Volkswagen Caravelle C T25 1985

[msabbasi]

Nice.

For coolant, caltex orange is actually dexcool which is what vw pink coolant is. Make sure to cut it 50%.

Btw great bus.. love these,

And good that u didnt get a syncro, u will found her stuck in the most interesting of places where military land cruisers would refuse to go.

Really? I was disappointed that it was not a Syncro. I figured the Syncro was supposed to be an off road Goliath and wife would stick it in the "granny gear" and let it just tootle along walking over boulders

Thank for appreciating the bus. It really drives very nice.

Actually, this one has a 40% limited slip diff. The road clearance is phenomenal even on its stock 14" wheels. I am hoping with the LSD and ground clearance, it will keep wife out of trouble. Speaking of ground clearance, I can crawl under the van and do all the required service without jacking it up

For coolant, I went with Liqui Moly RAF 11 coolant. Label on the can says it is recommended for VW. Caltex is all but gone from the scene. They seem to have pulled out of Pakistan. Maybe a few limited outlets selling Caltex oils and coolants left around town. But certainly no more petrol pumps.

[msabbasi]

Indeed great cars. I found the G11 was not as good as my G100. The G100 had my wife stranded on many occasions. But having said that there was this one time after torrential rain in Karachi, wife was returning after picking the kids from school and one part of the road had water above the wheel arch, while "better" cars broke down this one just chugged through getting them home safely.

[nfssaad]

caltex has closed its pumps as all the fuel buisness was sold to Total.

it has opened up its lubricant business even more. several outlets are now available of caltex lubricants and coolants.

[msabbasi]

Thx for update, after the pumps closed, I tried to look around for their lubricants but back then there were very few outlets selling oils etc. so I just gave up on them and settled for other brands.

Don't miss them very much I suppose.

[msabbasi]

Trying to straighten/repair these cards It is very slow going. Work cant be rushed. One step has to be completed before the next.

Next one will be the driver door card. I have to say I did try to straighten it before I began this thread so it is not as bad as the passenger side but at the same time it is not acceptable.

Flatening out the edges is relatively easy compared to trying to flatten the entire door card.

[msabbasi]

The paint shop has moved the van from its resting area to the sanding area. I am not happy with the dent removal. There are too many waves in the large panels. The problem is that this denter guy is not using double length sanding blocks. I can't tell them anything because as already said, you can't fill a cup that is already full. They don't want to listen and think they know it all.

I will let do what they want to do. Then in the end I will have to make a sanding block of my own and show them what needs to be done.

[khanjiiii]

Very interesting project, loved going through the thread. Subscribed and waiting for more updates

[Xulfiqar]

Thats exactly my point - it would climb boulders like they were anthills - and Mrs Abbasi would then get to places where most military vehicles will stall or balk out, Just like when there is a rescue call on a trail the first question asked is, what are they driving.

If the answer is a landrover defender, VW synchro bus or Gwagen benz, the rescue team readies the helicopter as its a 70% chance that the vehicle is stuck somewhere extremely remote where the nazuk haseena toyota land cruiser will simply refuse to go.

[capsat]

So for the time being I am a bit stuck.

i've been doing such import to re-export & vice-versa since 1989 please do let me know if situation comes to 'STUCK' . It will not be a problem to manage it in a time line, it can be hand carried to DXB and from there courier will take care of it.

[msabbasi]

[msabbasi]

The column can be hand carried though it is pretty heavy. 5-6 Kg is my estimate and about 2.5 feet long or so. So far the seller is silent and not responding to my e-mails. Lets see how this goes forward.

[msabbasi]

Many thanks. Nice to have you aboard.

[msabbasi]

Intro to Syncro: Old timers on Pakwheels forum pages know Zulfiqar sahib (@Xulfiqar) enjoys a huge celebrity status here. He touched upon something called the Syncro a few posts ago. It has been on my mind ever since that normal visitors here may not know about the Syncro.

My version of the VW minibus replaced the previous version (bay window) in 1979. Around 1985 VW introduced an all wheel drive version of the van called the Syncro. The following promotional video is self explanatory. For a humble van, the Syncro is immensely capable off road machine. Not saying that it conquers all. There are times when it gets overwhelmed by the terrain but it sure opens up places one would not normally think about going to

I also thought the following video is also interesting as it shows what people do with this van in the real world.

Though the Syncro was built in very few numbers, we in Islamabad are fortunate to have a handful of them in the VW club.

[msabbasi]

With the above videos one gets the idea of what the van life is all about. up until a year ago I just could not understand what the hype about VW vans was all about. Having one now I fully get it.

[msabbasi]

Transmission: If this thread is followed from the beginning; it will be seen that I have touched upon a different number of different aspects of the van which I have already repaired or resolved with the exception of the bodywork. In doing so the pace and interest in this thread is maintained. I usually first fix the problem and share here afterwards.

