It is possible and common for the governor seal to fail which will cause ATF
to transfer into the differential housing. It can be repaired with the
transmission in place. A little tricky but certainly do-able.

Dennis

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of
Michael
Sent: Saturday, April 9, 2016 3:05 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: Re: The hits keep coming

Thanks Stuart. So I'm in NH. Anybody know anybody in a 100 miles (AAA plus
:) that can do the work well?

I've called around here and Maine and haven't found anyone.

Mike

> On Apr 9, 2016, at 2:51 PM, Stuart MacMillan <stuartmacm@GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>
> It's not possible for oil from the engine to get into the
> differential. That hex plug is the differential fill hole, and the
> bottom of the hole is the correct level when it's full. Draining is
> done by removing the pan, no oil should come out when you remove the plug
if you are on a level surface.
>
> You have ATF in the diff. The AT has a pump and functions using
> hydraulic pressure.  You are pumping ATF into the diff because a seal
> has failed, and there is no escaping a full transmission rebuild,
> other than swapping in a good used one.  Should run around $2k if you
> remove and install the unit, add $500 or so if the shop does it.  A
> used unit goes for around $500 plus shipping if you can find a seller
> willing to ship.  Check Craigslist and The Samba.
>
> Sorry, but there is no other solution.  You can stop looking for one
> and have a beer. :-(
>
> Stuart
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On
> Behalf Of Michael
> Sent: Saturday, April 09, 2016 10:36 AM
> To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
> Subject: The hits keep coming
>
> Many of you have replied with your expertise on the matter of a blown
> tranny on an 88 auto. Or at least those kind of symptoms.
>
> Now here is a new development. I wanted to check to see if I could
> tell if ATF was mixing with the differential so I unscrewed the drain
> plug and oil literally came gushing out. When I closed it after
> filling a couple weeks ago,it was a trickle which I believe means it
> was filled with close to the
> 1.3 quarts that is recommended.
>
> Now, I also changed out the engine oil (it's an ej22 Subaru) and
> filled that up right. Well, the engine oil is half gone and I believe
> that's what was in the differential section. No visible leaks anywhere.
>
> Hard to tell if ATF was mixed in based on the Amberness of synthetic
> engine oil and the purple color of the diff oil. Plus, it's quite
> surprising when oil comes flying at your face while under the van.
>
> I don't really know what this could mean other than probably a good
> deal of money to fix it.
>
> Any ideas on the matter?
>
> Mike=