Dissapearing Gear Oil

[cypher0117]

I've been having some intermittant transmission problems such as clunky gears and occasional slight crunch while shifting. Checked the transmission oil the other day and it was not on the dip stick. I figured it was probably a lose drain plug. I filled the transmission up and ordered a T70 torx bit with new plug and washer. When I recieved my package from UPS I went to the garage and tried to tighten the drain plug. I couldn't tighten it at all. So I tried to loosen it. Didn't matter what way I was trying to turn the wrench, the drain plug didn't move. I can't imagin it would be leaking through that then. But the picture I have below says otherwise. Maybe it only leaks when warm?

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Cypher0117/100_5692.jpg

 

I also noticed the back of the trans is all oily as seen below:

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Cypher0117/100_5696-1.jpg

 

Upon further invetigation I noticed that where the shifter connects to the transmission for gear selection is quite oily. Maybe this is where all my gear oil is going. Can that seal be replaced without dropping the transmission? Gear oil is getting expensive when ~ 2 quarts leaks out in ~10 days (approximatley 2 tanks of gas ~550 miles). I can't imagine that much oil leaking out through a drain plug that seems tighter than my lug nuts.

 

Any other ideas/suggestions/helpful hints are welcomed.

 

additional info: car is 05 lgt 5MT bone stock 51000 miles

[GTTuner]

Looks like the shift shaft seal is leaking. Possibly a plugged trans vent forcing it out the weakest seal, shift shaft. But if your loosing that much you'd see drips.

[cypher0117]

Looks like the shift shaft seal is leaking. Possibly a plugged trans vent forcing it out the weakest seal, shift shaft. But if your loosing that much you'd see drips.

 

I have recently (last 2 months) started seeing drips. they started out super small and I thought it was just residual oil from when I changed my oil, but the dripps didn't stop and they keep getting bigger; probably the size of a silver dollar overnight as of a two days ago. So whatever is wrong needs to get taken care of soon otherwise my trans might exploade into pieces from lack of oil....

 

I do have an extended powertrain warranty through subaru. Would this be a good thing to actually take to the stealership to have it looked at?

[cypher0117]

After driving to and from work today, which was probably only 3 miles round trip I didn't notice any new leaking oil but I definitely smelled gear oil when I got home. While I was looking for new leaks I snapped a pick of what I'm talking about:

 

http://i5.photobucket.com/albums/y156/Cypher0117/100_5714.jpg

-disregard that my camera was upside-down.

[Max Capacity]

Oh, at 51,000 miles the car is still under 60,000 mile factory warrenty for the drive line. See if the dealer will fix it, it should not be leaking.

[cypher0117]

As it turns out....I'm retarded...Thought I had a subaru classic extended warranty...Turns out I have an aftermarket warranty subaru sold me and called it the classic warranty. In any case. I found this out while at the dealer. They told me there shouldn't be any oil coming out of there and if i really am loosing as much oil as I say I am, there has to be something else wrong. They also won't be able to do anything until monday.

 

So on my way home I revved out 2nd gear with my windows down getting onto the freeway. Once I was done doing that I had a surge of gear oil smell come into my car. It wasn't faint....it was like "aww crap i just spilled gear oil on my passenger seat." I definitely knew it was there.

 

So maybe maybe there is a vent or something closed like GTTuner said and when the gear spin too much pressure builds up and forces its way out of the shaft seal. Seem feasible or is something else wrong?

[Max Capacity]

There is a vent on top of the tranny, so I'm guessing that is where they'll look first.

 

You may be able to it if you look hard.

[jton]

Yea. I'm w/ Max. There are one or two breathers that come out the top of the bellhousing. You've probably got oil sloshing out of one of them and thats whats causing it to look like its coming out from one side.

[cypher0117]

Because I hate it when other threads start off with a problem and have no conclusion...I'll fill you guys in. Although my conclusion is a little lacking.

 

Took the car to the dealer and they put it up on a lift. Looked around and said that everything looked fine. Yes the back of my trans was still oily but none of the major seals were leaking and they said he'd be hesitant to really do anything until it becomes more severe. It wasn't just a bunch of BS, the guy was nice and took me out to the garage and under the lift my car was on to explain everything to me. He even gave me the flashlight to have a look for myself, which was nice to see the underside of my car for the first time in a non-cramped space on my back.

 

I did clean off all of the gunk seen in my 1st picture and the trans has remained bone dry for probably 2000 miles (with an exception to the back). I still occasionally smell gear oil but my geal oil has since stopped dissapearing . The shifter sticks in 1st and 2nd gear when cold now with the outside temp consistently below 60. That will probably get worse as the winter comes. Hopefully that is just the generic brand 80w-90 gear oil from walmart being crappy. I'll have my 60k soon and will swap to a good fluid then.

 

Moral of the story:

The problem somehow fixed itself. Maybe the car was just sold to me by the dealer (not the one I took it to to be looked at) 1 quart low on gear oil? Can anything bad happen on a trans filled with only 3 of the 4 quarts for 8000+ miles?

[Max Capacity]

I could be wrong but I think 4 qt's is over filled. For some reason I think it holds something like 2.8 qts. I check the manual before I change mine.

 

You need to check the oil on level ground, you also need to drain it with the rear end higher then the front.

 

Try and find some Extra-S or contact the guy's at Fredbeans for oil, it should be 75-90w.

[GTTuner]

It takes less than four quarts,..... three & change for an MT. I'm thinking it may have been overfull and it spit out from the dipstick tube? Make sure the dipstick is fully seated especially when checking the level. There is a split near the top of the stick and if you try hard enough the tube will wedge between it and wont fully seat.

You shouldn't smell gear oil though, I don't.

[cypher0117]

Max and GTTuner - I agree with you both. I said 4 quarts because that is what I've been looking for to do my 60k (3ish in the trans and 1 in the rear diff). 80w-90 is in there right now because when i bought the oil it was 80degrees ambient minimum so I figured I'd be fine. But now that it is getting cold I'm noticing the different weight. The 1st/2nd gear shift problem completely goes away after the car warms up. I've been trying to find some extra-s, but the dealers by me don't want to order the 5gal bucket or 55 gallon drum and fredbeans wasn't selling by the quart last time i checked. I check my gear oil in my garage where the car doesn't move when in neutral and no brakes are applied so I can only assume it's fairly close to level. I've also checked to make sure the dipstick is properly inserted. I only smell it after a looong drive, say 2hrs plus of highway driving, and then only when I stop after just getting off the freeway, and only for ~5 seconds. Then it goes away.