Carnage Pictures - loose bolt in bellhousing!

[b1rdjx88]

It seems there has been a loose bolt in my bellhousing  for the last week of driving and yesterday it made its presence known, leaving an 800m long streak oil down the road and into my driveway and a puddle under my car.  

   I found a bolt last night wedged between the block and the clutch shield just above the passensger side cv joint.   It is an oil pan bolt.  How did it get there you ask?  My best guess is I must have accidently left that bolt resting on the bottom of the bellhousing when I recently swapped out some rod bearing bolts, and then bolted back up the clutch shield with the bolt inside.  :oops:

    I dropped my transmission today and this is what I found:  :shock:



 

   This one hole is the only damage I have found, though I plan on wiping everything down and inspecting the rest of the case.    

Has anyone fixed something like this before?  I am hoping a good welder will be able to plug the hole without needing to disassemble the tranny.  I am confident the transmission is okay as I drove less than a km with it leaking and there was still fluid dripping out when I parked it.

Thanks,
Alan

[bert]

Chemical metal mate,ive repaired alloy sumps with it,clean surface with brake cleaner,rough it a bit with emery,mix the 2 pastes together,stick it on and be done  :wink:
Bert

[burn_your_money]

Or take a 4 hour drive up to my place and I can set you up with a new tranny for cheap.

That is some miserable carnage... makes me want to figure out what is rattling around somewhere in my front end....

[b1rdjx88]

Funny you mention the rattling in the front end.  Earlier this week I noticed that at times there was a bit of a rattle at idle and it would last for a little while and then go away.  I figured there was a loose bolt somewhere... Boy was I right!

    I asked a mechanic neighbour about it today and he said the same thing - use JB weld.  I did the repair as he suggested and used a little patch of aluminum window screen embedded in the epoxy just for good measure.  For surface prep I used lots of brake cleaner and heated the area up with a propane torch a few times to help pull any residual oil out of the aluminum pores.  I'm going to let it cure overnight and put it back in the car tomorrow.

     Anyone have a cheap source for the power steering return line?   There isn't much left of mine.

[burn_your_money]

I can probably get you a line, were you looking for new or used?

[b1rdjx88]

I'm looking for cheap, so probably used.  I will be passing through North Bay on Wednesday (driving out to BC).  If I don't get a replacement line before then I would be interested in stopping in to pick one up.

[burn_your_money]

What line is it exactly? do you have a picture?

[b1rdjx88]

Return line between rack and resevoir.  One end is just a hose clamp connection to the resevoir, the other I believe would be an O-ring connection in the rack.  It runs from just beneath the driver's feet to up under the battery tray.  Car is a 1994 MK3 golf 1.9 aaz.  

   I am looking at local options for getting this and other parts too.  Its all part of a mad scramble to get this car set up for a cross country trip.

[b1rdjx88]

I'd be surprised if any aluminum actually came loose from the case as the hole is of smaller diameter on the inside.  The missing aluminum I expect was displaced into the case and up (in direction of flywheel rotation), but should still be attached.    

  I will confirm this today when I finally get the stubborn drain plug off.  

  I thought about the pipe plug fix too, but I would have had to make the hole significantly larger to make it round, and it would have been a little awkward to do on that corner.  

  I'm confident this repair should hold as there is plenty of contact surface in and around the hole.  Obviously, it isn't under any pressure either.  If it does fail I can't see it coming loose all at once and I should be able to detect any dripping and fluid loss before things get out of hand...

    Time will tell however, and I'll be sure to update this thread if the repair does fail.

[burn_your_money]

Car is a 1994 MK3 golf 1.9 aaz.  

   I am looking at local options for getting this and other parts too.  Its all part of a mad scramble to get this car set up for a cross country trip.

I only have mk2 stuff, it might work though. I'm also putting together a 95 golf in a mad scramble for it's cross country trip. Where are you heading and when are you passing through north bay?

[LeeG]

I'd take it somewhere to have it TIG welded.   It should be pretty simple to do for someone with alloy experience.  I had an almost new dirtbike tranny with similar damage (rock in chain) repaired once and it held for years.  

JB weld doesn't last.  Different expansion rate than base metal so it pulls loose over time.  If your lucky it will be keyed into the hole and wont fall out so you'll just have a slow seep.

[b1rdjx88]

Well I'm hoping to get at least 5 months out of it.  

Burn your money, I am driving out to the Prince George, BC area to work tree planting this summer.  I'll be passing through North Bay sometime around 5:00pm tomorrow.  I found the power steering line I need here.  

   Now I'm just wondering if I should be bringing a spare tranny with me?! :lol:

[burn_your_money]

   Now I'm just wondering if I should be bringing a spare tranny with me?! :lol:

Stop in tomorrow and I'll get you one lol

Glad to hear you got the PS line. My brother is actually thinking of tree planting this summer as well, but not in BC