Spun out on freeway...scary!!!

[Phat73VW]

Ok so to make a long story short here goes

1. Broke tranny 3 weeks ago so had to yank it out, get it fixed under warranty by the very reputable transmission shop who built it. Even had it upgraded to a PRO-STREET trans for nominal fee.

2. Spent 2 grueling evenings between hectic life to reinstall it so that I may have my car back on the road.

3. Stupid work volunteers me to work the very next day 20 miles away @ another restaurant.

Now I had not even driven the car more than 10 miles since the install and had to use it to go to work the very next day. I get on the freeway to go to work and I zip into the fast lane as I always do because hey I like that lane... :tongue: anyhow about 5 miles out I get this weird feeling telling me to get into the slow lane. So I do and as soon as I did I felt the car start to bog down. Automatically I assume something is going wrong with the engine so I put it into nuetral and start to get off to the shoulder. The moment I put it into nuetral I feel the rear tires lock up and all of a sudden the car starts kicking out like I just grabbed the e-brake at 60mph (I was actually doing that speed). The car spins out of control and I slide into the dirt and come to a stop. Needless to say I didnt know what happened at that point cause it all happened so fast. I get out and make sure that I wasnt hit or anything which I wasnt. I was just glad it happened on the slow lane and not the fast lane because this could have been ALOT worse. I actually stopped about 20ft away from a light pole that would have slammed into the drivers side and it happened about 100 yards past a big wall. So again , it could have been alot worse.

I am ok but the rear wheels are still locked up because the tranny is stuck for some unknown reason.

I called the tranny shop and told them what happened and they were more than pissed about the tranny doing what it did and are willing to do whatever it takes to fix it. BUGORSH was actually the first person to find out because he called right after it happened to ask me a question I had about the tranny after I installed it. It was making a wierd whizzing noise in 3rd gear so he was helping me figure that problem out. Well we have a new problem and it may be related.

I'll update what was the cause as soon as they tear it apart.

I'm still a bit shaken up and scared to drive but I know it will pass..... I HOPE!!!!


Here are some pics I took with my phone while waiting for AAA to come and pull her out.


Facing northbound on a westbound lane!!!


Had it not been a rollup curb and soft dirt, oh what may have happened!!!


Whoops!!!

[1303R]

damn. glad you and the car are ok. let us know what went wrong, won't the tranny shop be pulling it apart?

[Panelfantastic]

OUCH! Glad you were able to wrestle it to safety!




Jeff-

[petevw]

Wow, glad your OK.

Where's the pic of the skidmarks?

[davetaylor]

i did the spin once on an offramp and it's scary as heck. looks like God's trying to get your attention, hehe

[Kafer_Mike]

Scary stuff. Did you check to see if the transaxle had gear oil in it? Most shops deliver them empty...

[super vw]

MAN! totaly nasty!
I know how you must of felt... when i first got my bug back on the road i was rolling through some tight uphill twisties one morning (it was bellow freezing) and i managed to do a 180 deg rotation 5 friggin feet from a 60 foot cliff (with no road baracade btw). i was lucky NOT to go off the road and only into the other oncoming lane. I was not TOTALY sure what it was but i do think it was my leaky gas cap i had at the time... becuase once i got to my destination my whole right hand side of the car (The spin was a left hand turn to btw) was soaked in fuel. so i think i may have gotten fuel on the tire.

So really, its SUPER important to TEST TEST TEST before you subject yourself to any critical situations.

Hope you figure it out... sounds kinda odd

[Astromic]

thank god you are okey, a good thing that you reacted well then...

Michael

[oasis]

Wow, that is really intense. It is nice to test things beforehand. That was why I drove to my in-law's on Saturday (70 miles each way) before going to BugOut on Sunday even though I could have traveled with the family and going Sunday wasn't a certainty. Nevertheless, one can't always test first.

I'm glad everything turned out okay (unintentional pun left in).

[Bugscandrift]

Thank god youre alright.. The car can be fixed.

[Mikey]

The best part is you're okay. It's been said, but the car can be fixed.

I've driven a few times to Canada in my bug, 12 hrs one way so I had time to think, what would happen and how I would react if the tranny just locked up. That looks totaly insane.

Like I said, the best part is you're okay. :agree: I'd like to know about the tranny too. I thought that thing could happen, but I've never seen it happen.

[beetle1303]

Thank god ur ok man. really scary stuff...
Car can be fixed...
how about tire pressures? what type of diff are u running? there is a possibility for an LSD to lock if something goes wrong with the pressure plates aroung the gear carrier... if u have normal diff, you would turn into one direction, and the car would try to make a circle. chack wheel bearings at the axles and at the trans side covers... u said its an uprated... uprated or at least full fluids sould be there...


Cheers

Chris