Leaky Gearbox

[Funkstar]

Not a huge issue, more of an annoyance.

Have had my car 7 months now and have had to top up the atf twice, both times after a long drive, 400+ miles. I rarley drive this far in the VR4, but due to the amount of meetings work have planned for me in Northampton over the next few months its gonna become a more regular occurence.

As I said, the problem seems to occur after a long drive. Work is about 10 miles from where I live and can do this journey for months without a problem, but often smell a burning oil smell from the car after a hard drive. This I put down to the oil from the gearbox getting on to something hot, such as the exhaust, and burning.


Have been searching through the search feature and have come across a few of you who have had the same problem, SGHOM and Jimbo to name just two.

The most common fault that I could see was be the "torque converter seal", but not having a clue what one of these is, or let alone find it, I was wondering if you guys could point me in the right direction.

Jimbo posted "that the garage found a loose hose going into the torque converter". Hopefully it is just something simple like this.

Any /help would be appreciated. :thumbsup:

[Nick Mann]

The torque converter seal is found in the bellhousing of the gearbox. Changing it requires the removal of said gearbox. The seal itself is around £10 IIRC, but it is a days work to remove the gearbox and replace the seal.

No special tools required - you can do it yourself - check out Richy Rich's article.

[SGHOM]

Not a huge issue, more of an annoyance.

:


wanna bet ?? /yes /yes

[Funkstar]

The torque converter seal is found in the bellhousing of the gearbox. Changing it requires the removal of said gearbox. The seal itself is around £10 IIRC, but it is a days work to remove the gearbox and replace the seal.

No special tools required - you can do it yourself - check out Richy Rich's article.

Cheers Nick. But is there anyway of knowing that this is the problem visually without having to go through the whole palaver of taking the gearbox out.

Derek, dont scare me like that. Had enough problems with the motor so far. :thumbsup:

[Nick Mann]

Where is the oil leaking from? If it is coming from the bellhousing area then I guess that's a good place to start. To be honest, wherever the oil is leaking from there must be a very high chance that the gearbox will need to be removed to seal the leak properly. You can't physically check the t/c seal without taking it all apart!

[richy rich]

To be honest, wherever the oil is leaking from there must be a very high chance that the gearbox will need to be removed to seal the leak properly. You can't physically check the t/c seal without taking it all apart!
nick may not be the box out

1 the leak could be drive shaft seal (no need to remove box)
2 bad pipe connection (no need to remove box)
3 seals on transfer box (no need to remove box)
4 t/c seal (most likely) box out

OK the leak for tc seal
if the oil is on rear of box mostly and in the area of the engine brace (the bar that has tow hitch on it and runs from front to behind transfer box.

drive shaft seal
there will be oil on by the ends of drive shaft (green shaft end)

[vampirej]

Allow me to bring this subject to life... again... /pan /pan
I clawed under the car during the weekend and had a quick look... couldn't find where the leak is acutally from, but the drips are from near the back of the car... The front of the car is completely dry, but I could see that the bar mentioned by Richy Rich is wet... and I then took out the inspection plate and found that the flywheel is also a little wet. Any ideas whether this could be the T/C seal?
Some mentioned that this could be fixed by ourselves, is it true?

[Kieran]

Yes, and Yes. If you removed the inspection plate and there's fluid in there, then that's a good indicator that the T/C seal is letting fluid past. Yes, it can be done DIY but it's not especially easy. However, if you can get yourself to Cheadle, near Stoke, you'll find that Wouter and Richy Rich can help you..... And you know they'll do a bloody good job too! :2thumbsup

[Jimbo]

Funkstar, only just seen this otherwise I'd have commented earlier.

My symptoms are exactly the same as you describe, and with help from Richy, Nick, and a few others on here I came to the conclusion it IS the TC seal, but at £700-1000 to have it fixed at most places, I've left it a few months before addressing the issue.

As K says, have a chat with Richy and Wouter, our clubs new uber-mechanics - they've done a couple of these already and are about to undertake a third *

I can be racing round Oulton Park or Snetterton and it not lose a drop, but I can drive 100 miles on the motorway and lose 1 litre - from what I gather it's to do with the when the torque converter locks up in 5th for efficiency, that's when the whole thing starts spinning as opposed to the two parts of the drum spinning against itself (I may have got this the wrong way round, I'm not reknowned in this club for my mechanical prowess!)

* providing I can source all the parts in time - Mitsy only have ONE drive shaft seal in the UK at the moment.

[vampirej]

Cool... PM will be sent as soon as money is ready... What do I need to get from Mitsy?

[SGHOM]

Cool... PM will be sent as soon as money is ready... What do I need to get from Mitsy?

A torque converter seal kit !! 'bout a tenner. :2thumbsup

[Wouter]

PM Richy for the full list. :thumbsup:

[Funkstar]

Thanks for the replies guys. Not really chased this up much due to the fact I haven't been far in the car recently so not really bothered me for the past month. Thanks for bringing it back up though vampirej.

Jimbo. Does sound exactly the same, and with it being a fairly common issue throughout the club it seems that this is the main offender.

Will defo be needing to get this done, sooner other than later, but money is fairly tight at the mo. What sort of "Estimated" cost would that be for you guys to fix?

[richy rich]

funkstar you have pm

[Funkstar]

Thanks for that Rich. Pm recieved and replied :thumbsup:

[richy rich]

Yes, and Yes. If you removed the inspection plate and there's fluid in there, then that's a good indicator that the T/C seal is letting fluid past. Yes, it can be done DIY but it's not especially easy. However, if you can get yourself to Cheadle, near Stoke, you'll find that Wouter and Richy Rich can help you..... And you know they'll do a bloody good job too! :2thumbsup
i agree

and thanks k

[vampirej]

funkstar you have pm
Hey Richy,

Where about are you?
Need to arrange some time off for this, and could you also pm me for what I need?

Thanks,

Vamp

[richy rich]

vamp yhpm