How bad is it..? belt shredded & hose busted

Well - just 1300 miles into the road trip AAA became my best friend. Was touring around in the Badlands of south dakota when we heard a not so normal noise. We pulled into the nearest pull off and before we were able to park the transmission disengaged and would no longer go in gear.

This is when i turned everything off, looked under the van and saw a transmission hose leaking fluid, and under closer investigation, the hose was busted in half.

After some more time under the van, I notice the serpentine belt had frayed 2-3 ribs...

Give it to me straight, how bad is it? Any chance the transmission was smart enough to shut down to prevent damage?



The sprinter shop in Rapid City (www.eddiestruckcenter.com) can't look at it until Thursday, I always like to know as much as I can when chatting with shops, so any thoughts/input would be greatly appreciated

rafikiwilliams,
Do you have a transmission dipstick?
If all the fluid was pumped out, you probably damaged the transmission.
If there is still fluid in the transmission, maybe you got lucky and it just needs a new trans to radiator line and to be refilled with fluid.
Hope this helps,
Roger

unfortunately I didn't think about a dipstick to check the tranny fluid. I had to get a rental car and head down to Denver for a few time sensitive engagements. Going to be back in Rapid City come Thursday/Friday.

If I recall correctly, the hose was still leaking a fair bit when I crawled under.

Do you happen to know is the tranny has any kind of internal safe guard to "try" and prevent damage?

At the lower left corner of your 2nd photo is what appears to be a chewed-up wiring harness???

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Do you happen to know is the tranny has any kind of internal safe guard to "try" and prevent damage?

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There are many things which will trigger it into "limp home mode" ... where it won't shift out of your current gear until you stop, then it won't shift into anything other than 2nd and reverse.
So it does have some save-my-bacon programming, yes.

--dick

autostaretx said:

At the lower left corner of your 2nd photo is what appears to be a chewed-up wiring harness???

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There are many things which will trigger it into "limp home mode" ... where it won't shift out of your current gear until you stop, then it won't shift into anything other than 2nd and reverse.
So it does have some save-my-bacon programming, yes.

--dick

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Not a wiring harness, that is the hose from the radiator to the tranny, completely severed in half.

I'll keep my fingers crossed on the save-my-bacon programming. Cant say ive had much luck with my sprinter ownership.

Does anyone have an idea what could have caused the transmission line to fail like this? It doesn't appear that enough of the belt frayed to have cut the hose?

Also a good question... Just had tranny serviced a few months ago too... I would think they'd had noticed if it were worn

The belt cording is very strong. It can rip up a hose if it gets flying, whipping, or wrapped around it.

rafikiwilliams said:

Also a good question... Just had tranny serviced a few months ago too... I would think they'd had noticed if it were worn

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Or maybe they didn't notice if the transmission hose was rubbing against the harmonic balancer ...

Chicken or the egg.

Did the belt fail and take out the hose, or did the hose rub through and cause the belt to fail to further shred the hose?

I don't have answers, only questions.

vic

Hi- I had the same thing happen to me at freeway speed,was able to coast to a stop. Looking underneath I saw everything was soaked with trans fluid. I found a local transmission shop with my phone (Santa Barbara) that said they would check it out. Anyway, long story short $900 and two days later everything is fine. New serp belt, new hose and fluid. Luckily insurance paid the tow. Hope this helps

All the more reason to "armor" that transmission line i guess?

I had the same thing happen a few years ago.

I fixed it on the side of the road with about $40 in parts from the local parts store.

A couple of barbed hose fittings, hose clamps, new fluid and new belt and it's been fine. Took about 40min to fix in a parking lot.

Cole said:

I had the same thing happen a few years ago.

I fixed it on the side of the road with about $40 in parts from the local parts store.

A couple of barbed hose fittings, hose clamps, new fluid and new belt and it's been fine. Took about 40min to fix in a parking lot.

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Good point.

The stubs on the hoses are long enough.

Do you recall the hose barb size?

vic

Aqua Puttana said:

Good point.

The stubs on the hoses are long enough.

Do you recall the hose barb size?

vic

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I don't remember, pretty sure it was standard transmission cooler hose size. Mine was shredded in a way that I had to add a length of hose to it.

