The easiest way to drain off some ATF is to disconnect the fill tube.
You need a 244mm (15/16") wrench. There are two seal separating the ATF
and gear oil and there is a seal on the governor. Yes, they can mix if
the seals are bad. You need to check the gear oil level through the pug
on the side, (17mm allen). The two seal are installed back to back and
there should be a space between them that leads to a hole. If oil is
getting between the seals you should see leakage. The drain hole is
located on the differential housing, just in front of the automatic
section. Make sure it is not blocked with road crud. If the trans has
been apart, aftermarket seal were probably used which do not have the
blocks to make sure there is space between the seals. This adds to the
mixing mess.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
Of pete or nancy owsianowski
Sent: Saturday, August 28, 2004 10:16 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Transmission Question

My Brother=in-law is the new proud owner of an '85 Wolfsburg.  Sent this
question:

Remember how I told you that my transmission fluid level is too high?
>> Well, I thought it would be an easy process to just get under there
and
>> drain off a bit.  But no dice.  First, I can't find a thing that
looks
>> obviously like a drain plug, and second, there's a complication
according
>> to The Bentley.
>>
>> It seems that before you drain off any tranny fluid, you need to be
sure
>> that there's no fluid leaking into the tranny from the Final Drive
unit,
>> which is considered separate from the transmission itself.  The FD
has
the
>> drive shafts to the wheels coming out of each side; the
"transmission" is
>> the smaller unit forward of the FD that has the fluid fill tube
coming
out
>> of it.
>>
>> Any good ideas on this?  Once upon a time I killed my girlfriend's VW
when
>> I did an oil change.  Turns out I drained the tranny as well as the
>> engine.  (The relationship didn't survive that incident.)  I don't
care
to
>> make the same mistake again...
>>

Any thoughts appreciated.

Pete
'87 Westy
"Joe's Van"