Stuck on the roadside

[swsl]

We hit the road yesterday with just an oil change and a quick test drive after the usual 8 months storage.  Everything has been running fine for various seasons pretty much, except for evap system issues. We take it camping yearly for 3 months straight and cover some thousands of highway miles.

The van seemed fine and drove for 4 hours yesterday before camping. Today we had logged about 6-7 hours of driving heading West on 40 when between Kingman and Needles, (pretty hot) some warning lights came on.  ABS warning and another like I used to get when the clock sensor was bad.  I checked and saw scan gauge showed the tranny at 333 F !!!! 
No way.  It usually runs at well under 190 and was at 185 last time I looked, maybe an hour before. 

Pulled off the highway and as soon as we stopped it smelled like transmission fluid and maybe a little like burned clutch or brakes.   I noticed that tranny temp didn't move at all after parking, but stayed at 333.  I don't think that was an actual reading but an error.  Checked with VCDS and got faults from the transmission as well as ABS and Airbags.  Very similar faults as when clock spring was bad, but happening same time now in addition to the transmission.   Tranny faults on vcds are temperature sensor and lock-up intermittent mechanical failure . 

Looking underneath with the belly pan off, there was a lot of lubricant in the back half not in the front.  It seemed to be clear fresh oil vs the red tranny fluid I use (Valvoline) and had no smell.  The oil drain plug was tight, filter area dry so I'm not sure where it was coming from.  And drain plug leaks are not gonna be that abundant.  The oil change day before was clean and no oil had spilled.  But I found oil all around and engine is a quart low. 

While many things are wet with oil, the electrical plug going into the tranny (for the ribbon cable?) was dry.  The tranny pan is dry.  I pulled the tranny overflow drain and a drop of clean red fluid came out.  It might be low, don't know for sure as I was not ready to drop the pan with no fluid at hand.  I have a dipstick installed (mainly for the filler tube) and it's dry but that's hardly indicative.

After it cooled, I decided to try for Needles and get buy some oil, some more fluid before dropping the pan.  Started it up and the warning codes on the dash were gone.  The scan gauge was showing 225 now (still high) and moving around now.   But the van won't go anywhere.  Revving it up it started to move but felt like a manual with a wet or bad clutch. Then it would move at all.   No difference putting it in 1 manually. 

So, here we are, spending the night 25 miles east of Needles, dead in the water.  We were heading for San Clemente, CA where we have camping reservations. 

I'm trying to formulate a plan from here.   I had a breakdown in Kingman, AZ couple years ago when my fans exploded and trashed the radiator.  There is a vw shop there but they don't do Eurovans.   I doubt there is anybody in Needles.  I suppose we will need a tow hundreds of miles to SoCal.  Might as well go for S. Orange county if we are going to be stuck for a while. 

My guess for now - and maybe it's off base- is that some seal failed and engine oil got into the tranny and messed wiring as well as wetting clutches?  Wild guess.  Too many things wrong at the same time to be pure coincidence.  But I hardly know auto trannys.   It's probably too much to hope that it's still good but this is not the usual bad tranny issue.  It's run well and cool for years.  Never went into limp mode or anything, just threw ABS faults with the apparent tranny temp sensor fault making me pull over.


Codes:
2 Faults Found:
00300 - Transmission Fluid Temp. Sensor (G93) 
            34-00 - No Elaboration Available
01192 - Torque Converter Lock-Up Clutch 
            04-10 - Mechanical Malfunction - Intermittent


2 Faults Found:
01435 - Brake Pressure Sensor 1 (G201) 
            35-10 - - - Intermittent
00778 - Steering Angle Sensor (G85) 
            27-10 - Implausible Signal - Intermittent



Address 15: Airbags   

1 Fault Found:
00532 - Supply Voltage B+ 
            07-10 - Signal too Low - Intermittent


Any thoughts or suggestions?  Mechanic? I have a list I'm going to look at next but thought I'd put this out first.
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2002 EV WK

[Endopotential]

Yikes, sorry for your headache. It's such a horrible thing to be stuck far from home with a broken van and no easy way to fix it. I had the same thing last summer when my ECU died by Mt Shasta on the way up to Oregon.

I wouldn't know your VCDS codes off the top of my head, but perhaps one quick fix would be to add a quart or two of transmission fluid? If the system runs completely dry, not sure what codes or symptoms that would cause.
There's probably little harm in overfilling. But if you want to check, you can always get the transmission up to temp and unscrew that overflow tube. There's no reason to drop the pan.

Do you still have the OEM transmission cooler, or some external cooler? Any leaks there? Looking down from the top, that stuff is buried deep and not easy to examine. Does ScanGauge give you a different temp reading now that everything is cold?

BTW the cables that plug into the bottom driver's side of the transmission is for the gear selector switch I believe. That thing does have an O-ring that could theoretically leak and dump a bunch of transmission fluid.
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2002 Eurovan Weekender

[Abscate]

Definitely add a liter with the plug pulled to see if you are just low. Fits the symptoms
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[HeyCrutch]

[swsl]

Thanks guys. It's weird, doesn't seem like tranny fluid. Very clear like fresh oil and I was a quart low after filling two days ago. The fluid leaked out is in the back, could be tranny from location, wouldn't be up front.

