Atf Fluid Leak

[Clutch-n-Throttle]

Oh Snap!

I worked on my CS today. I changed the oil and the water pump. The water pump was not as hard as I thought.

When I got under the car, I noticed a small reddish oil leak coming from under the car. I removed the underbody panels and found the source of the leak. It is coming from a hole in the bell housing.

I replaced the coolant tubes last month. I've read that the torque converter pump seal goes out after the tube failure. I guess I need to replace the torque converter pump seal.

My question is....

Is it a DYI job? I have the tools and the mad mech skills to do it.

If its not a DYI, how much am I looking at an indy or the dealership?

HELP ME OBI-WAN LOREN! YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE!

Jose

[Loren]

I would start by cleaning it off and verifying that re-occurs. What if someone spilled some on the engine when topping up and it is just draining down?

Either way I would try to verify for sure you have a leak and where it is coming from.

[Clutch-n-Throttle]

Thanks Loren.

I did clean it off several times and I let it set for a few hours. Every time I go back and check, it is leaking out of the same hole. I probed the hole(tee hee) with a piece of wire and the ATF comes running out via the capillary effect.

One thing that I noticed is that the hole has a thread on it. I was wondering if a bolt needs to go there. But the hole in front the leaking one is not threaded.

I got an estimate from my indy. Worst case scenario... $1300 ouch!

Edited May 29, 2010 by Clutch-n-Throttle

[rajgalot]

Hi, i have a 06 CT and have red liquid coming from the bell house. The coolant kit upgrade was done 2 weeks ago; i also had the coolant cap replaced. Any suggestions; thanks.

[rajgalot]

Hi - i seem to have the exact problem on my 06 Cayenne Turbo; what is the problem as i am baffled and we do not have a Porsche dealership in Kenya. The red fluid comes from the bell housing and even as i wipe it off it reappears and drips down. I had the Coolant Aluminum Kit done even though mine was not leaking and also had the coolant cap cover replaced. Any suggestions?

Oh Snap!

I worked on my CS today. I changed the oil and the water pump. The water pump was not as hard as I thought.

When I got under the car, I noticed a small reddish oil leak coming from under the car. I removed the underbody panels and found the source of the leak. It is coming from a hole in the bell housing.

I replaced the coolant tubes last month. I've read that the torque converter pump seal goes out after the tube failure. I guess I need to replace the torque converter pump seal.

My question is....

Is it a DYI job? I have the tools and the mad mech skills to do it.

If its not a DYI, how much am I looking at an indy or the dealership?

HELP ME OBI-WAN LOREN! YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE!

Jose

[Clutch-n-Throttle]

Hi - i seem to have the exact problem on my 06 Cayenne Turbo; what is the problem as i am baffled and we do not have a Porsche dealership in Kenya. The red fluid comes from the bell housing and even as i wipe it off it reappears and drips down. I had the Coolant Aluminum Kit done even though mine was not leaking and also had the coolant cap cover replaced. Any suggestions?

Yep. It's your torque converter seal. When you remove and replace the coolant pipes, coolant will inevitably get into the bell housing. Curious design that any fluids in the valley between the heads and under the intake manifold will drain straight into the bell housing and drain out the two holes as shown in the pictures. After the torque converter was contaminated with the coolant fluid, it failed. This only happens with a worn/older seals. I had a small coolant leak and it drain into the bell housing. Since I had my seal replaced with a new one, I did not have any problems(knock on wood).

The job can be done by any independent mechanic. They will need a lift. The drive shaft, center diff, front drive shaft and the transmission itself have to come off. Since the tranny has to come off, the transmission oil lines are disconnected. You might as well change the transmission oil and filter. My mechanic did the replacement for $1300 US.

[rajgalot]

Hi - i seem to have the exact problem on my 06 Cayenne Turbo; what is the problem as i am baffled and we do not have a Porsche dealership in Kenya. The red fluid comes from the bell housing and even as i wipe it off it reappears and drips down. I had the Coolant Aluminum Kit done even though mine was not leaking and also had the coolant cap cover replaced. Any suggestions?

Yep. It's your torque converter seal. When you remove and replace the coolant pipes, coolant will inevitably get into the bell housing. Curious design that any fluids in the valley between the heads and under the intake manifold will drain straight into the bell housing and drain out the two holes as shown in the pictures. After the torque converter was contaminated with the coolant fluid, it failed. This only happens with a worn/older seals. I had a small coolant leak and it drain into the bell housing. Since I had my seal replaced with a new one, I did not have any problems(knock on wood).

The job can be done by any independent mechanic. They will need a lift. The drive shaft, center diff, front drive shaft and the transmission itself have to come off. Since the tranny has to come off, the transmission oil lines are disconnected. You might as well change the transmission oil and filter. My mechanic did the replacement for $1300 US.

Thanks for your quick advise; I suspected the same problem as well. I have ordered the radial shaft seal for the torque convertor and the oil sump gasket, filter & ATF oil for the transmission. Hopefully this will solve my problem within the next one week. Do you know of any other common CT problems that I ought to keep an eye on?

[mudman2]

When you did the coolant pipes did you also do the T pipes behind them ?

[rajgalot]

When you did the coolant pipes did you also do the T pipes behind them ?

No, did not change the T pipes as I found out about this a litter later. However, completed the ATF leak problem from the bell housing. This was a big job as just about everything came off but when we opened the torque convertor we saw the ATF leaking and replaced the seal with the new updated seal. All well now.

[pakimunda101]

Hey man I saw you had your seal replaced.. Mine just went out after the coolant pipes did. My question is did you take it to the dealer or individual mechanic? is there a special tool they need? my mechanic said he can do it but he doent think he needs any special tools

[Faceman]

Come On!! Are you serious? Im searching on here trying to figure out why I have trans fluid leaking because I just changed my coolant pipes preemptively and I found this. Never had a tranny fluid problem before so I wasn't prepared for this. Im about ready to call it quits with this truck... When I fix this leak I think my next stop is Carmax.

[deilenberger]

Come On!! Are you serious? Im searching on here trying to figure out why I have trans fluid leaking because I just changed my coolant pipes preemptively and I found this. Never had a tranny fluid problem before so I wasn't prepared for this. Im about ready to call it quits with this truck... When I fix this leak I think my next stop is Carmax.

If the coolant that was in the pipes was allowed to puddle in the V of the engine until it got to the level where it overflowed the dam on the back of the V - changing the pipes could have caused the leak. The coolant is very odd stuff - when it dries it hardens to the consistancy of a rock.. and I imagine that's what caused the seals to go out. Some gets on the shaft, dries and eventually destroys the seal.

BTW - who are you asking if they're serious?

[Faceman]

Who am I asking? I guess the Germans that made my car :) I mean seriously, whats next? Ive put up with my a/c vents working 70% of the time, plastic coolant pieces breaking -including the tank, brittle vacuum hoses, faulty brake pedal sensor, parking sensors, stupid headlight wiring assemlby, oil coupler at driver side turbo, drive shaft, lower control arm bushings, tie rod bushings, bose sub speaker blow-out, water in the passenger footwell and cd changer quirks. Not to mention regular servicing of tires, brakes with expensive sensors, etc.. But I guess thats what you get at 120K miles.

Yeah, I had a bunch of fluid come out when I replaced the pipes, mostly when I was shop vac'ing out all the plastic debris from the big lower pipes holes.