legacycentral bbs

Finally got my wife's car up and running again after the accident.
It doesn't leak a drop if being driven around town all day, once parked overnight there will be a large puddle in the morning.
It appears to be coming from between the bell housing and engine, I replaced the rear main seal and trans pan last year thinking that was the problem. She was in a small accident right after the repair & we parked the car for a while and didn't notice any leaks.

My back still remembers how god awful heavy the transmission was! Not wanting to do this again, what are common issues that should be addressed once I have the transmission out?
I'm thinking there is a bad seal in the TQ converter so I'll be exploring that route.

I would agree with you that it's likely the seal between torque converter shaft and trans housing. Have you confirmed the fluid is ATF vs. gear oil or engine oil?

How big of a puddle is there and have you checked to see if there is ATF in the transfer case gear oil?

It's definitely ATF. I run a shop where we work on DSMs and EVOs so I'm familiar. I hate gear oil with everything inside of me, very noticeable difference in smell and consistency.
I have not checked the transfer case oil yet, I'm sure it could use some freshening up anyways. I'll drain it this weekend and refill. If I do find a gear oil ATF blend...What has happened?

Its crying out for a manual swap!

^ True that bro ^

I would love to manual swap it. I have a friend with a donor chassis but he's currently in Alaska. Once he's back I'll start gathering parts and get to work.

Its somewhat common to have the seals between the tranny and diff leak...the atf leaks into the diff. Overfills then pours out

mike-tracy wrote:Its crying out for a manual swap!

Well my wife landed a new job that includes free public transit, so we're going to park the wagon and give her the transmission it deserves.

I found the parts list required for the MT swap. However I haven't yet found the trans list that will work, is the a list of cars I can pull the trans from? We have loads of Subarus in our wrecking yards I can be picky.

I don't know if there is a definitive list of transmissions that will work because it's subjective. Do you want to keep the 3.9 final drive ratio? Do you want a push style clutch or prefer a pull style clutch? So depending on how you answer some other questions will help narrow down what you can use. Ultimately you need to decide what the final drive ratio will be and that will help you narrow down your path.