Trans leak after swap

[hal9000]

I'm so pissed right now....

I just finished the auto/manual swap on my '88 CRX DX. It's been a long road while I looked for the right trans brackets, but this morning I just gave up and made my own (no problem... shoulda done it two weeks ago). So this afternoon I got everything all sewn up and started the car. Everything works fine, but after about 5-10 min of idling, I noticed that about 1/2 cup of oil has dripped out of the trans bell housing.

It's gotta be the front seal, but the volume of oil is pretty large considering the short run time and the fact that the trans was just in neutral. Does anybody have any bright ideas before I tear the trans back out? Is there an overflow just in case you overfill the trans maybe?

 

[INJEN78]

is it oil or trann fluid??
if i put more than 2 qts of fluid in my tranny it leaks out by the axl and looks like its leaking from te tranny,,
if its oil,ten you need a new rear seal on te motor,i its tranny fluid find exactly were its leaking,ou might need a new seal on te tranny shaft

 

[hal9000]

Wait a minute.... The shop swore up and down (and their computer also said) that the spec'd fluid for the trans in this car is 10-30 motor oil.... I didn't believe it and asked them to verify. The guy literally called another shop while I was standing there and they said the same thing.

Anyway, it's brand new oil coming out of the trans. It's dripping off the sheet metal flywheel shield and the back side of the trans from somewhere near or above the left side CV joint....

 

[INJEN78]

alot of people do use oil in the tranny,but i do not!!
how much did you put in??

 

[hal9000]

Exactly two quarts. I'm 99.44% sure that the trans isn't overfilled. I was just hoping... The capacity is supposed to be 3.9xxx pints, so I'm back to looking for leaks....

Probably I'll end up dropping the trans out tomorrow morning... Blech!

 

[GlassHeadlights]

Man after my auto to manual swap I had no problems at all. I think It said in my manual that you are to fill the trans with motor oil (I did) and fill it until it starts spilling out of the fill hole. You know where the fill and drain holes are, right?

Maybe just drop the flywheel cover first and see what you can find.

 

[hal9000]

Yeah, I know where the fill hole is(roughly). but I filled from the top because its much easier to do...

I'll probably pull the FW cover first, but if it is coming from the input shaft, I won't be able to see anything of use. Soon as it warms up a little I'm heading out to work on it.

 

[hal9000]

OK, pulled the flywheel cover and started the car... oil was slinging off the clutch side of the flywheel! I've pulled the trans and it appears to me that oil was leaking out the front seal, running down the input shaft, and then slinging out onto the flywheel/clutch.

I have to run to the parts store for more degreaser, but please help me out w/ this... Is the throwout bearing sleeve cast into the clutch case? There are no fasteners and at first glance I can't figure out how to get to the input shaft seal to replace it....

 

[hal9000]

Jeez, this day is just getting worse and worse....

So the trans I have (supposedly out of a '91 DX) does have the throwout bearing collar cast into the trans housing. and the only way I can see to get to the seal is to split the trans (what a dumb design!). So I've got the case halves split but I can't get them to separate more than about 1/2" or so. Do I have to pull the clip that you access through the large plug on the far right side of the trans housing? The PDF manual I have is next to useless for these kind of details...

Also, with the case halves apart, I fished out a handful of little plastic pieces, kind of triangular in shape.... I know that they went to something, but no idea what. Any ideas

 

[sleeper88]

Here are some pics. There is a washer/nut on the passengers side of the trans you have to take off and then there is a C clip that you have to take off and your halves should come apart.

 

[hal9000]

Thanks, got the trans apart... The plastic is from an old speedo drive that's sitting in the bottom of the trans.
Once I figure out how to get the mainshaft out, I should be good to go.

 

[hal9000]

Well, stick a fork in it.... The input shaft seal is bad because the front mainshaft bearing failed. The bearing destroyed the bearing surface on the mainshaft. Also, one of the shift forks is broken....

I do believe that at this point the trans is garbage can filler.

Thanks for the help anyway...

 

[HATCHET_HONDA]

Well, stick a fork in it.... The input shaft seal is bad because the front mainshaft bearing failed. The bearing destroyed the bearing surface on the mainshaft. Also, one of the shift forks is broken....

I do believe that at this point the trans is garbage can filler.

Thanks for the help anyway...

wtf???? i thought the rear main seal was bad? whyd you end up disassembling the trans ?

 

[GlassHeadlights]

Before you throw money into this I would look into a Si tranny. Its pretty nice with the shorter gears, unless you want the longer gears.

Yours seems a bit screwed up.

 

[hal9000]

I'm building the car for MPG, so longer gears is what I want (up to a point anyway)...

Hatchet, the engine is fine. Oil was slinging off the clutch side of the flywheel not the engine side. I pulled the trans apart because thats the only way to replace the input shaft seal (dumb dumb design on Honda's part!) That's when I found all the other problems.

 

[INJEN78]

you probably need a new clutch setup now as well,oil caed into that is bad

 

[hal9000]

you probably need a new clutch setup now as well,oil caed into that is bad

Ayup, Luckily I have a new one sitting on the shelf that I didn't use. The one I got with the trans was nearly new so I threw it in the first time around hoping to resell the new one.

 

[HATCHET_HONDA]

that sucks ass........

 

[GlassHeadlights]

I'm building the car for MPG, so longer gears is what I want (up to a point anyway)...

I know exactly what you mean. My dad used a DX tranny on his Si because he commutes everyday and wanted to keep the RPMs down.