Flo,

Get a short bolt whose head is the size to fit into the drain plug -- I
think it's 17 MM but I can't remember for certain. Get two nuts that fit
the bolt to go along with it. Put the two nuts on the bolt and jam them
together - that is tighten them against each other. Now insert the bolt
head into the drain plug and use a box end wrench to turn the bolt to
tighten the plug.

This works really well. Because the bolt is so short, I keep mine in the
ash tray.

Sorry, I can't help with the coolant issue.

Regards,

John Rodgers
88 GL Driver

Florian Speier wrote:
> so, the vanagon greeted me with two leaks today. tranny oil  (manual) and
> coolant.
>
> the tranny oil ssems to come from the manual tranny drain plug, and it is
> not a lot. is there any tool that can tighten the plug without
> removing the
> transmission? and is it very bad for the transmission to have lost a
> little
> oil? I doubt it was more than an ounce at max....
>
> the other leak..... well, coolant, left side. I still have my hopes
> its not
> the head. it seems to be coming from these hoses and sensors behind the
> left, at least there are marks of dried coolant, but there is also
> some on
> the oil filter. So is just driving on and refilling a very dangerous
> tactic?
> I am gearing up for a subie conversion, so it should just be a few
> months....
>
> flo
>
>