Auto trans leak

Rich@rdS

Rich@rdS

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1000+ Posts
Fellow Frogger
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Jul 13, 2002
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Melbourne VIC
I'm not a happy chappy today :mad:

Stepped into my good old trusty Pug this morning to head off to uni, turned up my "new" (actually 2ndhand) CD player and got ready for a nice drive. 5 mins down the road and smoke starts billowing out from under the bonnet and out the back eek! eek! , so I limp back home and check under the bonnet. Some sort of oil on the exhaust pipe. I check under the car and there's a growing puddle of red fluid on the concrete, and the entire transmission is soaked in oil.

So I'm getting it checked out at a local transmission place tomorrow morning. Anyone know what I should take a closer look at?

First I thought it could have been a cracked hose, but all the hoses are on the opposite side to the exhaust pipes, and the exhaust pipes got quite wet.

I'm guessing it's a seal or something, hopefully nothing too major... :(

Richard
 
Doesnt sound to healthy! Probably just a cooler hose has come loose or something.

My auto box leaks fluid like a sieve; from the cooler hoses and from the pan gasket. Finally, i have decided that i want to fix it! Does anybody know if changing the Auto sump pan gasket is a simple unbolt/re-bolt job, or is it more complex??? And would i still be able to obtain a gasket kit?.
The power steering is also leaking rapidly at the pinion seal, os i'll have to fix that to.
Thanks
 
Took the car to a local transmission specialist, and the boss there says it's the tranny oil pump seal which has perished.

He quoted me roughly $500 eek! mainly for labor since he's got to undo the diff and the propeller shaft tube to remove the tranny. And if that wasn't enough, it might cost $220 more to get a recoed torque converter if my one's worn at the neck (where it rubs against the oil pump seal).

He seemed to know his stuff and was happy to show me everything he was talking about. $500 is a bit of a blow on my poverish student bank account though :( .

He said it should be finished on Thursday, so I'll post an update when I get it back.

Jason, I think it's a simple matter of just draining the tranny and unbolting the pan. Haven't done it myself though but I doubt it would be hard. And I'm fairly sure you could get gasket kits from Pugwreck or Regans, etc.

Richard

<small>[ 27 August 2002, 09:09 PM: Message edited by: silverexec ]</small>
 
Had the torque converter reco'd on my car last month. Quoted $650 - 800. Altough still haven't got the final bill (they don't seem in any hurry for their money).

But this was after a rather BIG failure on the freeway. Had trouble with the oil pump somehow as well, lack of parts although I think they said they got them from melbourne so you're probably fine.

Make sure the rear main seal from the engine gets replaced, otherwise you have to spend 3hrs cleaning your driveway like me when I got it home and realised oil was flowing (and I mean flowing) from below. Also meant they had to remove the tranny again to replace it (which they did for free, they admitted it was their fault).

Jono :D
 
Make sure the rear main seal from the engine gets replaced, otherwise you have to spend 3hrs cleaning your driveway like me when I got it home and realised oil was flowing (and I mean flowing) from below. Also meant they had to remove the tranny again to replace it (which they did for free, they admitted it was their fault).
Click to expand...
Thanks for letting me know, I'll mention it when he calls today to let me know how things are going.

I was lucky that I hadn't made it to the freeway when it decided to let off smoke, so I was able to make it home OK. Hopefully the convertor wasn't damaged, but we'll soon see.
 
how many ks has your trans done,seems a lot of work to do only the front and back seals.if its done the usuall 200,000 plus ks the trans is going to be pretty worn inside.murphy has a hand in this,put trans back it one month later it shits itself.
 
The car's only done 160,000kms so the tranny shouldn't be that worn I would think.

My dad spoke to the guy today, and he said the torque converter was still OK, saving me $220 :D
but he was waiting on parts so it might not be finished until tomorrow.

I asked my dad to mention the rear main seal on the engine, but I don't think he quite understood what I meant. He said he asked the guy about it, and the guy pointed to some metal plate and said that the seal was behind that, and he hadn't needed to take it off so it should be OK. :confused: I can't really argue with him since I don't really know that much about it.

I might go there this evening if I have time and see for myself.
 
Well if its ok then who's to argue. Might only be a problem if the torque converter has to have stuff done to it. Sorry if I confused you. :(

The mechanic just said this was leaking (pointing at a seal where the front of the trans meets the engine) and needed to be replaced the first time.

Thought that was the case was your car as the symptoms appeared the same (or almost) as my car.

Jono black_ey dead
 
Changing the pan gasket is a pretty straight-forward exercise, I imagine the kits are still readily available - you get a couple of seals and a filter in it. I'm trying to remember where I got my kit from a few years ago - it was either the local dealer of European Auto Imports in Melbourne. Good luck.
 
No problem Jono, at least I now know where a future problem area might be :) .

Picked the car up Thursday evening, and everything seemed back to normal. It cost the quoted $500, which also included replacing a whole heap of other gaskets and seals (I'm guessing they all came together with the oil pump seal in a kit, so he replaced them all).

One strange thing I noticed on Friday morning when driving off was that it wouldn't change out of 1st gear. After going down the street for a bit, it started to shift normally. It happened briefly again on Saturday morning. If it continues doing it, I'll have to bring it back to him to look at :mad: .

There was also a funny sound coming from the steering when turning right, but that seems to have disappeared. All very strange.

Richard
mallet

<small>[ 01 September 2002, 07:50 PM: Message edited by: silverexec ]</small>
 
Richard,
I have exactly the same thing with my 1st gear in the mornings. First won't change till it hits about 3000rpm. Then its fine for the rest of the day. Haven't had time to get it looked at yet but might do.

Doe's your gearbox make more noise than before?? I have never actually heard it before but now it literally "winds up" as revs go up. Not loud but there, and the fluid levels are fine. :confused: Weird.

Good to hear that its up and running again.

Jono
 
My tranny's back to normal, for no apparant reason. It now seems to shift normally in the mornings when cold so I guess it was just a "settling in" sort of thing.

I don't think it's making more noise, although since you mentioned it, I tend to listen to it a bit more so it seems like it's making more :rolleyes:

I've noticed that it holds on to gears a little longer than it used to which is great. Gives it more of an edge when I plant my foot! evil

So it would seem that it's been a successful repair, touch wood...

Thanks for everyone's help.

Richard
dance cheers! a_drink
 
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