I have a leak coming out of the bottom of my transmission. It's seaping out of a rubber piece that's held onto the transmission with what appears to be one screw on the front edge. It appears there's a wire that comes out either from it or right above from it that routes to the front the up and back over the transmission.

It's leaking quite rapidly. I was wondering if anybody knew what this piece does and how to fix the leak. You can see that the transmission fluid is causing a mess on the underside of my car too. Finally, how do you fill up the transmission. Do you fill it up with the plug on the bottom front of the transmission? Do I just open the plug and use a pump to pump trans fluid in until it spills?

Thanks.

-V

 

From your description, this is the Transmission Position switch. It serves two purposes.
1) It tells the Engine Control Module when the transmission is in Neutral.
2) It controls the back-up lights.

Pump or gravity. See:
http://integra.vtec.net/geeser/megam...fluid_page.gif
http://vbxmaxima.8m.com/mtoil.html


Please fix this leak right away. Lubrication failure can lead to transmission failure.

 

will do Dan... thanks for the info. did you get a chance to look at the attached picture to this thread? i pointed arrows to where i think it's leaking.

and any ideas on how to fix the leak

-V

 

Sorry, I did not notice the image attachment. It does appear to be the Transmission Position Switch which is leaking. You could verify this by cleaning the underside of the tranny and then watching carefully to see where the fluid is coming from... as opposed to where the fluid is collecting.

Since I don't know the source of the leak, I don't know how to fix it. If the leak is from around the Trans Switch you could try removing it, wrapping it with three or four plies of teflon tape, and forcing it back in. If the leak is coming through the Trans Switch, then you have to replace it.

A point of caution: the Trans Switch cable is secured to the tranny housing by what looks like an ordinary bolt... but it is actually a detent plug. If you remove that plug you may expect a small coil spring and a steel ball to fall out. Make sure to find these parts and reinstall them in the correct order: ball, then spring, then plug.

 

lol, i remember reading the other thread in which some had these fall out, and the shift from 3 to 4 had no detent! thanks for the reminder.

i'll take another look later... i'm pretty sure it's that piece. i jacked the car up yesterday and noticed that it there was some almost about to drip, which was good as it allowed me to see the source of the drip. it looks like it's coming form 'around' the plug part and not through the switch...

i know this may seem like a stupid question, but what's the best way to get the switch out to either replace or wrap the teflon tape around it without loosing all my trans fluid ...i'm just trying to be lazy, i think your answer will have something to do with putting a pan under the transmission to catch the fluid hehe... i don't wanna change the trans fluid yet as i have 131,000+ miles on the original clutch and it's almost due (though it's holding fine).

-V

btw, when you mention teflon tape, are you referring to the white plumbers tape stuff that you wrap around threads to prevent water from leaking? also, is that assembly held in by that one screw as it looks? or is there some trick to removing and reinstalling it? is it connected to any other pieces inside the transmission or should I be able to take that piece out and put it back in without have to be a contortionist? thanks!

 

I don't think this is possible. You may as well replace the used gear lube. We're talking about 5 quarts of lube here; not a major investment. When you drain the gear lube pay attention to the color. Brown or black is okay. Shiny silver is a bad sign, because the silver comes from thousands of tiny metal fragments.

Yes. I'm not sure that is the best sealant for this purpose, so use your imagination.

I've never pulled one of these switches. Looking at the manual, it looks straightforward. Remove the one bolt, wiggle, jiggle, and pull. There is an O-ring behind it and you will want to replace that. Maybe that's the whole problem, a damaged O-ring.