Dennis, 

I am not sure what you mean by the breather, where on the van is it located?
I am not a mechanic so please excuse my ignorance.

What are my options, what should I tell the mechanic's to look for?

Is this something fixable?

Does this mean I need a new tranny?

Can I actually fix this?

Thanks again, 
rob

on 7/20/06 10:26 PM, Dennis Haynes at dhaynes@OPTONLINE.NET wrote:

> The first thing to check is the breather on top. There are two of them.
> One is for the differential and the other for the auto section. They
> tend to get blocked with road dirt. As the van is driven, the fluid in
> the torque converter heats up and expands rapidly. If air can��t escape
> out the breather, fluid will be pushed out of the dipstick as it is
> connected at the bottom of the pan.
> 
> Auto transmissions often fail suddenly. Get an internal seal leak so
> there is not sufficient pressure for the clutches to lock and they start
> to slip and things can burn up quickly.
> 
> Dennis
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf
> Of robertmstewart
> Sent: Thursday, July 20, 2006 9:53 PM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: AT Fluid Burping out of ATF Dip Stick Tube? Causes Trans
> Malfunction, 88 Auto
> 
> Hello everyone, 
> 
> I have a question for you, my 88 Auto with a used good condition Tranny
> all
> of a sudden today started to fail and I am at a loss and need your
> feedback...
> 
> (The short version is this: ATF burping and how does a perfectly working
> AT
> go to a non-functioning AT?)
> 
> Here��s the background:
> 
> The van��s past owner before the person I purchased it from was a VW
> Mechanic
> and the prior owner and he installed another auto trans from another
> good
> working van��s tranny several years ago.
> 
> I have had the van since January 06. Since then the transmission has
> been
> shifting normally, and for the last month I have been traveling 3-4 hour
> trips from Long Island to Upstate NY and doing some serious highway
> driving
> and mountain driving. Usually I put in at least 8 hours of solid driving
> per
> weekend for 4 weekends. All in all the van has performed great..
> 
> Here��s where the story starts.. Just before my first long trip (4 weeks
> ago)
> I check all fluids, stupidly I did it when the van was cold, and in
> doing so
> thought the ATF was low so I added just a little bit to what was in
> there,
> now after about 3hrs of driving, I pull into the driveway at my
> destination
> and park the van, well I see ATF fluid burping out of the Dip Stick
> tube!
> Not much just a little 1/4 cup. I figure it��s just the overflow kicking
> out.
> I check it in 10 minutes and the level is fine.
> 
> Well 4 weeks pass and I drive it pretty hard to and from the LI to
> Upstate
> NY, 8 hrs per weekend (3x) all is good. Today I start the van up and
> drive 1
> mile away from the house in Long Island to the grocery, on the way I can
> see
> smoke from the back of the van, it smells like the ATF burping and
> leaking
> onto the exhaust. I park at the grocery and see it burping out, about
> 1/4 ��
> 1/2 cup.  I do some shopping come back 15 min. later, and drive the 1
> mile
> home, all seems fine. No smoke. After it cools down a bit I check the
> ATF
> fluid and it appears a bit low, so I top it off with Dexron III and
> accidentally over fill it but not by much.
> 
> About 4 hours later I get in the van and drive back the same direction
> about
> 1 mile to go to the post office and immediately I can detect something
> is
> not right. 
> At the stop light with the brake on I can see the rpm��s go from about
> 875
> and revs to about 1,000, then levels off again, normally at idle it
> stays
> right at 875. I thought the surging was strange. I then continue to
> drive
> and again I see the smoke occurring again from the back of the van,
> smells
> again like ATF on the exhaust, now I decide to head right to me local
> standard mechanic not my VW guy cause he was closed.
> 
> The local guy tells me the burping is normal if there is to much ATF in
> the
> case. So he checks the fluid and he says the level is good. He tells me
> to
> bring it by in the morning as I wanted them to check the brakes since I
> just
> had all the brakes replaced (the original ones were too rusty). I then
> decide to take a little drive just a mile down the road along beach to
> let
> the fluid cycle through and burn off the stuff was sitting on the
> exhaust
> and I thought that maybe taking it up to highway speed would be good, to
> get
> the fluid really circulating. Bad idea...
> 
> As I drive this simple little straight route I notice the transmission
> is
> not engaging right, when I take my foot off the brake it usually goes
> forward on its own, this time nothing.. I have to gas it. Then it gets
> progressively worse. It goes into 1st, then second, then it rev��s and
> then
> goes to 3rd, and then I thought, oh crap! I have problems. Time to get
> it
> back to the mechanic!
> 
> Well To late, I turn it around to go back the mile I came and now at the
> stop light I give it gas and it goes now where!
> 
> I am stuck during rush hour and everyone is honking, my flasher are on,
> but
> people don��t pay attention. I signal for them to go around me. People
> are
> screaming, others understand..
> 
> I call the mechanic and see if they can come by and push me the 4 blocks
> to
> the garage, he says he can��t.  I then call AAA to haul my van back, but
> right after I decide to start the van and try... Well it starts to move,
> each time I stop it��s a crap shoot to whether it will move. It never
> gets
> past 1st gear. I have to literally move my body a little forward to try
> and
> coax the van to get in gear and move, but somehow I get to the garage.
> While
> the engine is still hot I check the ATF level, I see a hair on the end,
> but
> it was pretty try.
> 
> So what is going on with all the burping and how does a perfectly
> working AT
> go to a non-functioning AT?  The mechanic suspected that the AT is
> overheating.. What does this mean? I just hope this does turn into a
> massive
> money pit now.....
> 
> I hope someone here can shed some light on the burping issue, and why
> all of
> a sudden the transmission would not engage...
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Robert