My VS Takes a Hit

Part II: Today I looked under the car to make sure everything was fine and sure enough there was no leak out of the ordinary from the oil sump (to say these cars are leak free is crazy) but as I looked under the transaxle I found another surprise (see attached photo).

Now I'm not sure if that leak means a cracked transaxle case or just a cracked transaxle nose cone or what. I figure that the hit that the car took was fairly respectable since it made the muffler tailpipes hit the body and the engine compartment seal was tucked under the rear engine compartment panels (I had to get it back into position). With a hit of that magnitude I'm guessing there's some sort of damage to the transaxle case or nose cone due to that extreme deflection. Now my wife is bitching at me because she doesn't want me spending more money on the car and I'm pissed because I was totally satisfied with the upgrades that I'd made and thought that I was through working on the car, at least for some time. Now because of this little accident I'll have to pull down the whole drivetrain to get this leak fixed...it's never ending!!!

The only thing I say to myself is that this is a mechanical thing that can be fixed; unlike some of the health ordeals some of you have gone through and thankfully overcome. I thank God that I'm still healthy! Merry Christmas!!!

Part I: I figured I'd let you in on an incident that happened to me yesterday. I had to meet some prospective clients in a plot of land where they're contemplating building a new house. Since the day was beautiful I decided to go in the Speedster. The trip to the town where we were to meet (about an hour from here) was perfect and the car was running great on the highway. Then it happened; once off the highway and close to the spot where we were to meet I was going downhill on a road and at the bottom of the hill there was a drainage trench with grating over it. I didn't see it until it was too late and since it wasn't level my oil sump hit it very hard. As soon as I hit it smoke started coming out of the back of the car and the oil light turned on. I knew I was in deep you know what so I stopped right away and turned the engine off. As soon as I got off the car I noticed the trail of oil behind the car; I looked underneath and saw oil gushing from the sump. The sump plate was just gone and what was left of the aluminum strainer was totally mangled. There was a small bar on the corner and a couple of people helped me push the car to a spot on the side of the road under some trees. A very nice guy told me to take it easy and that he'd help me. The fact is that he did. The clients who were meeting with me came by and offered to stay with the car until I got the parts I needed. I figured I needed to just remove the sump and pray that the case sump plate studs were in good shape. The guy had to drive to the next town to get the parts from one of the Volky Performance stores here on the island. Thank God they were there because I found a new strainer, oil change gasket set, the sump plate, magnetic drain plug and some regular nuts (they didn't have the acorn nuts in stock). All in all it took about two hours for us to get the parts and return to the spot where I'd left the car. I removed the sump and luckily the case studs weren't damaged although one of them unbolted off the case as I removed the special nuts that hold the sump to the case. I had to do all this with some cardboard under the car since I didn't want to do the work on top of all that sand; it was really uncomfortable working like that. Anyway, I managed to put the parts in, along with 3 qts. of oil and away it went. Surprisingly the Gene Berg sump didn't sustain that much damage; a testament to their product quality. The sump plate studs were just sliced and I'm guessing any machinist can just repair the visible crack around the hole and add some aluminum and re-mill the surface sump plate surface, remove the sliced studs and install new ones and be ready for installation in another engine. See attached photo.

I don't think I'll be using a sump again because this car is fairly low and this sump was just a disaster waiting to happen. I started the car and followed the prospective clients to the site and then hit the highway and it was working perfectly. End of Part I.

Ricardo,
Sorry for your problems- not sure what kind of insurance you have, but my car( not a spedster ) w/ State Farm was covered for all the front end damage that occured when I hit a pot hole a couple of years ago. You might give your agent a call. Hope that works out.
Dale

Ricardo

I am really sorry for your problems.
Now,you got me scared. I am planning to put the engine back together on Tuesday,and I am going to add a new sump 1.5.
Mine is the low profile,but after reading your post I don't know if I should do it.
Again,I am sorry for what happend to you.
Merry Christmas to you and your family.

Dale; you know my wife said the same thing? I'll probably check with my agent because it's fully insured but then again, if I fix it myself, even after buying new parts it's probably going to be less than the deductible!

Lambros, if your car is sitting too low in the back don't install a regular sump. I was told, though, that EMPI sells a low profile sump that could work (is that the one you have?); just check it before installing. I suggest you just install the engine in the car first and do some measuring from the floor. If the distance is acceptable then install the sump.

Merry Christmas to you all!

Sory to hear such a story, because I drag the bottom of my rear nerf bars every time I exit my driveway. Be very careful with cracks in aluminum. These cracks tend to get larger over time, and with vibration, just like a crack in a windshield keeps getting worse until you replace it. Also, be sure any welder doing repairs understands aluminum. The heat from aluminum welding can actually propagate the crack, extending the crack as you repair it. Don't get me wrong, aluminum cracks can be successfully repaired. Ask the welder if he thinks the crack needs to be drilled out at the end before welding. A properly placed small hole at the end of a crack can successfully stop any further crack propagation. Then just weld the hole shut. Good luck and merry Christmas to all.

