ted@teldata.UUCP (04/30/84)
************* I have a 1976 VW bus with the 1900+cc fuel injected engine and I have a couple of problems. 1. It has a severe oil leak and appears to be the rear crankshaft seal. How hard are these to change? The one shop I talked to wants to drop the engine to replace it ($300+), is it necessary to remove the engine to get at it or how hard is the job with the engine in the car? I got to fix it because it looses a quart of oil every 4 days just sitting in the driveway. 2. One of the cv joints just started to go 'chunk-chunk-chunk', the same shop said either replace them all ($236) or wait 'till it gets bad enough to tell which one it is and replace the bad one ($68). What is a good way to check which joint is the bad one? I am an experienced home mechanic but never have dealt with a VW or cv joint before. This one worries me a little because a cv joint went on my Fiat 128 and left me stranded. Thanks in advance for any advice. Ted Becker
fbr@utastro.UUCP (Frank Ray) (05/01/84)
Replacing the crankshaft oil seal on the VW means removing the engine
from the car, because the seal must be fitted over the end of the
crankshaft, and to expose the crankshaft, the transaxle must be withdrawn
from it. Since the transaxle is attached to the chassis, the wheels, etc.,
it's far easier to remove the engine, which, I might add, on a VW, is
no big deal. Takes about 20 minutes with a nice heavy floor jack.
The CV joints are very interesting, and worth a trip into the realm of
hobby car tinkering. They are extremely messy. You need to repack them
with a special grease available from the VW dealer. You need a metric
Allen wrench, as I recall, to get the halfshafts out. I would replace
the mounting bolts when you put them back on. Don't do this job unless
you have strong hands, are willing to work on your back for what will seem
like an interminable amount of time, and can usually put back together
what you take apart. If you show up at the dealer's with a box full of
steel balls, greasy CV joint races, and stripped metric hex head screws,
they may want to charge quite a bit to bail you out.
One compromise which might save you a bit of cash, is to remove the half
axles, take them as assemblies to a small shop that really can do a nice
job of inspection, cleaning, and necessary replacement, and then reinstall
the half-shafts yourself, as rebuilt assemblies.
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