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[Entwood]

Beyond my knowledge level so appealing for help.....

Overnight there have been about 6 drops of oil where the car is parked, initially thought to be Power Steering, the slightly loose clip tightend, area cleaned , no leak apparent, but the drops continue to appear .. so crawl underneath now the weather is dry enough ... and I find this ...









Obviously an ATF level check is needed PDQ, I was going to do a fluid change, but not a lot of point until the leak is sorted, what am I looking at ... remember I've never dropped an auto gearbox in my life !! and I have limited tools/access.

Any advice/opinions gratefully accepted ..

Edit .. of course I'm assuming its gearbox .......   but the oil looks more like engine oil ...

[Marks DTM Calib]

What does it taste like?

Clearly its your colour display at fault so it should be de-paired, removed and sent to me for safe keeping.

[Kevin Wood]

Pull out the 2 rubber bungs pictured, and see if you have ATF in the bellhousing. I suspect it's from the oil seal around the torque converter nose. Gearbox out job to rectify.

Worth checking the auto gearbox breather tube is not blocked or crushed, and is supported high up behind the plenum.

Kevin

[Entwood]

What does it taste like?

Clearly its your colour display at fault so it should be de-paired, removed and sent to me for safe keeping.

Taste buds are shot from over-indulgence, if the colours are wrong blame SWTSMBO camera, I've de-paired the device in order to post the pictures, does the phrase "sent to me for safe keeping" actually mean anything or is it on a par with "military intelligence" ??

Thank you for your input, your call IS important to us.

 

Pull out the 2 rubber bungs pictured, and see if you have ATF in the bellhousing. I suspect it's from the oil seal around the torque converter nose. Gearbox out job to rectify.

Worth checking the auto gearbox breather tube is not blocked or crushed, and is supported high up behind the plenum.

Kevin

The area behind the round one is clean and dry, behind the oval one is some old/black/thick stuff, no sign of any new flowing stuff like the drips .. as far as my fingers/bit of rag/Q-tip can tell. I've cleaned the area up and will keep a close eye on it.. unless there are any other thoughts .. ??

Can't find the gearbox breather pipe .. is it a scuttle off job to get to it ??

I'm certain there are no "runs" from any other area.

many thanks ..  

[Kevin Wood]

If it's not wet under the round grommet I doubt it's from the TC seal. Are you sure it's ATF? Really does look like the "wet patch" has grown outwards from the bottom of the bellhousing, otherwise I'd suggest a leak from cam covers / HBV that's made its' way down. :-/

Might be worth touching a drip with a hot match to see if it "crackes" indicating the presence of water or just smokes (oil). Could be a crank rear oil seal, I guess, but doesn't seem to be a common failure.

Kevin

EDIT: I wouldn't worry about the autobox breather if the bellhousing is dry.

[Marks DTM Calib]

I was being serious about the taste test......cant see any obvious reason why the leak would be so far forward on the engine side if it was ATF.

[Entwood]

I was being serious about the taste test......cant see any obvious reason why the leak would be so far forward on the engine side if it was ATF.

Okay .. too late to do a taste test now as I've cleaned it all up ... The more I think of it the more I'm thinking engine oil .. it was very clean and the oil was changed 3200 miles ago, the gearbox has done AFAIK 80000 so I wouldn't expect it to be that clean. If its engine oil where is it coming from ?, no sign of any "travelling" oil from cam covers/oil filter

It was certainly oil .. not water/coolant.

[Marks DTM Calib]

I was being serious about the taste test......cant see any obvious reason why the leak would be so far forward on the engine side if it was ATF.

Okay .. too late to do a taste test now as I've cleaned it all up ... The more I think of it the more I'm thinking engine oil .. it was very clean and the oil was changed 3200 miles ago, the gearbox has done AFAIK 80000 so I wouldn't expect it to be that clean. If its engine oil where is it coming from ?, no sign of any "travelling" oil from cam covers/oil filter

It was certainly oil .. not water/coolant.

As said, give it a little taste to confirm as there is not much round there that can result in oil.....

[unlucky alf]

would have thought engine oil would smell totally different to atf so perhaps a sniff test? but looking at where its leaking to it does look like bellhousing /tc oil seal, i would let it leak again & dab it with some white kitchen roll, if its atf itll show up redish brown as its old fluid.

[Dave Elite]

Did you get to the bottom of this?

[Entwood]

Did you get to the bottom of this?

In a word .. NO .. leak is only 1/2 drops overnight and I'm living with it

It'll need sorting eventually but it is not a priority right now ...

[dbug]

Looks exactly like mine (not quite so "wet") when my tc oil seal went.  Suspect thats your problem from pics!!

Autobox not difficult to get out - get front of car high on ramps and jack rear n/s high and put on axle stand - o/s jack up but leave wheel on groung for safety/stability - that gives you room to work underneath.

Careful box is heavy (~100kg) - dropped mine using big hydraulic jack - went back same way.