Club 80-90 Forums

No video.

I can view it.

Sound but black screen? Something is chirruping there I wonder if the drive plate has fractured (they do)
Any tramsmission oil loss? It will be red ATF if its escaping the torque convertor, which is bolted to the drive plate in place of the flywheel that you would find on a manual vehicle.

maxstu wrote:I can view it.

Thats odd. I can on my laptop.But not on my phone.

I would check the ATF colour and level. When was it last replaced? And the final drive oil?

Check ATF level on flat ground with engine running at normal working temperature and see where the ATF sits between markers on the stick. Should be nice and red and clean.

If ATF is clean and correct level (photo if you wish please), then take van for a drive and at 45-50mph. Move the auto lever from D to N. If nasty sound reduces, then you may have a gear box issue.

UPDATE...
So, we nursed the van to ATS and a nice guy there put it on the ramp and had a look. He said the rattling is from the exhaust, it's loose so we need a VW part to sort that out. The grinding is from the differentials. Until someone in the know has a good look at that he said we won't know the extent of what needs doing. We've got some names of local VW mechanics so will be ringing around this week. Anybody had any experience of issues with differentials? Expensive? Tricky? How hard is it to source parts for a 1986 T3 Holdsworth Villa 3? Thanks for any advice.

Any service history from previous careful owner regarding transmission? Is it original transmission and engine? How many miles has the camper covered?
If it were me l would have both tranny ATF and final drive/diff gear oil changed and inspect the old oils for debris.

Thanks for your reply. I wish I knew what all of it meant (quickly Googles ATF!) but I'll show this to someone who does. A lot to be said for knowing what you're doing when dealing with vintage vans, I'm afraid I have always been carried away by the romance of it all. Hoping we can get it sorted out soon. Are differential parts hard to come by? Have to say, driving it 1 mile back from ATS it was making the worst noise yet . We did get lots of service info from the previous owner. It had been well looked after and regularly serviced. We're still in touch so I may give him a call, just don't want to concern him as he's getting on. We do have contact info for the guy who did a lot of work on the van for him down in London so I might contact him for more details too.

Have you checked the ATF (auto transmission fluid) for colour and height. This is the first thing to do.
It's the yellow capped dipstick on left side of engine.
Refer back to my post 10th May.

It needs to be said that autos were not common in the UK because it was an expensive option.
Parts are almost non-existent afaik, the good news is that the differential unit is a separate assembly bolted to the auto gearbox, so IF you can find a good diff (with the correct code/ratio, 1.9 being different to the 2.1) then its less of a hassle to swap the whole thing over.
Holdsworth were one of several UK camper conversion companies, reckoned to be the next best thing to a Westfalia by some.

Thanks, will check the fluid. Good to know that it may be possible to source what we might need, I was worried about that given exactly what you've said about rarity. She is a beauty though so fingers crossed...

Final drive code NH or NK for your 1.9

Thanks, it's a 2.1

[youtube]https://youtube.com/shorts/dGfTlKd2k1E? ... 7kDPDBAPUu[/youtube]
A much better video of the underneath of the van today when it was up on the ramp. Hope you can see it. Any comments gratefully received! Thanks for all your help. This forum is amazing!

LittleNik wrote: ↑13 May 2025, 19:38 Thanks, it's a 2.1

NJ code then.