfectly good thread called "Transmission cooler" here. Lets let the OP continue their rebuild thread...
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Old stable: '63 Baja, '69 Square, '72 Bug, '65 & '67 Samba, '73 412 wagon & 2dr 4spd

Current: '04 Golf TDI, '03 Weekender

[white_one]

Updates!

Door switch harness showed up today. Here's the old one and they "new" one.

Interior lights work again! Huge relief. Unfortunately the windows switch hardness as not yet shown up, so the interior is still in pieces.

Here's my headlight switch. My guess is someone tried to remove, but didn't know how - thus the crack.

Minor damage behind the switch

but now it looks good!

On to the seats (more updates to come). I used to have one armrest with a tear.

No Longer

[white_one]

Updates!

The electrical issues continue... each time I address something, a new problem comes up. I've had it - Van is going into a mechanic tomorrow.

In the meantime I've been detailing the exterior. The paint was not glossy. Scratches and haziness were everyone. Photos do not do a good job of showing the before and after.


Here's a photo of the van when I picked it up. Notice that the surroundings are not reflected in the paint.

Here's a closeup of the passenger rear. Notice the haziness above the sliding track.

Here's a close up. The panel on the left is polished. On the right you can see some of the imperfections.

Now the sliding door is polished, but the front passenger door is not

Here is the passenger side completed.

Here's an example of a white mark in the paint before and after

Here's a the driver rear quarter. You can see the paint has scraped something

After polishing. Not perfect, but much better.

And the finished result. Van is slowly getting better

[white_one]

Minor update. The crossbars of the roof rack were all missing their end caps.

No longer!

[Zeitgeist 13]

I love the Hazel Assistent I see in the reflection.
_________________
Casey--

'89 Bluestar ALH w/12mm Waldo pump, PP764 and GT2052
'01 Weekender --> full camper
y u rune klassik?

[white_one]

[white_one]

Wiring problem has been solved!

The issue started in the passenger front door. The thinking is the rubber boot was re-installed incorrectly after bodywork. It resulted in a wire that frayed - ultimately a hard short to ground.

The thought is that current then flowed through the switched ground of the door light switch circuit, and fried it. Once the ground wire got hot, it melted adjacent wires.

Here's some picks of the carnage. I got lucky on this one - this should have been much worse.

Here's the door harness

and some close ups of melted wires

Here's the ground harness that bolts to driver side A pillar, under the dash

Here's what I am adding to the Van for fire safety
fire extinguisher:

compact smoke detector:

Battery cut off switches

Vans back! It's been away for 10 days. Now on to some fun projects.

[white_one]

Saturday was a beach day. Not bad for February.

[white_one]

Today's job was to quiet down some interior squeaks. My picture taking wasn't so good today. This is an easy job, just time consuming. Removed the C and D pillar covers, and then all the panels against the top bunk.

Tools of the job are felt and friction tape

And cover everything (Here my picture taking really failed.)

Results - Much quieter. The whole top used to creak when pulling into my driveway. This is just round 1. There are still squeaks in the van, but fewer than before. The ones I hear now are new to me - I couldn't hear them before. More to come.

[white_one]

Van went in for paintless dent removal today.

I tried marking every dent with a piece of blue tape. I missed at least 6. They are predominately on the doors. I did not take any close up pictures. They range from tiny dents (less than an inch in diameter, to maybe 4x6".

Should have it back by Friday. It will not be perfect, but certainly better than it was. Will post results.