Man, Ricardo! When it rains, it pours, huh?
I'd say this is the season to have those problems, though. I wouldn't want to have been in the San Juan sun in the summertime! And, you're right. It's mechanical stuff; I read the 'my car took a hit' and my first reaction was that I hope you're okay. Glad you are.
Maybe Nelson can bring your tranny with him next time he comes up here? It won't be too long before we see him again. If the case is cracked, I think there are probably about seven perfectly good cases right where I can get to them, and it'd be a matter of swapping out the guts.
If that's the case (pardon the pun), we'll hook you right up, no charge!
The big question is, after they stood by your car for two hours, did those guys buy the piece of land?

Wow Cory! That's mighty generous of you! Thanks so much! Yesterday I actually spoke to Ralph; my "wrench" and guru here and he told me to take it easy. He'll be coming around here to inspect under the car this week. He tells me there's the possibility that only the nose cone went south; I can see that the gear oil is dripping at the front of the transaxle so maybe he's right (I hope so). It'd be even better if I didn't have to remove the whole drivetrain to fix this but I doubt it because even if it's just the nosecone I'll have to. Regarding the prospective clients; they basically met with me to talk about my designing them a house. They don't even own the land but they just wanted to get my opinion to help them decide. It's ocean front property and I think they're buying the plot and then they'll be applying for a separate construction loan. They were trying to get a global loan for everything but in a sense they were putting the cart before the horse. I'm hoping it'll all turn out nicely. They're a really nice couple and they plan to get married; she's local and he's from Orange County, California. Being a surfer at heart he came down here and fell in love with the island and decided to stay. I'm attaching a photo of part of the view in the plot that I took the same day of the mishap after I fixed the damage.

Wow. Beautiful. Reminds me of my childhood in Honolulu.

Ricardo -

Sorry to hear about your mishap with the Speedy! It seems that you were able to MacGuyver your ride back together to get her home safely.

I also respect the fact that you have a well grounded perspective! I hope that you can get your Speedy back in tip-top shape so that you can continue to enjoy your recent upgrades.

Here's wishing you a healthy and prosperous New Year, my friend!

Peace - Out!

Thanks Jim!! Same to you! Sometimes it's a drag but at least we're enjoying it right?

Sorry, Ricardo. I had a very similar problem (also from a pot hole). Not nearly as drastic, but enough to cause a small leak in the sump and a dent in the oil pan. I have an oil cooler, so I removed the sump and bet that my chances of tearing apart the sump are better than my chances of burning up the engine. I've taken several 100 mile drives since removing it and only notice a little difference in temperature. We'll see how it holds up this summer.

Brian

Man, I had a cheaper sump on a bus that I had. It didn't leak much around town but the first time I hit the hyway I lost a quart in 50 miles. What a mess!

Gald to hear you were able to get it home. Always a scary thing to leave a speedy on the side of the road.

Ricardo

What a story. Sorry it happened after you got all your upgrades done. Did the upgrades work out for you? I guess now it's just a matter of getting it all back together and driving it. Good luck. Hopefully this is not a budget breaker.

Warren White

Thanks guys. The upgrades did work because you can definitely feel it behind the wheel. I'm definitely sorry to let the Gene Berg sump go but my "wrench" here tells me that I can use a mini-sump such as the one offered by CB Performance and still have enough clearance. I also plan to raise the car a little bit in the back. I don't think that fixing the transaxle leak problem will be a budget breaker (a nose cone is $49.95 and a new OEM tranny case is $142.95 at CB Performance); it's the work of having to pull the drivetrain that pisses me off, especially so soon after having pulled the engine for the upgrades. I definitely didn't plan to do any more work to the car for a long time but....

If it's any consolation, Ricardo, I fired up the Sloppy Jalopy yesterday and it was making jackhammer noises.
But, oddly enough, we had the first frost of the year this morning. I'm done driving it for the year now, so I'll be taking off my header and valve covers to get them Jet-Hot coated. Knock on wood, I'll try not to bottom it out after that.
Have you thought of a skid plate, or maybe a couple nerf bars growing out of your frame horns?

Well bro; it's not a consolation when you have car trouble to have a friend suffer car troubles too. I do hope it's something minor!!

Here's a photo of the leak; although we can't seem to find a crack I'm suspecting a new nose cone is in order....

Que pasa Boricua!!!! Solo unas cortas letras para dejarte saber que siento mucho lo de tu carro. Como andan las cosas en la isla? I am thinking about mving back to the island, still have my family there, but work is not being too easy on me. Again, sorry for the damage and good luck.
Antonio


PS Where did it happen?

