HORRID transmission leak

[maria24017]

Two weeks ago my father was driving my 1990 automatic AWD Subaru Legacy. He pulled up in the drive way and smoke started rolling out from under the hood. I ran to the the fire extinguisher because he thought something had caught fire.. But he quickly realized that a trail of tranny fluid was behind the car, about 6" wide and half a mile long.

It was sprayed all over the bottom of the car and passenger side of the transmission. The leak was so bad that there is barely anything up on the dipstick. We cut the car on twice, for just a second and without even doing anything else it sprays like a geyser. My father said it appeared to be concentrated around the bell housing, and there is also fluid around the top of the transmission where a opening is, which my brother suggested is for viewing the torque converter. You can see that circled here


Just about 3 weeks prior to my cars issue my fathers truck started leaking transmission fluid pretty bad. It was a fast drip, and sometimes a stream. He thought it was a gasket or hose, he tightened the hoses and then pulled the transmission and tried various gaskets. After pulling and reinstalling it 3 times he checked the converter and found a crack in it.. He was able to buy a reconditioned one and fix the problem.

I was just thinking, as fast and sudden as this leak occurred with my car what is the likelihood of it being the converter rather than something like a hose?
Has anyone experienced a similar issue?

[maria24017]

Are there directions or anything in existence that would help us figure out how to remove the transmission? My father removed the transmission in his truck but there was extensive information online for that specific vehicle which helped him a lot. I am about to go pick up a haynes manual but I haven't been able to find anything aside from that.

We put the car up on ramps and started it. Nothing was coming out until we changed gears. My father still says it is around the torque converter, the exact cause is yet to be determined.

[Legacy777]

Welcome to the BBS.

Sorry to hear about the issues. Based on what you described, I would also lean towards a cracked torque converter or a leaky seal.

As for instructions, I've got scans from the 1992 Legacy engine & electrical manual. These may not be directly applicable to the transmission, but may be useful.

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... lectrical)

Also, I do have the oveseas Liberty manual, which does have scans from the transmission section. Some of the info may not be exactly the same, but should be close and give you an idea of things. The transmission section is section 3.

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... SM_-_FULL/

[maria24017]

Thanks for the info.
After reading some older posts on here we decided it'll be best to pull the engine rather than the transmission. We've got a hoist now and it'll be so much easier from the top than the bottom. With my dads big belly it isn't too safe to do extensive work under a jacked up car.

Is there anything else we should replace while we have it pulled? Dad said the timing belt and transmission filter are good ideas.

[Legacy777]

Yeah, doing the timing belt would be a good idea. There is a screen inside the transmission, and that just needs to be cleaned. There may be an external filter. If you have one, you can replace it however Subaru says it's a "lifetime" filter that doesn't need to be replaced since it was primarily there to catch stuff from initial manufacturing.

If you do buy a new filter, buy the kit because it's MUCH MUCH cheaper than trying to buy just the filter.

[jp233]

Yikes. There is tons of info around on pulling a Subaru 2.2 motor. It's pretty straightforward and you can even leave the entire intake manifold and alternator on the engine to lift it out. Just unbolt the power steering pump and AC compressor, and hang them to the side out of the way. Easiest to pull the whole radiator out, leaving the fans bolted to it, just unplug them from the car.

That little access hole from your picture is where you unbolt the flex plate from the torque converter. Using long offset box wrenches is a great trick for this. The bolts there have very shallow hex heads on them, and can round off easily. I've used 1/4" long extensions and a flex-knuckle joint adapter and been able to loosen/tighten them from the front of the engine, snaking in the extensions under the intake manifold. Works, but I also broke a flex-joint too.

You absolutely will want to replace the plastic oil separator plate, which is on the back side of the engine on the passenger side. The old plastic ones leak. Subaru makes a steel one now, and it comes with new bolts (the original ones were freakin phillips head cuontersunk screws).

The passenger head also has a cam cover on the rear, replace that o-ring and use some silicone on the cover.

Valve cover gaskets and grommets.

Cam seals and front crank seal.

There is another o-ring behind the drivers cam wheel in that retainer... can be a leaker.

Oil pan silicone.... easy to do while the engine is out. Much easier than doing it in the car.

Timing belt, pulleys, and water pump.

Other than that just see where you may have other issues, and then once you assess it all - clean the hell out of everything and put it all back together.

Good luck with the trans, I'm interested to hear what exploded in there to create such a big leak.

[Legacy777]

You absolutely will want to replace the plastic oil separator plate, which is on the back side of the engine on the passenger side. The old plastic ones leak. Subaru makes a steel one now, and it comes with new bolts (the original ones were freakin phillips head cuontersunk screws).

I know the 90 MY did not get the plastic plate, and pretty sure the 90-91 MY's both got an aluminum plate.

You can kind of see it in these pics

http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... P_8004.JPG
http://www.main.experiencetherave.com/s ... P_4943.JPG

[maria24017]

I wish we'd seen jp's post sooner. I didn't see it until we had the engine back in. We did take the manifold off, it would have been nice not to have But all in all it was a lot easier than expected. My father keeps saying that it won't be a problem pulling it again if we need to for something.

We are almost done putting everything back together. We are nearly positive the problem was the seal. It came right out along with the torque converter. Our guess is that it had simply shrunken some due to its age and the time that the car has spent sitting (I think close to a year before it was given to us then 10 months later the radiator cracked and it sat for another 3 months)

The rear main seal was leaking oil so we replaced that. And there were two small plates behind the flywheel that were leaking, I think we were quoted $40 for those seals so dad just opted to use sealant. Isn't ideal, but he said if he has to he'll pull it again and replace them. We replaced the torque converter seal oil pan gasket and oil filter. For the life of us we cannot get the timing belt off. We tried while the engine was out but it wasn't working. We sprayed the nut with PB blaster and used the impact wrench with no success

[Legacy777]

For the life of us we cannot get the timing belt off. We tried while the engine was out but it wasn't working. We sprayed the nut with PB blaster and used the impact wrench with no success

Are you talking about the main crank pulley bolt? You couldn't get that off?

It actually may be easier with it in the car so the engine isn't moving around. You can stick a pry bar or something in the flex plate opening to keep the motor from turning and then use a breaker bar with cheater pipe to help break the bolt loose. Some people have used a method where they rest the break bar against the frame rail and bump the starter a second or two to loosen the pulley.