How to stop transmission leak
 

I rebuilt my FD 5 speed trans about 8 years ago and it has had some leaking issues ever since. Not a whole ton, but it leaves a spot on the ground every time I drive it. It ONLY leaks when the fluid is hot - not when cold.

After many years of just maintaining this leak by filling the trans up every two years or so (like I said, slow leak) I finally dug into it today.

The hot gear oil leaks from the joints between the main case and the intermediate case and possibly also at the joint from the intermediate case to the tail case. The obvious problem is that I must have used the wrong type of sealant to seal those areas. I think I used Permatex 1A or 2A (both of which say they resist gas and oil), but gear oil is nasty stuff. Maybe it just wasn't the right stuff. You can see the golden trans oil oozing at the cracks (I cleaned off the outside of the case really well before a short test drive).

How to fix?

1 - Pull trans, disassemble and fix the "right way". The problem is I don't feel like doing this and I think you need special tools to get it apart which I don't have. Maybe later, this is not an option for today.

2 - Do nothing. Fill up with gear oil and keep on leakin'. Would using a heavier weight oil help?

3 - Attepmt to seal the case from the outside. Get some goop that says it will work on gear oil and just cover all the joints and pray.

4 - Attempt to seal using magic bottle of stopleak junk. Does this stuff even WORK on a car with no gaskets/seals? Does it make things worse? I'm hesitant to try this.


Thanks,
B