Hi Antonio; thanks for your sympathy. This happened at the beach area in Manat

Ricardo, paint it with some of that blacklight paint we used to use at parties, and hit it with a blacklight. The cracks will show up, if there are any o find.

"... any TO find."
Sorry.

That's a good idea.....the whole thing will be coming out; Gord suggested I take the opportunity and just replace the full gasket set in the tranny since I already have it.

Engine and transaxle are out; Jjr came over and we took care of it. I just spoke to Cory on the phone to give him the scoop. As far as I can see there's no cracks on the nosecone. Jjr believes that the thing probably deformed because of the blow. It was definitely leaking at the bottom seam between the nosecone and the gear carrier (makes sense because of the blow the sump took; there was a negative moment force applied just in that area that tended to separate both parts). Another curious fact is that VS's trans builder doesn't use the paper gaskets; just light blue sealant (Permatex?).

Tomorrow, God willing, I'll clean the transaxle up, replace the axle boots while at it (the are starting to crack, even though they're only 2 yrs. old) and maybe re-seal both axle covers using the paper gaskets. I'm crossing my fingers; I hope nothing else is broken since I want to make sure my transaxle is leak free when I re-install it.

Good luck, Ricardo. Sounds like you've got a handle on things.

Update, trans and engine are in; Jjr and me got the car started tonight. Haven't driven it but it shifts fine and goes forward and back. All I'm hoping now is that it doesn't leak any more transaxle oil. I installed new axle boots (the ones in it looked suspect) as well as a new nosecone and gasket as well as the axle cover gaskets on both sides. Tomorrow I'll buy some new fresh air hoses and hook them up as well as the camber compensator, etc. I'll wash the car up, fill it with gas and take it out for a drive. I was experiencing withdrawal symptoms and the weather here has been great for the past couple of weeks; hope it stays like that!

Two words, bro.

"v i d e o."

I might try to see how my Sony digital camera works in that respect; haven't tried it yet....

Actually that's one word......

Took the car out for a drive Sunday morning since I finished hooking up some odds and ends at 1:00 am on Sunday morning and it's driving fine; I don't know if I'm crazy or not but somehow it feels even better than before(?). The only little glitch I found is that now the transaxle is leaking at the reverse light switch. Even though the VW manual says there's some sort of a washer there, mine didn't have it so I just swapped the switch to the new nosecone. Funny that it didn't leak in that area with the old nosecone which, by the way, is exactly the same Brazilian replacement as the new one I bought. I'm thinking maybe remove the switch; plug it with a cork while we put some teflon tape on the threads and then just drive it back in; that should do it.

Glad you're back on the roads, bro!
Mike -- :

Know what? Stupid me didn't notice that the aluminum washer/gasket was stuck to the old nosecone and I didn't transfer it to the new one. I know that the space to work around it is limited and the reverse switch is around 21 mm so I hope I can find a way to remove it to install the gasket; because I won't be removing the transaxle any time soon! Hopefully the leak will be history then. I'm still dealing with some minor and very occasional popping through the exhaust. Yesterday I drove the car to an office where I had a scheduled meeting and it was great. I parked the car for an hour; when I got back I started it and as soon as I took off it was working a little bit erratic (sort of like missing a little). I drove it back home and as soon as I got in my street it started working better. I started it again today and although not really bad you can tell it's not 100%. Weird since I'd cleaned and re-gapped the spark plugs to .024" while the motor was out for the transaxle leak repair. We'll get to the bottom of this.

Ricardo,

Tough Ordeal

Anyway; "Popping" is usually related to an exhaust leak. There should be a "Carbon Finger Print" locating the detached exhaut clamp.

This "Popping" surfaces in my car from dragging the exhasut on a low driveway - kind of normal PM with a lowered speedster (at least in my case.)

Keep the "Shiny Side Up!"

Jack

I follow you Jack; I already looked for leaks and they're nowhere to be found (I substituted the stock clamp system in the exhaust system with welded on flanges to match the 1-1/2" diam. heater boxes I installed so there's no leaks there either). The funny thing is that the symptom sort of comes and goes at random.

Are you sure it isn't an intake leak? Sometimes just retorqueing the intake bolts will take care of the problem you are describing.

I just installed new intake gaskets when I re-installed the engine and they're tight and were covered with white lithium grease to minimize leaks. I did notice the car running better this time; maybe I had leaky intake gaskets before, who knows?

As per Gord's advice I sprung up for CB Performance's Jet Doctors and a new set of Bosch spark plug wires.

Took the car out yesterday and it's working like a charm; maybe it was a partially clogged idle jet?

Ricardo -

For gearheads like most of us on this site, it's hard to beat the gratification that comes from starting your engine for the first time after a rebuild (especially when nothing explodes or bursts into flames) and listening to it purr and then the maiden voyage of a shake-down cruise - glad to hear you're back on the road!

Peace - Out!

Same here Jimbo! Thanks!