The reason allowing the paint to proceed in real time is in the interest of sharing my frustrations.

In the case of the transmission, I was planning to work on it and share here after I succeeded with my fix. But I have already touched on the transmission subject with @Xulfiqar and so in a way I guess "bhanda phoot giya"

Ever since I got the bus in Jan-2018, along with other issues, there is an issue with the transmission. The transmission has a peculiar problem. It is fine going forward in straight line at any speed. But while reversing or turning tight corners, there is grinding noise from the differential. I have shown this to VW Guru Mr. Khalid, who first said it was the axles/CV joints. Then after hearing the sound emanating from the back of the van he said that some bearing(s) is(are) failing in the gearbox. This was not good news. Not because of the cost or complexity of the work but the headache of dealing with Mr. Khalid. To get him to start any work is a Herculean task. I tried on numerous occasions to get Mr. Khalid to accept the van for transmission O/H but to no avail. He kept giving me the runaround for two months and finally after getting frustrated, I put the van in the paint shop. Due to this transmission noise issue, I have limited the bus driving to a point that in one year it has been driven less than 1000 km to prevent further damage to the transmission.

While the van has been in the shop, I stumbled upon a website that alerted me to the fact that this van might have a 40% limited slip differential. If that is true, then such differentials should have LSD oil in them. With normal gear oil they will not operate correctly and give off noise. Since the noise comes when turning, and not while going straight, I began to think that perhaps the van has the wrong oil in the differential. Could the cure be as simple as this I wonder. We will have to wait till the bus gets back and I can confirm the transaxle code.

I am guessing that the transaxle code is ABK or ABM

[Xulfiqar]

You found the issue yourself - you need LSD oil - there is a high chance that the diff is worn out. Too bad that you cannot buy the 100ml pack of additive. You will need to change the gear oil. The sound you hear is not grinding, it must be a chattering.

I would also suggest to refresh the axle grease with proper CVJ grease which is nothing more than high temp 3 or 5% moly grease of lithium soap and having NLGI 1 or 2 consistency. (you will need 500 grams to pack all 4 joints in the rear)

btw - dont use GL5 rated oil in it - the gearbox will crash a lot as the syncrhos cannot spin quick enough with GL5. use a GL4 or GL3 oil only and not heavier than SAE 90 otherwise in cold weather the gearstick will feel like its stuck in 10 ft deep mud and the engine will spin really slow on startup unless you declutch it.

btw - toyota sell LSD gear oil.

[Xulfiqar]

The VW bus with syncro is amazing no doubt - it can float on two diagonal wheels as its weight is split 50% - Its slow though. I have some freinds here who go wheeling and some of them show up in their VW buses to annoy the folks who have bought expensive land cruisers.

The syncro manages to annoy Jeep cherokee owners too.

The landcruiser owners will be acting macho like they are hercules that they crossed some mud, then the goofy looking syncro rolls in and crosses it better than the cruiser - its a sight to behold (the toyota owner faces)

[waqasch1]

with info on Syncro, Van Life looks alot more beautiful n something to fantasize about.....
Best of Luck!

[Xulfiqar]

I like to finish with 4K clear from PPG - it gives that 4 mile deep shine that i like. It wont fly in Pakistan because the paint finish would lack the "genuine orange peel" look.

Put a pepper coat on the exterior while sanding - use double length and only sand dry - the pepper shot will show you raised or lowered areas. This van was originally painted in a Dr Herbert paint probably - they had some interesting colours. e.g. the nevada beige on golfs and passats by - it is exactly the colour of sindhi dirt. which makes the car invisible to it - meaning you dont have to wash it for months.

I finished my own VW in khi myself with tornado red from standox (because Im still a kid inside) - It had the 4 mile deep shine too and a solid build up of the 3 coats. Getting the shade correct on tornado red requires all the steps that standox requires - including greenish yellow primer and mild orange tint in the clear.

[msabbasi]

Thank you for your valuable input. Tying to find a GL-4 LSD oil here is as difficult as finding hens with teeth. I am aware of the Toyota LSD oil. Only problem is that it is GL-5. I bought it a few weeks ago:

From what I have read about the difference between the GL-4 and GL-5 is that the GL-5 has additives that form a stronger sacrificial bond on the components as compared to the GL-4. The GL-5 grade has a higher load rating than G-4 due to the stronger sacrificial layer formed over the wearing surfaces. The bonded sacrificial layer forms over both steel and brass/bronze (yellow metal) components, however in the case of GL-5 the bond to the yellow metals is so strong that particles of the metals are ripped of along with the sacrificial layer when these gears mesh with each other.

Further reading tells me that the VW does not have bronze synchronizers. But I can't say this for sure as different forums say different things.

So the plan is to go with this Toyota oil for the time being and be on the lookout for GL-4 LSD 85-90 gear oil.