Re: [T3] ATF leak

[Jim Adney <jadney@vwtype3.org>]

On 13 Aug 2004 at 20:44, Daniel Baum wrote:

> I am fairly sure now that I overfilled it. The crucial little piece of 
> information that the bottom line is "full when cold" is actually missing 
> from all the books. They say "check oil when warm and don't fill over 
> the top line". They don't say how far you have to drive to make it 
> "warm". 

You're right, that's a difficult judgment to make. I usually go by the rule 
that it should be above the lower mark when cold but below the upper mark when 
hot.

> Could overfilling it cause a leak, and if so, would it damage something? 
> Should I just let it leak until it gets down to the proper level?

There's plenty of room in the housing for expansion, so I don't think that 
simple expansion should cause a leak, but it's certainly possible that 
expansion could bring the fluid level up to a point where it "found" a place to 
leak out.

I think that, in general, they don't want you to overfill the case just because 
too high a level will cause excessive drag on some of the moving parts. This 
would cause poor gas mileage and not much else.

> I let it idle again later on, after it had cooled a bit, and it didn't 
> leak any more.

There was a problem with the torque converters sold with the very first type 3 
AT cars. Those TCs are identifiable by having a smaller number of cooling fins 
around the outside. I'll have to look up the numbers later tonight. Those early 
TCs had a tendency to crack at a weld and leak. If you have one of the early 
ones it would be worthwhile to find a later one to retrofit. The changover 
occurred in '69.  

It's possible that such a leak might vary with temperature, but Russ may know 
more about these. I've never seen one. My '69 AT has the late TC and has never 
had a problem.

-- 
Jim Adney
jadney@vwtype3.org
Madison, WI 53711-3054
USA

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
List info at http://www.vwtype3.org/list | mailto:gregm@vwtype3.org
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ Shameless link for search engines: http://listarchive.type3.org ~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~