Took Tweety trike to an engineer to get some frame welding done. While doing that he made the following observations-

That both oil seals each side of the VW auto transaxle have slow leaks.

That an "O' ring on the auto dip stick was leaking

The pan gasket I replaced twice recently and I thought it was still leaking. He told me the "O" ring was the culprit so thats now fixed.

He said he didnt have time to replace the transaxle seals. Can anyone tell me how difficult it is to replace them? I might tackle it myself if its just a case ofunbolting the CV joint, lowering the axles and popping the seal out. Is this the case?

Cheers

I put new drive shaft seals in my Type3 auto before I fitted it into my Oval 7 years ago- so I am in the memory banks here. I think it had a long socket head type capscrew holding the drive flange on - just unbolt it and the flange comes off the splines. Flick the seals out and drive in the new ones. I have a spare trans here and will double check that info later tonight - and if it's not correct, I will get back to you

Thanks nbturbo for that. mmmm spare auto eh...our version of winning lotto haha

Yes- checked it on one of my spare autos- the drive flanges are held in by the long bolts- just undo them and the flanges slip out. Easy job. I forgot to check the oil level plug, but suspect you will need to drain the oil or it will be all over you.

Always be carefull when installing seals, if you hit them in the spring can come of the seal without you knowing, the old trick is to fill the space between lip and the OD of the seal with grease, this will hold the spring in place as you tap it in with a socket, also check the condition of the seal surface on the drive flanges as these could be worn and require replacement or spinning up in a lathe and cleaned up with wet and dry.

thanks guys. yeh that grease on the seal spring is a good idea. my mechanic changed the sump gasket on my ea81 and found a spring there- must have been off my rear main seal when I popped that old seal out.

regards and thanks again. This forum is so good. even if the only parts on my trike that are vW is the transaxle now lol