When mine broke I had to walk to the parts store. The closest one was an O'riley's and they had everything in stock. (So not exactly an import or Mercedes parts wearhouse)

Mine has been patched for about 30k miles now without issue.

Those hoses are fairly low pressure. If needed the ferrules can be cut off and new rubber hose added. There is a good chance the trans is fine.

Midwestdrifter said:

. There is a good chance the trans is fine.

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I agree.

Running an auto trans "slightly" low over a long period of time reduces the pressure on the clutch plates enough to let them wear against each other and wear down. Which is usually the result of a slow leak.

Dumping all the fluid in one fast action usually takes *all* the pressure away from the clutches and torque converter, so nothing is really wearing itself out, especially in a short distance.


When mine broke I also had to take an educated guess on the fluid level. Think I put in 3-4 quarts. Bought a factory dip-stick the next day and was within 1/2q

When I was visiting Doktor A he informed me of this very failiure and suggested I put another split chunk of hose along that line directly underneath the belt to prevent just this situation. He remarked that he was surprised such a critical transmission line would run there and without any sort of shielding was a design oversight. Sounds like he must have seen this a few times, you could ask him about it but it does seem to me based on his description that it was the belt.


2006 t1n 140"

Midwestdrifter said:

Those hoses are fairly low pressure. If needed the Hercules can be cut off and new rubber hose added. There is a good chance the trans is fine.

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I've never heard it called this, but if you are referring to the permanent crimp sleeve on the ends of the rubber hose, you are correct, they should be fairly easy to cut off with some care, and new hose slipped on the beaded metal tube and clamped. A fuel injection hose clamp would work nicely on this. There is practically no pressure in this line, it goes from the transmission to the radiator cooler and then back to the transmission where it dumps open into the pan.

The tube has a large bulge or bead to act as a hose stop, so you cut the crimp sleeve with care. A dremel with an abrasive disk would work to score or completely cut the sleeve, but at the very back, where the rubber ends, I would stop before reaching this.

I will be doing this soon, as I plan on adding a cooler (long thin one like the Upscale one that is no longer available). I will take pics and post them when I do.

I have measured the tubes and suspect that the hose is 10mm ID which is 3/8. The tubes measure at about 11mm, and 10mm is a common European hose size for transmission fluid. (8 mm is the other from what I have found, which happens to be 5/16)

A couple of members of the View/Navion Forum on Yahoo have had this happen in the past. No one mentioned transmission problems. There is still enough fluid to keep the pump wet and lubed till it is shutdown.

The OP's biggest problem will be finding the correct transmission fluid, and a dipstick.

Aqua Puttana said:

The belt cording is very strong. It can rip up a hose if it gets flying, whipping, or wrapped around it. vic

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Think WEED EATER STRING !!!

Charles

This is a pic on how to remove the sleeves from the hose. I have done this on air conditioner lines in the past to preserve the specially bent end tubes. Its quite easy if you are careful and understand what NOT to cut.

Second pic is one I took showing how I used a 24 inch Harbor freight breaker bar and a old industro 11/16 socket I have to move the tensioner. 11/16 is a little loose but a good fit nonetheless. I keep the breaker bar, the socket, 1/8 drill bit, and the OLD belt in the tool bag in the motorhome. I had heard of the belt cutting the transmission line, figured at 10 years it probably should be replaced, Continental 6PK2260, AutohausAZ $28.29

http://www.autohausaz.com/search/pr...r=6pk2260&searchbutton.x=12&searchbutton.y=13

Charles

I read about this possibility years ago and added a piece of split pipe over the tranny hose under the belt. I think a piece of 1" ID channel would also work. Hold in place with tape and zip ties.

smrl said:

When I was visiting Doktor A he informed me of this very failiure and suggested I put another split chunk of hose along that line directly underneath the belt to prevent just this situation. He remarked that he was surprised such a critical transmission line would run there and without any sort of shielding was a design oversight. Sounds like he must have seen this a few times, you could ask him about it but it does seem to me based on his description that it was the belt.


2006 t1n 140"

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This is exactly what dr a told me when i visited him a few years back