Hey guys,

On my 2000 se 5spd there's a decent amount of oil dripping from where the tranny and engine meet. I am not very good with transmissions, but I assume there'd be no fluid where the flywheel is, so the oil must be coming from the engine where the drive shaft meets the tranny.

Is there anyway to confirm if I'm leaking tranny or engine fluid?

 

Ok so I looked at it some more and its definetly coming from the transmission.

There's oil all over the bottom of it (where shifter rod go into it) and up both sides. Can I do anything to tell if the axles are leaking? Also, is the shifter rod prone to leaking?

It almost looks like it could be leaking from a couple spots, but I really can't tell. I guess this is why my tranny's been making weird noises at idle

 

tranny fluid is usually pink in color where as engine oil is brown. if its been in there a while engine oil will usually be black looking while trans oil will look like a dark red - it should be pretty obvious.

if its tranny fluid check that your return line hoses didn't become disconnected
if its engine check the oil filter
take a picture showing where the oil is actually leakin out of

 

I'm pretty sure manual oil doesn't look any different from engine oil. And its definetly coming from the tranny.

I'll definetly get some pics up shortly.

 

manual tranny oil and automatic transmission fluid look different.. manual tranny oil is more the color of engine oil

 

When you push the clutch pedal in, does it become more quiet then when it's released? If so, then it sounds like it could be some bearing (I think it's called the differential bearing). When that goes, the axle seals will go too... and if you replace the seals, it will start leaking again very shortly. I went through all that on my 95 max 5spd (it was a common problem on those transmissions).

 

Exactly how it sounds. I was hoping that it was just low on oil or something.

So what's the damage?

 

Hate to say it, but it sounds like you might need a tranny rebuild, or get the tranny replaced. Replacing the seals is probably not gonna solve the problem. When it happened to me, I took a chance and got a cheap transmission of the junk yard. The transmission I got ended up being good (no grinding noise), but it still leaked a bit. My mechanic explained that the axles must have gotten damaged, since there was play in the differential (due to the bad bearing). I ended up getting really fed up and kept driving the car for a bit, just adding fluid to it and eventually sold it and got an 03.

I don't know if the 5 generation 5spd transmission are the same as the 4th generation ones, but there is lots of threads about this problem occurring in 4th gen manual trannies.

If you do decide to go with a rebuild, make sure it comes with a decent warranty. I've heard that rebuilding a transmission is not that big of a deal, but doing it well is pretty tough. Heard of many people getting their transmission rebuilt more than once. That's why I went with one lower mileage transmission from the junk yard (and ended up being cheaper too), but it's definitely taking a chance, as the one you get might be in worse shape than the one you have.

 

Also, does your speedometer work alright? What started happenning to mine was that the needle would start dropping as soon as I took my foot of the gas. The speed sensor is inside the transmission, so if you're experiencing this, that's another sign that your tranny is going.

 

I haven't noticed my any problems with the speedometer at all.

Today I'm checking the fluid level and am taking it from there.

 

Ok, the fluid is down about 1-1.5 inches from the filler plug. Keep in mind the tranny oil hasn't been touched since I bought the car with 60k on it. It now has 100k, so its not leaking that badly.

Now, I have amsoil synthetic tranny oil just sitting here, so I'm gonna do an oil change and see if that helps anything.

Should I look for anything in the oil? Also, will putting in synthetic (assuming stock fluid isn't) will that hasten the leak or stop it at all?

Thanks guys!!!

 

it will leak, and continue to do so until you get it fixed. I had the same problem so i bought a LSD gearbox and had it rebuilt then gonna drop it in

 

Keep in mind this may not be a transmission problem. If you have oil on both sides of the bell housing as well as on the bottom of the transmission where it meets the engine and this being a manual transmission, it sounds like it MAY be a problem with the rear main seal of the engine. To check this, simply take the bell housing off and check the back of the engine.

If you don't want to do that clean the entire area where oil is present and run a dye test. Put dye in the engine oil and use a blacklight to detect any dye in the oil. If no dye is present then you're sure the leak is not coming from the engine AND that it IS coming from the transmission. This will also allow you to localize the specific location of the leak on the transmission.

If you've got oil where the passenger side driveshaft meets the transmission housing then I'd say it could certainly be a transmission leak.

Why not be sure before you have to spend a lot of MONEY.

 

Luckily this car isn't my daily driver, so I can just do it at my leisure. So, its safe to just top off the fluid and drive it occassionally right?

I'm gonna fix it once I get a clutch and some extra money to fix whatever's messed up.

Can someone tell me how to discern between the different gearbox's as I may want to do what secondtonone is saying.

 

I'm pretty sure the leak comes from one of you main seals sealing the crankshaft. I forgot if it's called front or rear main seal. I've had several maximas with that same problem at high mileage so far. check that out.

-Peter-

 

i'd say, steam clean the engine bay and under carriage, top off all fluids. drive the car and check daily for any signs of oil leaking out, note the places that are leaking, do some more reaserch on thos areas if they are in fact problematicin these cars and for ideas from others that have gone though this on options on how to fix the problem.

 

wow I am STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There's a giant hole in the steering rack boot right over the driver side control arm DUHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

Hopefully that's all my problem was !!!

There's a dime sized hole on the botom of the boot right where the red X is.



EDIT: Looks like I have two problems here.

The driver side axle is leaking a decent amount and the passenger is just seaping out a little bit. The output shaft orwhatever its called looks fine.

What are the chances of both of these axle seals going bad around the same time?