Don't know about the automatic, but it is much easier to pull the
standard tranny than to pull the engine.

Karl Wolz

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
Behalf Of
> Craig Oda
> Sent: Tuesday, July 27, 2004 9:50 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: Broken bolt on torque converter
>
> After crawling around under the van I found a sheared bolt which looks
> like it came from the torque converter.  At least, I think it is the
> torque converter.  See here:
>
> http://oda.bz/vanagon/2004_07/
>
> The van started making noises about 30 miles from my house and I drove
> it home.  It's on jack stands now and won't start.  Sounds like
> something is jammed in the metal plate shown in the picture.  The
> threads in the plate look damaged and I think there is a piece of
> metal in there that was causing havoc.
>
> I plan to take out the engine to look at the plate this weekend.
>
> Is this the torque converter plate?  I have an automatic transmission.
>
> If the plate is damaged, what should I do?  Should I attempt to repair
> it by sending it into a shop or buy a new one.  How much would this
> plate cost?
>
> Besides dropping the engine for further inspection, any other
suggestions?
>
> I guess this puts a damper on my plans to go to Lake Shasta.  Though,
> if the plate is cheap and that's the primary thing that's damaged, I
> can probably drop the engine, swap the plate out and jack the engine
> back in over a weekend.
>
> Or, maybe this is too optimistic and I've got more serious problems
> here because I drove the engine on the freeway for 30 miles after the
> bolt sheared off?
>
> Thanks.
>
> Regards,
> Craig