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1.8t 01M G22 VSS Won't Come Out

5K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  rogosteve1 
#1 ·
I recently came into possession of a 2001 Golf GLS with a 1.8t engine and 01M automatic transmission. As it has 107,000 miles on it, I figured it was time to replace the transmission fluid/filter as well as the differential fluid.

The transmission work went fine with no surprises. However, the differential side of things did not go as smoothly. After finally locating the G22 speed sensor and getting the right angle connector and sensor part unplugged/removed from above the engine, I could not get the plastic pinion/guide out to extract the oil. It unthreaded fine, but there is physically not enough space to remove the speedometer pinion/bushing guide assembly.

Directly above it is a metal coolant pipe that originates from the front of the block and wraps around to the back side of the engine where it connects to the heater core hoses. I tried to slightly bend it out, but the turbocharger is right there as well so it just ends up getting stuck between them before the gear part of the shaft is out of the hole. I contemplated cutting the assembly in half to remove it, but I would then be stuck in the same predicament when I went to put the new assembly in. Undoing the driver's side mount and lowering the trans/engine also does not help since the turbo and coolant pipe are mounted directly to the engine. None of the DIY threads I've found mention this as they are all for TDI's or 2.0's, so I guess this is only an issue for the 1.8t's? I found another thread on here with the same issue, but it was never resolved. https://forums.vwvortex.com/showthread.php?2026381-Checking-Final-Drive-fluid-(01M-4-speed-Auto)

Is the only way to remove the G22 VSS and change the differential fluid on auto 1.8t's to remove that coolant pipe? (Which appears to be a major pain).

I ran out of time and put everything back together, but neither my speedometer/odometer work now. So, I must have broke something in the above process, or didn't get the shaft seated corrected between the sensor and speedo pinion. Before ripping into this again, I wanted to make sure I know what is needed in order to remove the speedometer pinion, change the differential fluid, and get the new one working correctly. Thanks!
 
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#2 · (Edited)
Well, after some creative thinking and a week of fab work I finally have a working speedometer again and have successfully changed my differential fluid. As I discussed above, the speedometer gear is impossible to remove without removing the turbo inlet pipe or bending/removing the metal coolant pipe that goes to the heater core. As this is now an 18 year-old vehicle, I didn't want to push my luck trying to bend the coolant pipe and end up with a bigger problem on my hands.

What I ended up doing was jacking the car up and removing the differential cover plate. I drained the fluid, scraped off the gasket (VW part no. 095409597A) and removed any debris inside the differential. While the cover plate was out, I drilled a hole in the top-middle section and welded a small pipe coupling to act as a fill plug. I then drilled and tapped a 1/4"-18 NPT hole in the bottom of the differential to act as a drain plug. After installing the drain plug with teflon tape, I applied RTV around the plug just to make sure it would not leak over time.

I discovered that my speedometer was not working because I had broke the inner pinion shaft while trying to remove it the first time. If you believe your sensor is at fault, you can spin the shaft with a cordless drill while the key is in the "ON" position and watch to see if the speedometer moves. If it does not move, you have a sensor/wire issue. If it does move, there is a problem with either the pinion shaft or the ring gear inside the differential. I applied some RTV to the threads of the pinion bushing so no oil would leak out of the top over time.

Lastly, I reinstalled the gasket and cover plate, pumped ~800ml of 75w90 gear oil into the differential via the fill plug, and installed the plug with some teflon tape. I won't be able to check the level with the speedometer gear dipstick method, but from everything I've read and the oil I extracted from the differential, it takes about 750-800ml of oil. I don't see this being an issue as long as I keep an eye out for slow leaks and replace the oil as planned in ~40,000 miles.

Another issue I encountered was with the G22 speed sensor itself. ECS Tuning sells a service kit (357919149BKT1) that includes the sensor, pinion shaft, and pinion bushing. However, their sensor comes with a straight vertical connector instead of the correct 90 degree horizontal connector. This straight sensor is used on the 2.0L and TDI engines with 01M transmissions, but I believe the 1.8T/01M drivetrain uses the same G22 sensor as the 02J 5-speed transmissions. I plan on contacting ECS about this to hopefully correct it and get the sensor exchanged for the right angle connector.

Now, for anyone that encounters this problem in the future, the fill/drain plug installation is not required. You can simply remove the cover plate and buy a new gasket every time you change the differential fluid, or you can attempt removing the coolant line/turbo inlet pipe and removing the speedometer gear/shaft from the top. Removing the cover plate is probably the easier option, but I did not want to buy a $25 gasket every time I did this which is why I installed the drain/fill plugs. Below are pictures of the final product.












 
#4 ·
For anyone else who runs into the same problem here is some help. I read the above post yesterday before attempting to change the fluid in the differential. I went out into the garage and began the process and noticed that indeed you cannot pull out the dipstick because the turbo and cooling line are in the way. What you have to do is get under the car undo the 5 mm Allen bolt that holds the turbo inlet pipe onto the turbo, use a screwdriver to wedge out the pipe, and that gives you enough of an angle to pull out the dipstick. You must remove the rubber portion of the turbo inlet first and all hose attached to it.
 
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