But I should try that first anyway before tow.
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2002 EV WK

[gesoffen]

[swsl]

OK, I took a look at the cooler hoses. There is nothing wet anywhere near the front end as I said before. The hoses are dry up to the banjo bolts which are also dry all around. Nearby is some tranny fluid sitting in a recess but nothing within an inch of the banjos or hose. I don't know what to make of that recess. It's clearly red fluid. Anyway, I was hoping it would be a simple plumbing issue.

I got some tranny fluid, put in one qt and it didn't show on the dipstick. Second quart and it shows full. I know, I know, it's not the way but it's convenient for diagnosis. By the way, those DEF corrugated filler hoses are handy for transmission fill. Found one in the trash and made use of it.

Started up the engine and ran it through the gears briefly. Right away I noticed that the transmission engages again. I didn't move the vehicle because we have shade cloth tied to it so I can work. Very hot here.

I watched around the hoses as the engine ran and no sign of leakage much less spraying. Underneath is where all the action is. Oil or tranny fluid is seeping out at a pretty good rate from the bell housing around the flywheel. Drip drip drip drip. In a couple of places. This seems to indicate that a seal is bad in there.
Main seal? Transmission shaft seal ? I forget how things go there. The housing itself is way tight but if I remember right, there's no seal there anyway on the vehicles I've worked on. It's just flywheel protection.

Looks to me like some major surgery, nothing I can do on the road. And probably not for a regular mechanic that isn't oriented to VW/ EVs?.
A tow to SoCal where there are good mechanics is almost 3K. I'm thinking to just keep topping it off and see if we can get there. If it will actually go. But it gives indication that yes, with tranny fluid, it will.

I guess it's tranny fluid that it's losing. It just doesn't look red! Again, I'm using Valvoline synthetic (what I found nearby too) and it's red.

I'm gonna watch my oil level but apart from the color, every indication is that a shaft seal is gone and leaking tranny fluid.
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2002 EV WK

[swsl]

[gesoffen]

[swsl]

Tried to drive and it immediately made a noise like bad bearings. Very bad sound. It's not just the seal but seems like the shaft is shot or the bearings whatever. Probably cause it ran dry.

So sad. We have weeks of camping lined up in coastal campgrounds.
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2002 EV WK

[67rustavenger]

[Endopotential]

In case anyone else is ever unfortunate enough to have the same issues and comes across this thread -

How does one get a broken van onto a trailer? If it can limp along then that's fine. But otherwise I can't think of any workable (or safe) way to winch it up there without having to resort to a tow truck.
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2002 Eurovan Weekender

[67rustavenger]

[HeyCrutch]

To the OP, I too am so very sorry that this breakdown has interrupted your summer plans. I hope you're able to salvage the trip somewhat and perhaps something unplanned will come along and make the entire experience feel like one of those "if this hadn't happened, we never would have. ..." moments.

[Abscate]

[kourt]

You might call ZSI in Pahrump, NV and ask them about shops that might take your van. They actually sell used transmissions. Pahrump is about 150 miles from you. If you have AAA RV coverage, that's within the 400 mile free tow limit.

https://www.zsimports.com/about-us-faqs--store-policies-payment-shipping--contact-info-etc.html

There are other options for shops in the other direction (west) that might be better.

They advertise parts on The Samba quite a bit.

kourt
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2001 Eurovan Winnebago Camper

[TheOneTrueQuux]

[swsl]

I was recommended to Oceanside Transmission but they are not confident they can source parts for it. They said some they can fix, most they have to give up for lack of parts. Give up. They said it would be a waste to bring it 300 miles just to be disappointed.

I have a note that Leon's transmissions (a SoCal chain) is good and works on EVs but have not tried calling them yet. After Oceanside I just thought why take it to SoCal if it's still a sourcing issue wherever you go?

So we are towing into Lake Havasu to see what the Foreign car specialist there can do. After Oceanside's disappointing prognosis I figure anybody who will take it on without a 3k tow is a win. Or anyway I can spend that 3k towards another "could go anytime without warning" transmission. If there is one anywhere in N. America.

It's 109F here. Just getting stuff out of the van at 5 pm is a test of heat endurance.
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2002 EV WK

[kourt]

I'm coming from Mammoth Lakes through Kingman on Friday, headed to Flagstaff. I'll be thinking of you. Keep us posted as well as you can.

I've been through a few VW van breakdowns that completely change the complexion of our travel. It is usually hard to see past the negatives. If I wait long enough, a bright side always shows.

I spent my morning getting a new front muffler/resonator welded in, as the old one was rusty and shook apart on some washboards in Utah. The van sounded like a racecar this morning. McVay's Muffler in Reno-Sparks is awesome.

kourt
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2001 Eurovan Winnebago Camper

[swsl]

Thanks everyone for your support and guidance. It really helps and might have gotten us out of the hole if the transmission was still good enough to drive.

I will most definitely look into that Pahrump suggestion for parts sourcing with the shop we landed at. They were recommended by another shop that turned us down. They said "Shannon can fix it if anybody can" Busy Bee. And they are busy. People who clearly earn their money the old fashioned way. So that's positive. In Lake Havasu, which is the biggest town withing 50 miles.

And the hottest place populated by humans on Earth, I daresay.
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2002 EV WK