Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Big_Roger]

Hi,
I used to have a Senator, which had the same AR 35 auto box as Omega.
I had a leak, litre per 1000 miles. Dripped oil all over the MOT man, he wasn't pleased, didn't fail it on that, but made sure he found lots of other problems.

It was the front gearbox (in bellhousing) to torqe converter seal. It's not difficult to replace, but of course the hard bit is removing the gearbox etc.

As said, give it a run to get everything warmed up, with engine  running, get under car, clean off what you can, with that volume of your leak you should be able to see where oil is coming from.

Unless you have a cooler pipe leak, my guess is the front seal.

Roger

[Northstar]

As said, check that the breather pipe is not hanging down. It should emerge from the top of the box about 2/3rds of the way back and come forwards and up where it is cable tied to the engine breathers behind the plenum.

Best plan is to mop up what you can - try some degreaser / TFR and then gently hose it off in the hope that once it's clean it will be easier to spot any fresh leakage.

Check the fluid cooler lines between the gearbox and radiator are not leaking first. Then have a look underneath with the engine running. I'd say you should be able to spot it dripping if it's leaking at that rate.

Prime suspects are the output shaft seal at the rear or something in the bellhousing - probably torque converter seal, as with Marie's box.

A gearbox change is not too bad if you can get 2 or 3 pairs of hands on it. We had Marie's car up on ramps and the gearbox out in about an hour and a half, IIRC. Perhaps a bit longer to get it in again because we struggled a little with the TC bolts. Do-able in a day though.

A 2nd hand gearbox can be a bit of a lottery. Depends what's wrong with yours and how much you know of the box you're fitting. If it's a simple seal and you're happy that the gearbox is otherwise fine, I'd change it, but as we found with Marie's, it's not always that easy.

Kevin

Thanks so much. I wondered what that pipe was. It just looks wrong, and I was thinking where the hell should it be.... Thankgod for people like you.