Transmission seal major leak

[Rukus]

A while back i had the misfortune of a leaky transmission. I found that it was coming from the rear of the transmission.
It still leaks.

i took it into a shop and they replaced the rear seal. it seemed fine after that, i enver noticed any leaks. I took it on a 800km round trip and back and never noticed any leaks, then i went away for christmas, drove about 500kms and noticed that it was leaking from the rear again (badly, i had to take it to a lube shop twice in a 500km stretch to fill it) and looks like the seal.

Any ideas why it would start leaking again? i inspected the output shaft (when i had it out myself)and it doesn't have seal grooves from wear and the shop i took it too said the same that it looked fine.

Could my bearing in the rear part of the transmission be wobbly cuz it is worn out and be wobbling the shaft so that the seal stretches? if you try to shake the rear output shaft by hand, it is solid as a rock tho.

Anyone have any input on this sort of problem? i don't want to sent it to get a $20 seal and a $40 reddi-sleeve installed for $300 dollars just to find out it will leak again.


Thanks

 

[Rukus]

i wish someone knew how to help me out with this.

 

[jrt67ss350]

Yes, if the output shaft of the transmission has some slop in it, it can prematurely wear out the new seal and another leak will reappear. Was the selector shaft seal replaced along with your output shaft seal? If not, that is another common source of rear tranny leaks.

If neither of these seals seem likely to you, it could very well be the detent plate that is leaking. At the top rear driver's side of the transmission is a small plate fastened to the case with two bolts that houses the mechanism that provides the shift linkage detents. Over time, this plate has been known to warp, resulting in pretty good-sized leaks. The fix is to take the plate off, machine the mating surface true and reinstall it. Unfortunately, there is next to no clearance at this part of the transmission, so you may have to remove the transmission to get to it if you can't drop the back of the tranny far enough by just removing the rear transmission crossmember.

A good rule of thumb for determining where the leak is coming from is to take a look at the guibo. If the front side of the guibo and transmission output flange are wet with lube, then it is most likely the output shaft seal or the selector shaft seal. If the detent plate is leaking, then the front side of the guibo and the output shaft flange are usually dry since the leaking fluid just drips down the backside of the transmission case.

I replaced my output shaft seal and selector shaft seal because I had one hell of a rear transmission leak. Mine still leaks, but not quite as bad as before. I think my detent plate is probably leaking, but it's not worth it to me to try to fix it since I already had this crap all apart to try to fix this leak. At this point, I'm just going to live with it and just periodically refill the transmission.

 

[Rukus]

hey thank you very much. this leak is driving me crazy. I never replaced the shift linkage seal, because no one in town here is competent enough to do it, and i don't have the mneans to do it myself here. I'll have to check that detent plate that you speak of.

Upon inspection i also noticed that i am missing a bolt. It appears that it is required to hold the shift linkage in proper placement. I tried sticking a wire into it to find if it went deep into transmission, but it doesn't seem like a hole that would leak. Do you think that it may be leaking from there?

Where could i find a bolt for there? its a special allen key type bolt.

 

[jrt67ss350]

If someone can replace the output shaft seal, they can also replace the shift linkage seal. They are the same type of seal - the shift linkage seal is just smaller and the shift linkage doesn't come out, so it just takes a little more time. I just used a straight blade screwdriver to get mine out - nothing special.

Sounds like the bolt you are talking about is one of the sheetmetal shift console bolts that attaches the shift console to the back of the transmission. Those are blind holes, so the fluid isn't leaking from there. That's probably a dealer part.

In the picture below, I put the shaded red circle over the detent plate. The flat area underneath the shaded red circle is where the detent plate is bolted to. I don't think you'll be able to get to it without at least lowering the rear of the transmission since there isn't much clearance there.

 

[Rukus]

I'll see if i can, i know that the getrag 240 found on the realier 4 cyls is a bit smaller than the getrag 260 found on the 325 6cyls.

I'll have a look next time i have a bit of time.

thanks for the replies.

 

[Rukus]

sorry, forgot to answer also, that the guibo and back of transmission is wet all over front and back, as well as half the underside of the car.

 

[jrt67ss350]

I bet it's your selector shaft seal leaking. Although, it's also possible that your output shaft seal could be leaking again.

 

[Rukus]

its quite the perplexing problem. You'd think i'd be able to search foir this on the internet. Trust me, i looked everywhere.

i found a transmission for $365 CND. i might just end up buying that.