Trans Leak, Noise While Driving

[c2ypt1c]

Hey guys, so today I was accelerating from a stop light and I felt a jolt and then a weird noise. The noise only happens while driving, idle and stopped it's quiet. Everything seems fine, shifting smooth, no grinding, oil pressure is good.

I limp the car home, jack it up and notice a shit ton of oil leaking from where the tranny meets the block. At first I'm thinking rear main seal, but I'm not sure because it's not engine oil. I know this because it's pretty black and I just put new engine oil in recently, dip stick is nice and clean.

So it must be tranny fluid but I'm not real trans savvy, so I was wondering if anyone had any ideas on what could be wrong so I know what to look for.

Dropping the trans tomorrow so hopefully I'll have some more info on what's going on.

 

[c2ypt1c]

Alright so I pulled the trans and this is what I found:

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So a finger broke off the pressure plate and lodged itself into the housing. Now there's a nice size gash and I can see the axle cylinder through the opening. At this point, I'm considering welding it, but I'm a little concerned about any debris that's made it's way into the gearset.

So my options are either weld it up or just throw in a new (used) tranny.

Thoughts/opinions? What would you do?

 

[c2ypt1c]

I went down to RRE today to pick up an OEM throwout bearing and while I was there, I asked if they could weld the transmission housing. They said the housing needs to be separated because welding aluminum requires a lot of heat, which will burn up the seals...

Can someone confirm or deny this statement please?

 

[mercaholik]

They are right plus rre knows they're stuff, they are well known in the dsm world. No matter what you gotta clean/inspect the inside so it's great down time. Excuse to upgrade right, Jack's transmission was really helpful to me when I called and asked him what I should do about my trans. Plus you can order seals and other parts from him at a good price.

 

[c2ypt1c]

They are right plus rre knows they're stuff, they are well known in the dsm world. No matter what you gotta clean/inspect the inside so it's great down time. Excuse to upgrade right, Jack's transmission was really helpful to me when I called and asked him what I should do about my trans. Plus you can order seals and other parts from him at a good price.

I realize they are knowledgeable (that's why I went down to the shop) and have dealt with them many times in the past. But the (new?) guy I talked to was speaking in very general terms without looking at my specific problem. Considering where the gash is, I'm wondering if it's far enough away to get away with welding it as is. If it the gash was closer to the input shaft, I could see heat being a problem, but in my case, being further out on the edge of the housing, I think it should be ok...

 

[mercaholik]

He is probably just covering his ass in case, you should replace seals anyway they are pretty cheap and you could just tell him to go for it. I would make sure you didn't damage a bearing from lack of lube, or did you catch it in time?

 

[c2ypt1c]

I ended up taking it to a very experienced welder (like 45 years experienced), and he told me not to worry about the seals at all because he wouldn't even get close to hot enough:

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Problem solved

 

[ignited Alchemy]

How you post started is what I went thru

 

[2gmitsueclipse]

Now that it is patched just hope that the material that used to be where the hole was did not find it's way into your trans. You really should consider having the internals inspected.