I had my transmission rebuilt about 2 years ago. I have put about 30,000 miles on it. Last week it started streaming out transmission fluid. When I pulled into my garage smoke was pouring out. It was dripping on the exhaust. It started leaking about 3 blocks from my house.


Oil starts streaming out after about 30 seconds from starting the car.


I showed the pictures to the guy who rebuilt it, and he said that it is leaking from the Differential cover. Which I guess he never touched.


I just wanted to know if he is correct, and how big of a job is this to fix the leak. Can it be done without removing the transmission?




Thanks

 

Auto or manual?

Is this the cover or the small nib (whatever it is) under the cover?

If the cover can be be removed on the car, then it can be fixed without taking out the trans.

 

Sorry, this is an Automatic transmission. Not sure what you mean by nib....


Thanks

 

Is the fluid leaking out from the gasket on the cover or some other location. If the cover, it can be removed IF you have enough tool access then the gasket replaced. The cover is just that, it supports or holds nothing but allows access to the gearing.

 

Well I got a better look this morning with my camcorder.

https://flic.kr/p/nwn5v3

It defiantly is not from the differential. This is where the transmission connects to the engine. It appears to be up inside the transmission. Total fail.

 

Make sure the fluid is transmission and not engine oil. The crankshaft has a seal in the area.

If trans fluid and leaking out the bottom of the trans bell housing where it bolts to the trans, the trans input shaft/oil pump seal may have blown. This seal is under fluid pressure and if bad can have a major leak.

If the leaking seal is the only issue (trans still works OK), the seal can be replaced from outside the trans housing much like a crankshaft seal. The trans will need to be detached from the engine to access the seal.

 

Oh yea its for sure Transmission fluid. The transmission still works great.

Well that will be good if this can be fixed without having to remove the transmission, because removal is a big job on this car. I paid $400 last time to have it removed and installed.

Thanks.

 

The oil leak location is different from what was assumed in the first post. It is not the side cover of the trans but the input shaft seal. The shaft inserts into the torque converter inside the bell housing.

The only way to access the seal is to remove the trans, then torque converter.

Suppose could also be a leak in the torque converter but this rare.

You need to remove the trans to remove the converter and gain access. This is time consuming as the front axles need to be removed also.

What repairs did you have when the trans was last removed?

 

The guy did a full rebuild. Torque converter was also replaced. Last time the bearing on the overdrive cover failed, and parts went into the trans and messed up the reverse (Slipping). So had to rebuild and replace the overdrive cover.

 

Obviously something failed, can only speculate. This would be the trans input shaft/trans oil pump seal, torque converter seal or rarely a leaky converter body.

The torque converter is filled with trans fluid.

This repair have a warranty, if so suggest following up. If a proper rebuild, these parts should have been replaced and you stated the converter was replaced. This kind leak is uncommon and much more so given the large flow of oil.

How long ago was this rebuild?

Suppose it is possible the converter was re-installed improperly leading to the issue, but only a guess.

The link below has photos of the trans input shaft/oil pump seal and other trans seals. To access these seals requires removing the trans.

https://www.google.com/search?q=torq...ml%3B800%3B600

Review the top row of photos. The third photo from the left has fluid leaking out under the input shaft, a bad seal.

Once the trans is out, repairs should be straight forward.