trany leak not pushrod tubes

[john911sc]

went under the 1974 914 2.0 last night...thought it was the pushrod tubes leaking....way wrong....the small puddle of pink fluid was coming from the opening on the bottom of the trany between the engine...you know that small square opening...the trany runs great....does this mean i need to rebuilt the whole thing...never done a trany before....is it good idea to do this myself or take it in???....any info will help...thanks again...john

john911sc@yahoo.com

[Eric Fry]

Clean the underside well, take the car out for a blast about and confirm the source of the leak. If it is coming from the trans. opening as you describe it may just be the input shaft seal. Fix, remove trans, remove t.o. bearing and guide tube, there's the seal.
Eric

[Jim Smolka]

Pink Fluid??

If you fill your tranny with Blue SWEPCO, then it is easy to tell if it is motor oil or gear oil.

If it is motor oil, could be a main seal.

[sammyg2]

Make sure the leaking liquid is transmission oil and not engine oil. That clarification would make a huge difference in determining where the leak is coming from.
If it's tranny oil, it's prolly the transaxle input shaft seal.
If it is engine oil and it is definitely coming from between the engine and the transaxle, it could be from the rear main seal or from one of the oil galley plugs that are behind the flywheel.

Oil leaks on these engines are hard to nail down sometimes. Seems like everything either ends up on the lower front of the motor or the lower rear. It takes some thorough cleaning and a little detective work to fine the real source.

[red-beard]

Smell the fluid. Does it smell like engine oil (Little or no smell) or does it really smell?

Tranny oil has a distinctive smell that is almost impossible to get out of cloths that have been soaked in it...

Ask me why I know....

Anyway. Pink fluid?

On rebuilding the tranny, you can replace the seal without rebuilding the tranny. You will find that the other seals will go soon. So you might want to get the kit and do them all.

James

James

[sammyg2]

Another way to tell them apart:
lie down under the car. If you instantly get oil in your hair, it's tranny oil
I swear that stuff can jump off the ground if it gets within 2 feet of human hair. I dunno, maybe it's just me?

[jkeyzer]

James - You couldn't be more right about that tranny fluid smell in old rags. What's worse is that I have an attached garage - anytime I do transmission work you can smell it in the whole house!

[john911sc]

its trany fluid....positive....i just don't feel like pulling the trany out....... ...

[red-beard]

It's not that bad.

Roll car up on ramps. Drain tranny oil. Remove Exhaust, leave heat exchangers on. Pull battery. Pull starter. Support Engine. 8 CV Joint bolts. Remove shift rod. Remove clutch cable. Remove speedo cable. Remove ground strap. Support Tranny. remaining nuts on engine, 2 bolts on the transmission mounts. Lower with Jack. 1/2 hour to 45 minutes.

2 10mm nuts and then use a seal puller. Put the new one in. Since you're under there, repack the CVs with grease.

Shouldn't take more than 3 hours total. But, knowing how things go, it'll take the entire weekend....

[maf 914]

James,

Sounds like you have the tranny-pull down!

Mike

[red-beard]

Done it a couple of times.....

My dad always told me: "An expert is someone who doesn't make the same mistake 3 times..."

James

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

I would suggest a few additions to James' procedure--
1; Loosen the nuts that hold the engine mounts to the motor mount bar. This helps avoid shearing the mounts. (Ask me how I know they'll shear otherwise...)
2; Support the back of the motor before you finish unbolting the transmission.

--DD

[john911sc]

thank you for the information....i will work on it next weekend....any problems i''l let you guys know..........


thanks again..................john

[Jim Smolka]

This whole pink fluid things is strange. Maybe worth draining the gear oil, then filling it with cheap gear oil. Drive around for a day or so, then Then drain gear oil again and fix leak. Fill with SWEPCO (Available from your local Pelican store)

[sammyg2]

I'm with Jim, I've never seen pink gear oil. Pink automatic transmission fluid yes, gear oil no. Is there a product out there I'm not aware of? (of course there is, but is it pink?)

[Dave at Pelican Parts]

Redline MTL is red in color. It will look pink if you dribble a little out onto concrete.

It looks really nasty in the drain pan at your mechanic's with lots of metal filings in it. Especially when your mechanic is telling you, "Yeah Dave--don't use anything but Swepco in this new transmission I'm gonna have to build for you..." (Ouch!!)

--DD

[sammyg2]

Oh.