Karl,
Thanks for the idea.   Robert Fisher gave me similar advice on pulling
the automatic transmission.  I've never pulled the transmission
before, so this will be another vanagon adventure.  :-)

I may ask the list people for more advice on where I should be buying
parts when I find out the extent of the damage to the torque converter
and drive (flex?) plate.

Regards,
Craig

On Wed, 28 Jul 2004 07:32:54 -0700, Karl Wolz
<wolzphoto@worldnet.att.net> wrote:
> 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
>
>