Sudden leak after clutch replacement & tranny fluid change

[Legend]

I had my clutch replaced Thursday (ACT Heavy Duty Clutch Kit (SB5-HDMM) and an '06-'07 WRX single mass flywheel). While the car was there I had them change the tranny fluid and put in the Extra S gear oil.

 

Suddenly I have a leak under the car. When parked in the garage, it has dripped a drop or two every time and now I have several ~1" round leak spots on the concrete under the car. I just went out put the car up on ramps and crawled underneath it. There was a drop of fluid on the tranny drain plug. The whole bottom of the tranny was a little greasy. I could not determine the source of the leak due to the whole area being greasy. The leak might be coming from the axles(?) or the drain plug itself. I wiped everything down with paper towels to make it easier to identify the leak next time. I'm attaching a picture, but it's not my car... it's from another thread but it is exactly the problem area. (Imagine a drop of fluid on that drain plug and the whole bottom/sides a bit wet/greasy.)

 

http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3034/2795046434_cd4166001a.jpg?v=0

 

I don't know if the plug is not just fully tightened down or not (since I don't have a T70 torx bit.)

 

Is it possible to overfill the tranny? If so, what consequences? Any other ideas on this? I'm certainly bummed if it's something other than this drain plug not being tightened down... Any chance this new found leak could just "go away"? The shop is 30 minutes away... not looking forward to taking it back.

[rao]

It is possible to overfill the tranny. The main consequence if that fluid will come out of the vent on top and it could damage the internals - but the easy way to tell if the tranny is overfilled is to CHECK THE TRANNY DIPSTICK

 

Sounds like the pulg is not tightened all of the way (although you don't want to go making it super-human tight) or they forgot the small brass gasket on the plug.

[Legend]

but the easy way to tell if the tranny is overfilled is to CHECK THE TRANNY DIPSTICK

 

Okay... looks pretty full. I drew a line at the fluid level.

 

http://beeez.com/lgt/dipstick.jpg

 

So, if it's this full and has been slow-leaking for 3 days, maybe it's coming out the vent on top(?) I'll stick a tube down the dipstick tube and suck a couple ounces out. I've used that method before with engine oil overfills... I'll look for this vent too... I'd be happy if that were the source of the leak.

[Guest]

FULL is the upper dot, not F! It's overfilled.

[Legend]

Still leaking. Sucked about 4 oz. out with mouth and tube, dried it all off with paper towel, went home, parked car with fresh paper towel underneath. More slight dripping. Back to shop in the a.m. Pissed off don't have time for this.

[Legend]

Went back to shop. They pumped out the excess fluid. The leak was from the drain bolt, apparently. They torqued it down. Got home, parked car for an hour and went out to inspect for leak. No leak. Amazing how they did such a nice job on the clutch install but found 2 ways to mess up changing the tranny fluid!

[JoeFromPA]

Legend - I wouldn't be too hard. It's extremely easy to overfill a thick fluid like tranny fluid when it's slowly going down a thin tube like the fill tube on this car. I think mine is at the F....and that was with me taking my time. I don't think I filled to the dot, but I could be wrong. No noticeable leaks though.

 

They should've torqued down the bolt though; that's kinda foolish. But maybe they did and just needed it even tighter to re-use the stock copper washer.

 

Write up your thoughts on the Act HD and WRX fly. I think that's what I'll be going for as well!

 

Joe

[derffred]

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