Gearbox oil leak

[roddy21t]

Since draining my old gearbox oil last year (which was pure minging) and replacing it with nice new stuff almost straight away the gearbox developed a leak, is anybody aware if there is a common spot for the boxes to leak from, it seems to be from the front area of the box :?

 

[Red21]

Hi roddy
There are a few of possibilitys for cause of the leak.
1, Incorrectly tightened drain plug or not sealing due to damaged threads

2, Gear box level incorrect (overfilled) The filler plug is slightly higher than the correct level point (level 5mm below bottom edge of filler hole)

3,Gear box input shaft seal from the clutch. Requires gear box out and casings separated so a new seal can be fitted. can also be caused by over filling

4,Drive shaft seals, which you will need a special ftting tool to obtain correct seal alignment/positioning. Also can be caused by over filling.

5, Drive shaft roll pins loose or missing allowing drive shaft to move away from the ideal sealing point or the roll pin ends not sealed off with silicon sealer.

6, Gear box casing joints, either the paper gasket on the bell housing or the loctite 518 red sealer are failing, both require the casings to be separated.

I know it's a long list but they the most common causes for a leak towards the front of the box.

 

[roddy21t]

Cheers Rich, i did fill it up to the bottom of the whole as im sure thats what the manual said to do :x i'll maybe drain it and do it to the right level and see what happens this time.

 

[roddy21t]

Right , iv had the front of the car up on axle stands most of the afternoon (just pottering about underneath) and the leak stopped, i think the leak is coming from the driveshafts where it goes into the gearbox as it looks abit oily there,

now she did not leak before i changed the oil, so if iv overfilled it and its coming out the driveshafts, would it stop if i was to let some oil out ?? :?

 

[Red21]

Roddy,
The gearbox oil level should be checked with the car level, so if you have the car on axle stands (nose up) the oil will fill the rear of the box first before reaching the correct oil level, So there a possibility of over filling :? :?

 

[roddy21t]

Im not filling it up, thats already been done last November ...when the leak originally started

What im trying to say is that i was underneath her today cleaning connections etc etc, it was then that i noticed that she stopped leaking whilst on the axle stands, obviously due to the fact that the oil was at the back of the box, now im almost certain that the oil is coming from the driveshafts, so if iv originally over filled it (last november) then that would mean that the oil level is above the top of the driveshafts (judging by the filler plug location) so if i drain a little oil out, would that stop the oil leaking out the shafts ??

 

[Red21]

Providing the seals are not worn draining a little bit of oil out may help, but not to much!!