Well… I’ve been driving it around all this week and most everything has gone well. The throw out bearing makes a little noise with the clutch out and sitting at idle, but I’m not too worried about it. I’ve gotten better at finding 5th gear, but it’s still not easy to get into. I need 5th so rarely that it’s not a hassle, but I can imagine wanting it to be easier in the future—once everything else is done. I sold my 2003 V6 Passat wagon today, and I’m really glad I did: I kept on mixing up the gearing sequence between the two and reaching for 5th in one, or 2nd in the other! I think now I can get used to one pattern and settle in there.
Which leads me to the transmission vent. Who knew the toughest part of this whole swap was the GD vent!? I relocated the vent pipe so many times I lost track. I tried a U configuration (soooooo many pipe clamps!), and a complete circle, and left, and right, and incorporating the old vent with the new, and wishing upon the first star I saw at night… None of it worked; the thing still leaked. I finally broke down and got a 4’ length of fuel hose and fed it up the air intake on the side back, and made that the vent. Then it didn’t leak!
I really believe that
1. It is not overfilled, and
2. It is not boiling.
1. It is not overfilled rationale: I contacted Tim Shettle and asked how much trans fluid he uses. He said 4.5 liters! That’s right; well over one US gallon! I figure he knows a thing or two having invented a major component of this thing.
So. I went ahead and drained all the fluid in there (because I couldn’t remember how much was in there. And between it leaking everywhere and me not remembering—best just to start all over), and refilled it with 4.5 liters, and extended the GD hose 4’ up the shoot. And it doesn’t leak any more!
I really think the centrifugal force of the big gear I could see through the old drain hole was making oil go up the short pipe. It happened mostly, and quite possibly only, in 5th gear, which makes me think that the gear I could see through the hole, was really cranking and made the oil go out the short vent pipe.
2. It’s not boiling rationale: It just doesn’t get very hot. I realize that there is a lot of volume to warm up in there, but if any amount of the volume gets warm enough to boil, it should be hot coming out the pipe; and it’s just not. I have a “laser” thing that tells me the temperature of things I point it at (I inspect houses). It is pretty damn accurate when I have shot it at water boiling on the stove, and then compared that to a conventional thermometer. There was no difference in temperature between the oil in the vent pipe, and the oil in the transmission when I used my “laser.” It’s not that it was a degree or two different; it was identical. 78* after a long hard drive on a 55* day.
So. I think I just needed a long vent pipe so that the big gear I could see in the vent hole could do its thing in 5th gear, and not loose oil through the vent. Time will tell if I’m right. I figure worst case is that I’m wrong, the transmission blows up, and I have to buy another one (for $200.00) and modify it again to fit back in there. A starter motor costs more than that. I’ll fess up if that’s the case, but for now wish me luck and happy travels!
Andrew