Pretty Bad Leak

G

gibo87

New Member
Evening All,

Well, my 1st few weeks of Rovering have gone very well, up until Sunday. After going out for a short drive, I noticed a trail of oil behind the car when I parked to open the garage door. After pulling into the garage, there was a fairly large patch of ATF let behind!! The car drove normally all day, with no change in operation. I looked around under the car to the best of my ability without jacking it up and it looks like the entire sump pan is covered in oil, some of which has gone over the exhaust and there is also some dripping off the bellhousing (I assumed it has just run there when the car has been parked).

Having read up on other posts, it seems I have 2 options, rear seal or the sump gasket. Is there an easy way to identify which one could have fail and are they relatively easy to replace?

Also, when I bought the car, the previous owner told me he had a reconditioned gearbox fitted it that it was a Torqueflite gearbox...correct me if i'm wrong, but isn't that a Chrysler nomeculture?

Sorry for all the questions, but this is my 1st car with an Autobox, having cut my mechanical teeth on Mini's and Morgans...

Also, the car is a 1973 3500
 
Hello Gibo,

Yes, the torqueflite is indeed a Chrysler transmission. That is very interesting if indeed that is what your Rover is fitted with. Can you by any chance please post some photos both from underneath and from the engine bay looking at the downshift cable attachment etc? The photos should then determine whether or not the previous owner was being honest with you.

Oil leaks tend to originate from seals assuming no structural damage, and in most cases the box has to come out to affect the repair.

Ron.
 
It's theoretically possible to get the Torqueflite into the P6B, providing it will physically fit in the tunnel as that box was fitted into the Range Rover, so will mate to the V8, and comes in a variety of 2wd forms, but it would be the first one I've come across. Best bet is to jack up the car and powerwash the gearbox, and if you can post a pic of the gearbox to identify it, and once it's all clean take it for a run and locate the source of the leaks afterwards. On BW35/65 the front pump seal and gasket need the box to come out to fit them, all the rest can be done in-situ with a bit of effort.
 
I'll try and get a pic asap!

I was surprised when he said it was a Torqueflite, but i've also noticed that the gear selector shroud has had a notch cut in it at the top to allow the selector to go fully into Park.
 
Assuming that it turns out to be a Borg Warner.... If your car has been standing for a long time you may just find that this problem self rectifies with use. The first thing to do is to have several goes at following precisiely the procedure that Harvey has posted at the top of this gearbox section. Checking the levels is not straightforward in a BW and getting them wrong is the cause of many apparently catastrophic problems! My car had stood for a very long time before I started using it properly and did exactly as you describe. After a couple of thousand miles it settled down and now uses no fluid at all. A real pain having to keep checking the levels whilst it made its mind up though!

Chris
 
chrisyork said:
Assuming that it turns out to be a Borg Warner.... If your car has been standing for a long time you may just find that this problem self rectifies with use. The first thing to do is to have several goes at following precisiely the procedure that Harvey has posted at the top of this gearbox section. Checking the levels is not straightforward in a BW and getting them wrong is the cause of many apparently catastrophic problems! My car had stood for a very long time before I started using it properly and did exactly as you describe. After a couple of thousand miles it settled down and now uses no fluid at all. A real pain having to keep checking the levels whilst it made its mind up though!

Chris
Click to expand...

If you mean converter drain back raising the level whilst standing, and causing leaks, that won't be the problem in this case as the car has been run, and the minute you run it the converter refills and the level in the box goes back to normal. Checking the level properly is still a good idea though, as the box may well be overfilled. Seals can dry out and leak when first used after a long period of not being used, but they too can sometimes soften up and seal the leak up themselves, if you're lucky.
 
Harvey - I did think I was going to need your services when I first started using Lucky in October! After every run there was a sizeable puddle of ATF, to the extent that I bought a drip tray! Persistent re-checking of the fluid level didn't help, apart from restoring the change quality. After about 2,000 mls the problem simply went away of its own accord!

Chris
 
chrisyork said:
After about 2,000 mls the problem simply went away of its own accord!

Chris
Click to expand...

Mine did that once - in that case all the fluid had leaked out which cured the drips but it made the insides go a funny colour and smell strange
 
Righty, I've finally had her up in the air today (after giving up on using axle stands and borrowing my neighbours ramps).

I checked the oil in the box (following the instructions in the manual) and it was barely registering on the dipstick.

Looking underneath the car, the exhaust is covered in oil near the rear mount for the exhaust, also most of the sump bolts have oil dripping off them. I can't see anything leaking from around the torque converter/bellhousing, just oil that has run down from the sump.

Some pics:

IMG_1572.jpg


IMG_1571.jpg


IMG_1570.jpg


Are they enough to distinguish the model of the 'box?

Also, to give you an idea of how much space i'm working with:

IMG_1573.jpg
 
That's a 35 box.

So much for the Torqueflite........... :roll:

Try nipping up the sump bolts.

Depending on whereabouts you read the procedure for checking the fluid level in the WM, you'll find it gives two versions.
Follow the procedure outlined at the top of the gearbox section here.
 
Indeed! At least that is cleared up!

The method I used was to run the car, I moved it out of garage, turned it around down the bottom of th steet, ran through all the selector positions with the engine idling, then checked the level with the engine still idling.

Would it be worth ordering/collecting a sump gasket from JR Wadhams since i'm not too far away?

Also, what workshop manual do you recommend?
 
Harvey's procedure for checking the levels at the top of this gearbox section is the only one to follow. Ignore those in the manuals! I'm pretty sure Harvey knows more about BW boxes than Rover or Haynes ever did!!

By far the best manual is the Rover factory workshop manual. There are plenty for sale on Ebay. Also buy the spares manual. You may not need to know the part numbers for everything, but it comes with exploded diagrams of the entire car, which are arguably more useful than the workshop manual! You won't find them in HAynes!

Chris
 
I think I have it sorted. It's taken me long enough.

I've changed the gasket and it seems ok...the area around the holes in the sump pan were raised quite a lot on the bolts that had a lot of oil dripping off them, so I assume it's that causing the leak. Just in time for the weather!
 
Or not...

Just had a run out to Prescott and back and it's leaking more than ever. It's dripping badly from the front of the sump pretty badly. Starting to loose my temper with it now.

-edit-

Forgot to mention that it only leaks when the engine is running and generally when the box is hot
 
You say that the sump was domed up on the bolts that were leaking, so I assume you rectified this while the sump was off.

And if it's dripping off at the front of the sump, and particularly when the engine is running are you sure it's not the front pump seal and the oil is running down and just looks as though it's coming from the sump gasket.
 
Yup, that's what I'm starting to think...box out job it may be then.

The gearbox is still under warranty from when it was reconditioned, I went for the sump gasket because it was an easy one to sort and I was being hopeful (and it's easier than getting the car the 100 miles to get the gearbox sorted).
 
I had a problem like this with my gearbox it had a terrible oil leak which dripped at the front and ran around to the selector lever and onto the exhaust, it was so bad sometimes that it could drop on the floor a quarter of a pint. This amount varied and which I found confusing and because of the quantity of oil which was everywhere it was hard to track down. I eventually traced it to the front oil cooler connection which was tight, but the gearbox had been out at sometime and when refitted the olive was damaged.
Best of luck
 
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