I decided to change my transmission fluid in my 01 5spd. I jacked the car up, unbolted the drain plug and nothing came out! I refilled it with 4 liters of gl4 fluid and noticed I have a massive leak from the drivers side axle.. Basically I have been driving without transmission fluid for months. How is this car still driving?

The tranny still shifts great but there is a slight whine in 1st and 2nd under heavy acceleration.

 

Wow. You're right. I can't believe it. Lol, what are you gonna do about it?

 

hope you didnt mess up anything in there like the syncros

 

wow, i can't believe you didnt shear any gears or anything...there must have been just enough fluid to lube the gears and synchros

 

I honestly can't believe it's still running. Syncros seem to be ok. Hope the bearings are alright

 

I have a leaking driver side axle Seal...it drips and this worries me. But the fluid levels always stay the same on the dip stick.


Will my trans tell me its low before I'm fcked?

 

Pull the axle, pop in a new seal, put axle back in. It's a simple procedure.

I used a long piece of PVC (I believe it was 3") and a rubber mallet to pop new one in properly.

 

Its an easy 1 hour ish job depending on how quickly you can get the seal on and if your familiar...i change the seals whenever i do axles on my maxma's saves a lot of headache.

 

Pretty sure you pulled the wrong plug, and have now overfilled the trans, making it leak.

 

Have to agree with Steve.

Little chance of driving for an extended time with an empty trans. And seals aren't made to provide a complete seal from top to bottom. So overfilling would cause most of the 4 liters to drain out. Of the top of the shaft opening.

Which means it still probably full if not overfull.

But overfilling is bad. It may also drain through the input shaft onto your clutch and pressure plate.

So find the correct plug and get the unit drained entirely and refilled.

 

I tried one bolt at first and it was the wrong one. The next one I tried was about an inch long and had a bit of fluid around it but nothing came out. Could it be because the car wasn't completely flat?

Does anyone have a good diagram that shows the drain plug so I can confirm?

 

5mt must be different from the 6mt, because you CANNOT overfill the tranny on a 6spd.
If you do - it will simply spill out of the fill hole.

gr

 

Yes I was expecting it to start overflowing but it never did. It's the 5spd LSD tranny that comes with the anniversary edition. What are the chances that the axle is making the whining sound and not the bearings or gears?

 

i think there couldve been a better title for the thread (great way to get views i guess).... srry to hear however

 

agreed...titles need to do a better job of explaining the actual topic of the thread

 

Impossible because of this...

The proper way to check the level of the gear oil is to actually pull the plug and stick your finger in there. If you can feel the gear oil your fine. If not, put some in. The 5 speed will take about 5 qts from empty. You will know that its filled all the way when the gear oil starts to spill out of the fill hole. As others have mentioned, you need to change the axle seal. They are around $10 or less from any autoparts store.


When my 5 speed ran low on gear oil, I was literally locked out of 1st and second gear. I had to drive using only 3rd, 4th, and 5th. My clutch didnt like that very much.

 

Can you take a picture of the transmission and show where you filled it, where it was leaking from, etc?

No matter if you were right or wrong, someone somewhere can learn from this -- possibly even me.

 

 

Thank you very much for that^ There shouldnt be any confusion at all now.


And for those who are confused about what to use to remove the plug, you use a half inch ratchet. Yes just the ratchet..



Just this. No socket, no nothing on the end. Just use the 1/2" nub on the end. The plug has no "head" on it unlike a normal bolt. You will just see a recessed square that the ratchet can fit into. And you will see external threads.

 

wow.....thats sum luck.......one time i was about to head out to da gym and i almost fell.....i looked down and theres big puddle of oil on the ground....then i found out it was leakin from my car......sum how the bolt on the oil tank got loose.....when i took it off nothin came out.....it completely drained......if theres any explanation please let me know?

 

apom where are you on this tranny thing?

 

When my gearbox made a whine it turned out I needed it rebuilt.

 

Dropped it off at a shop this morning, waiting to hear back.

 

the garage just called. They want 2 hours of labour at $80 per hour to replace the axle seal and $50 for the seal and then another 2 hours to replace the front wheel bearing which they think might be making the sound. Man I hate garages. Pure ripoff and Im going to be without my car till Monday/Tuesday.

 

do it yourself

if you arent willing/able its not really a rip off...its a service offered in exhange for money

 

That sounds illegal...in dark alley...


Capitalism!

 

It's a pure rip off. The first other garage I called (which is known to be expensive) was $60 less. I'm pretty pissed. I thought I could trust these guys. I should have done it myself. I'm not the quickest at it but I'm sure it wouldn't take me a whole week either.

 

Bust your own knuckles or pay someone what they ask for them to bust theirs.

 

QFT.

 

So for the transmission issue the want $160 + $50 = $210. Not bad considering you have been driving around with no gear oil for months.....

I would consider yourself lucky!

 

Amsoil may help with your tranny issues.

 

They can't guarantee that it will fix the sound. I have a feeling I'm going to need a tanny rebuild or at they very least replace the differential bearing or whatever bearing is making that sound.