Automotive Services

First make sure your car is warmed up and the transmission is at normal operating temperature then park it on a level surface. Pull the transmission dipstick (located near the firewall in most cars) and look at your fluid noting the level. Fresh fluid is translucent and cherry red. Some darkening is normal, but if it is reddish brown or mustard color and smells like burnt varnish, its time to change it. Worn out transmission fluid no longer protects, lubricates and cools the transmission and can lead to poor or rough shifting and expensive repairs. Here’s how to change it yourself

1. Before getting started make sure you have enough transmission fluid of the correct specification for your vehicle and the correct filter and gasket to replace the one you are removing from the pan. Drain the fluid by loosening the bolts on the transmissions pan. The pan reservoir will hold anywhere from three or four quarts to as much as 10 or more depending on the vehicle so have a large pan to catch the fluid. Then loosen each pan bolt a turn or two and loosen one corner more than the rest so the pan hangs down on one side more the other. Drain mostly from this corner.
2. Once the bulk of the oil has been drained from the pan, finish removing the pan and any gasket material from the pan and transmission case. Avoid scratching the metal and make sure the pan’s gasket surface isn’t bent or distorted.
3. Remove the old filter. Most transmission filters are held in place with a bolt or two, but some are held by a clip. Be careful to include O-Rings or other seals that your particular transmission might have.
4. Install a new filter. Use the clips or bolts from the old filter. Be sure O-Rings, etc. are in place. If the filter has a long intake neck, gently push the neck into place without unseating the O-Ring.
5. Clean the pan thoroughly. Inspect the pan before cleaning. A small amount of fine grey clutch dust is normal however; if you find metal shavings, there has been transmission damage… Clean the pan with solvent and wipe dry so there is no harmful residue. Some transmissions have a magnet stuck to the inside bottom of the pan for catching fine metallic particles from the transmission fluid. Clean this magnet off with a clean rag and replace it in the same spot you found it in the pan.
6. Position the new gasket on pan. Some gaskets have four holes slightly smaller than the rest to allow four bolts through the pan and through these smaller holes to locate and hold the gasket in place.
7. Hand tighten pan bolts in a criss-cross pattern. After that, use a torque wrench to tighten bolts to proper ft-lbs as per manufacturer.
8. Refill the transmission using only the amount shown as “refill capacity” in the owner’s manual using the type of fluid specified for the vehicle.
9. If doing only a partial fluid replacement,(pan only) skip to instruction 12 below. If doing a complete fluid replacement, follow the steps in instruction 10.
10. You now have replaced the fluid in the pan. To replace the fluid in the torque converter and oil cooler also, follow these steps.
    • Step 1. Obtain the total system capacity of the vehicle from the manufacturer or owners manual. Have this amount readily available.
    • Step 2. Disconnect the oil cooler line from the oil cooler. As you may not know which is the pressure side and which is the return side, have both directed so the stream of fluid will be directed toward a receptacle.
    • Step 3. With another person, be prepared to add ATF to the fill area as it is being pumped out of the oil cooler line.
    • Step 4. Start the engine, and as the old fluid is pumped out, add fresh fluid to the pan.
    • Step 5. When either the fluid color brightens or the total capacity has been replaced, shut the engine off and re-attach the oil cooler line. All fluids have now been changed.
11. Recheck the fluid level. With the car on level ground, set the parking brake and the transmission in “Park” or “Neutral.” Let the engine idle for a few minutes. Shift the transmission into different positions before returning the lever to “Park” or “Neutral.” Check the fluid level again and check for leaks and you’re done!

Amsoil inc. introduced the first American Petroleum rated synthetic motor oil in 1972. Today, Amsoil is considered the world leader in synthetic motor oils and lubrication. Amsoil manufactures high quality synthetic automatic transmission fluids for almost every application.

On a brief trip to San Francisco last week I had a very interesting experience with Californian Police and the American way of attending to auto repairs, especially auto glass replacement. Driving back to my hotel in my friend’s loan vehicle, a Police vehicle followed me into the hotel car park no doubt to check why such a handsome guy like me was driving the car. What turned out to be a standard license check then became a vehicle inspection which found no other defect than a chip in the glass windshield. I don’t know what happened to the “land of the free”, the USA is most certainly now a Police State where people’s movement is heavy restricted by officious authority. Oh the Police were deliberately polite, but in an official manner were the use of the word “sir” was nothing more than condescending. I was a police officer for 8 years in Australia, and it is hard for me to imagine where such oppressive policing could ever be thought to be useful.

Yet here I was in a foreign country having to fix the windshield as I was directed to repair the vehicle without driving it again until it was repaired. That is, the Police forbade me to drive to a repair shop to have the tiny problem resolved. It truly felt like the Police were on some sort of commission structure from the auto glass repair industry – but I guess it could have been worse; I could have been Hispanic or black.

So back at the hotel room, letting my fingers do the walking in the Yellow Pages, I found a brilliant auto glass replacement service which not only made me laugh with their friendly service, they came to the hotel within 3 hours and repaired the chipped windscreen on the spot. After being so disappointed by the Police attitude and treatment, I was again very happy to be in America simply because of the high quality service I received by the auto glass replacement guys.

When chasing down an electrical problem on a used VW bug, the task is greatly simplified by a few bits of knowledge.

First, where electricity is concerned, cleaner is better. Wires and ground lugs (especially ground lugs) need to make clean, clear, direct, metal to metal contact. Be clear, there is no substitute for really clean, oil free, bright, dry, shiny metal contact.

After contact is made and is securely insured, then you can slather the connection in grease. The grease will keep air, moisture and any other foreign goop from getting into the joint, degrading it.

This is especially good on battery terminals. Because of the high currents involved in that connection, it is a really good thing if it is a good connection. Battery terminals that have been greased after a good connection is made may appear to collect more dirt, but they are clean where it counts.

Second, the VW wiring system is simple enough that nobody should feel scared off. Trust me, there are *many* cars with *much* more complicated wiring schemes.

Not as much can go wrong with a simpler neighborhood. It’s like the electrons have trouble getting lost with fewer places to go.

The origin style wring harness is really simple, even with the refinements of a solid state regulator and an alternator. And the good news is you don’t have to be Einstein to figure out a bad light or crimped wire.

All electrical appliances on a VW have two wires, positive and negative. The positive is usually red or another bright color. Negative is usually black or another dark color.

With an ignition test light (yes, the same one the Idiot’s book suggests for setting the car’s timing statically), you can test to see if a wire is ‘hot’ (has voltage). A ‘hot’ wire and a good ground (negative, see above for details) is usually all that’s needed for a light or radio (or most other electrical items on a VW).

If there is a switch involved (for example a switch on the brake pedal works the car’s brake lights), the switch must work, too. Again, the test light is ideal for this type of on or off operation.