The fluid whistling noise tells me that most likely one of the clutch
pistons is ripped. I always try to replace them at overhaul time. Many shops
do not. I have also had some new one fail.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
BenT Syncro
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2010 7:11 AM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: Strange Auto Trans Behavior

Hi Dennis,

> Is it a wine or fluid whistle? And to be clear it whines with the
> engine
> "off" but it still works while whining? I do not understand.

It sounds to me like a fluid whistle which gets higher in pitch. Once
the noise goes away, drive is gone from all gears 1,2,3&R. There is no
noise when the engine is off. Once I restart the engine, I can again
but only as long as the noise is present.

> The fact that it works when cold and then stops indicates an
> internal fluid
> leak or valve problem. The typical culprits after a repair are the
> accumulator seal, or one of the piston seals, or a broken ring on
> the direct
> drum. The 2nd gear brake band piston and accumulator can be fixed
> tranny in car. The other require removal and disassembly. A
> competent tranny man should know how to pressure test and then drop
> the valve body and air test all the pistons. The pumps rarely go bad
> and when they do it is often the
> result of something else including improperly shimming the drum
> assemblies when joining the differential.

Thank you again for your insight. I had to re-evaluated my situation
and decided the tranny swap is the best solution for me. I would have
loved to find out exactly what is wrong with the trans/valve body/TQ,
etc. However, after reading your advice as well as ny several others,
I have come to the conclusion that troubleshooting the trans will
require more time and effort than what is available to me.  My
mechanic/friend had offered to replace the trans essentially for free.
His way of saying thank you for giving him a Vanagon some months ago.
I don't want to impose on him to do anything beyond what he
volunteered to do.

Doing it myself is out of the question because I live in one of those
neighborhood where major automotive repairs are not permitted. One
drop of oil on the driveway gets the local busybody running to the
homeowner's association.

Yes, I know, I should move. Soon.

Regards,

BenT