Is there supposed to be a hole in my transmission right here?!

[Christien]

Is this why I'm leaking tranny fluid all over the garage floor?

[ZOA NOM]

The hole is normal. The fluid is from your flywheel seal, and it's motor oil on the floor. IMO, of course.

[the]

The hole is supposed to be there.

All that oil . . . not so much.

[dtw]

Hole's fine. Take a whiff of the fluid - is it gear oil? Looks like motor oil to me. Probably a failed pressure switch on top of the engine - or breather or something else back there. That or a failed RMS. Time to do some surgery before your clutch disc gets contaminated (might be too late).

[GaryR]

You would think the clutch wouldn't be doing much if the RMS was leaking that bad...

[Christien]

Ok, well that's a relief that the hole's supposed to be there. My tranny's been leaking fluid slowly over the last couple days but when I got under there today to investigate there was probably 1/2 a litre of it on the garage floor. There's no doubt it's tranny fluid - it's got the acrid onion smell of swepco. I jacked the rear up and removed the fill plug - when I put my finger in I can touch the fluid still in the tranny, so it's not empty, but it the rear's jacked, so the fluid will be more to the front.

[Christien]

Oh and yes, there's plenty of motor oil there too - the left exhaust valve cover leaks a bit and oil gets everywhere when I drive. Yet another winter project.

The car drove fine earlier today, but that was with 1/2 litre more tranny fluid in there.

[Superman]

I would be surprised if that were coming from the rear main seal. It looks to be tranny fluid, which is far less surprising. I'll bet that clutch has been chattering.

[john walker's workshop]

flywheel seals rarely leak that much, if at all.

[Christien]

The clutch has been fine, but the transmission has been grinding a bit all summer, if I'm not careful with it. Something happened to cause the leak at the track on Sunday - I've got another thread going about that, but with this question I wanted a bit more immediate of an answer!

I was on my last session for the day and smelled a slight scent of tranny fluid in the car. It was shifting as well as usual (I have to baby 2nd gear downshifting, especially when hot) and there hadn't been any real crunching shifts or anything (in fact, I'd been really gentle with it all day) so I didn't think much of it, then the next day (after sitting overnight in the garage) there was a bit of fluid on the floor - maybe 2 oz. I've been driving all week with little leakage, so haven't thought too much about it. Today I was out for about 40 minutes, then when I got home I found a much bigger puddle - probably 1/2 a litre as I said. I just spent half an hour under there looking for a leak (and topping up the fluid) and can't find the source, but that's not a surprise. I just went for a short test drive and it's shifting fine.

I was considering taking the tranny out this winter to refresh it anyway, so now that's a definite, but I think so long as I keep an eye on it, I'm ok to drive it for the last couple weeks before the snow comes. I'd hate to put her away early for the winter, but if the leak gets any worse, I will.

Thanks for the help!

[johndglynn]

Looks like lovely green Swepco to me, lots of it too. Nice little winter project there

[Blanco]

Check your input shaft seal. Mine was dumping it in the interior of the car and dribbling down the tranny as pictured.

[real550A]

Just a quick hint......
If your input shaft seal is leaking that bad, it's probably
caused by input shaft bearing failure/slop. Replacing the
seal won't fix it for long.