At 01:16 PM 09/12/98 -0800, Rainer, Larry etc. wrote concerns about the
viscous coupling. Here are my practical experiences:

When I bought my Syncro with 78000kms it had 205/75 14 tire in the rear and
195/75 14 tires in the front. The tire were well worn and must have been on
there for a while. I replaced them immediately. Now I have 268000kms on the
same powertrain with lots of off road tests and the viscous coupling still
works. 

When VW tested the Viscous coupling initially the took out the rear
driveshafts and dove up and down Germany and found that there was very
little performance difference. (I have the original test data somewhere).

As for Rainer, don't throw the baby out with the bathwater. Sometimes you
just need to replace the fluid than the whole thing.

Over to someone else.
Bj�rn Ratjen

Mill Bay, B.C. 

1987 Syncro Est Alia (self camperized)
1995 Passat TD
(1982 Vanagon Diesel)
1979 VW Bus (self- camperized)