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vag problems
Benzine - 22/5/12 at 05:58 PM

Now that my daily driver has changed from Volvo to VAG, the smooth sailing i'm used to is no more.

I have a VW Polo (Mk4 1997) 1.6 with autobox. I need to put more ATF in it but the only thing that looks like a filler tube is sealed (red part in pic). No dipstick like in the old micra to check levels either

Picture of filler tube below. It doesn't screw off, is it sealed at the factory? Can anyone shed any light on this? I've been searching the net but no luck so far.

Ben_Copeland - 22/5/12 at 06:10 PM

Apparently :


quote:

The orange bit is kinda like a snap lock/anti tamper clip. Just horse it off and the cap will pull off.

gingerprince - 22/5/12 at 06:22 PM

Sorry - just saw the message subject and instantly thought of yeast infections and yogurt :p

westf27 - 22/5/12 at 06:42 PM

it maybe like mercedes where they have the dipstick !!

Benzine - 22/5/12 at 08:12 PM

quote:
Originally posted by Ben_Copeland
Apparently :


quote:

The orange bit is kinda like a snap lock/anti tamper clip. Just horse it off and the cap will pull off.


Thanks for the info ben!

Just got back from a drive to town and back and the engine overheated. Head gasket b0rked. The norse gods are angry at me for leaving volvo

Ben_Copeland - 22/5/12 at 08:15 PM

That's why I don't like Vw engines, although fairly easy to work on!

Benzine - 27/5/12 at 08:21 PM

To cut a long story short, go to last line of post. I'm now wondering if ATF has been leaking into the coolant, not engine oil. I can't say for sure yet as I don't know how the ATF is cooled (i.e. does it share cooling with the main engine coolant?) and I won't have access to the car for a couple of days. There's no water in the engine oil.

The transmission started playing up recently, making odd noises, nothing too harsh. Then one journey I noticed the water temp shoot up so I pulled over and steam was coming from the expansion bottle. First thought was thermostat wasn't working so fitted a new one. When taking the old one out it was broken in half (plastic housing) so I thought that must have been it. After about 20 miles more driving the water temp shot up again. Whenever it overheated the transmission would whine. This time I had a brown, milkshake like coolant so I thought head gasket has gone.

I fit a new head gasket kit and cambelt + tensioner which went swimmingly. Then I took the car for a quick spin, engine started on the button and off I went. Within half a mile the transmission wasn't working properly, I had to rev the flip out of it just to get to 30, so I limped back to garage. So has fouled coolant got into the auto box? (not good at all)


tl;dr: what colour/consistency does coolant go if ATF leaks into it?

[Edited on 27-5-2012 by Benzine]

Benzine - 28/5/12 at 04:22 PM

I've been to the car today and loosened the transmission drain plug, and about a teaspoon of milkshake-looking liquid came out. So ATF has mixed with coolant and almost all the ATF has squirted into the coolant. From looking at the coolant hoses, it looks like the coolant goes into the transmission, so to find the source of the leak would mean box out (which would probably need a full rebuild anyway after water has got in there). I guess it saves money, when building the car, to avoid fitting an extra cooler dedicated to the transmission. Wunderbar, VW.