Leak from drain bolt

[slimjoe]

About 2 months ago, I brought my car in for a clutch change. Everything was good with no problems whatsoever. Now fast forward to last week. I noticed that there were a couple drops of tranny fluid on the ground under my car. When I peered under the car itself, ding, there was fluid on the drain bolt.

 

So here's what I've done so far:

 

I've...

-wiped down the bolt once when I first saw the drops just to make sure that was where it was coming from

-bought a new gasket, took the bolt off (which seemed to be gorillaed on since I had a hell of a time breaking it open), replaced the gasket, and retorqued it to 70 Nm.

 

Everything seemed good until this morning when I looked underneath just to check my work and... there's still oil dripping. So, now what do I do?

[Max Capacity]

Freadbeans.. get new 32103AA080 plug and 803926070 gasket. I did mine this past April.

[PeterJMC]

Drain bolt has a gasket?? Didn't know that

[slimjoe]

Yeah, it's this giant (relatively) honkin' brass gasket (that looks more like a washer).

 

I'm actually thinking of using some teflon tape to put on the threads of the plug and see how that goes. If that fails, I can just pick up another plug from the dealer down the street. Or.. maybe I'll pick up a plug on the way home. <sigh> We'll see how round 2 goes tonight.

[lofthouse_gt]

I would save yourself time and skip the teflon tape and just get a new bolt. Only reason I'm saying this is what if the teflon tape doesn't work then you only are making yourself do it all over again. Save a step get a new plug.

[slimjoe]

Well, I ordered a new bolt but I'm still going to give the tape a shot before it comes in (probably about a week or so with ordering and shipping).

 

I don't mind climbing under and working on it. I'm getting pretty quick at it too so it's not that big of a deal.

[MonkeyHermit]

That's a lot of tranny fluid you're going through

[m sprank]

Skip the teflon. Use liquid thread sealant if you must. Telon tape can come apart and get in the tranny. The proper fix is a new bolt and gasket.

[bluesuby]

Skip the teflon. Use liquid thread sealant if you must. Telon tape can come apart and get in the tranny. The proper fix is a new bolt and gasket.

 

I'd be concerned about a hunk of teflon floating around in an automatic transmission, but I doubt it would hurt anything in a manual. Why a new bolt? Replacing a copper gasket should take care of problems.

[slimjoe]

I'm actually capturing the fluid in roasting pans (clean disposable ones) and just pouring it back in (most of it just in case if there's any sediment from the bottom of the car) when I'm done. No way I'm going to just keep tossing out 4+ quarts of this stuff.

 

I've already tried just swapping gaskets and it didn't fix anything. The tape shouldn't get into the actual casing since it'll just be applied to the base of the bolt and will be contained within the threads of the plug and casing.

[Max Capacity]

You should try some Honda Bond. You get it from Honda dealers. Lot's of Honda guy's swear by the stuff. It's what they use to seal the bolts, plugs and tranny cases.

[Rick]

Freadbeans.. get new 32103AA080 plug and 803926070 gasket. I did mine this past April.

 

 

I'm having the same issue with my 5mt. I'm just happy it's not an axle seal leak. I will order those parts numbers tonight, thanks for the info!

[Max Capacity]

Remember to order them from Fredbeans, support the guy's that help out the forum with lot's of free info.

[slimjoe]

I'm having the same issue with my 5mt. I'm just happy it's not an axle seal leak. I will order those parts numbers tonight, thanks for the info!

 

Ha, turns out it wasn't the drain plug but was the left front axle seal. $8 part, $120 labor. Could be worse.