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Cracked Transmission Pan / Need Help.


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vanevery
New User

Nov 17, 2013, 11:45 AM

Post #1 of 7 (2984 views)
Cracked Transmission Pan / Need Help. Sign In

2008
Pontiac G5
2.2L
85,000 miles

Problem:
Cracked Transmission Pan a week ago.
All Transmission Fluid Leaked out.
Replaced Transmission Pan.
Have two leaks.
One leak should be easy fix.
Second leak unsure about.
Note: I did drive the car after all the transmission fluid Leaked out for a few miles. Yes I realize that may have caused further damage, but it is what it is and am trying to remedy the situation.

Post:
I did not have the time until this weekend to work on the car. I attempted to put the car in reverse in order to back up about 8'-10'. My car is parked on a hill and close to the curb. I was intending to use my wheel ramps in order to access the front area underneath the car. The car would not get into gear in order to reverse, so I used my Jack Stands. Accessing the area needed to work on the car was a problem due to the curb.
It made everything more difficult. The steep grassy hill caused me problems as well.



I dropped the Transmission Pan, inspected it and the filter for any metal shavings or metal chunks, and inspected the gasket as well. There were no metal shavings nor chunks of metal of any kind. The pan was actually very clean to my surprise, as well as the filter. There was one thing in the pan I do have a ? about. There was a square piece of rubber just laying in the pan about 2 inches squared in size.The gasket looked perfect. It has a metal spine and is much sturdier than the new gasket I purchased.


New Filter Right, Old Filter Left:



Before I installed everything, I inspected the components inside the Transmission Pan area. This was to look for anything that might stand out as being damaged.



I then re-installed the new Transmission Pan and new Filter, but decided to re-use the original gasket. It was in great shape, so I went with it.
Note: the new Transmission Pan has a drain plug. The original pan does not.



Once everything was installed, I filled the transmission one quart at a time with 6.9 Quarts of Dexron VI. Between each quart, I inspected the Transmission Pan and area around it for any leaks. There were no leaks during the filling of transmission fluid.
With the car still on Jack Stands, I then started the car and let the engine run for several minutes while in Park. Then, I shifted the gears one at a time and let each gear remain stationary for a couple of minutes in each gear.

While leaving the engine on, I inspected the under carriage for any leaks.
There are two leaking points. They only leak when the engine is running and do not leak when the engine is turned off.
One of the leaks makes sense, the other I am just not sure about.


The first leaking point comes where where one of the bolts snapped in two pieces as I was torquing the wrench. This would make sense and presume a simple change of this bolt fixes this leak. Yes I did read all of the info out there about torque ratios while installing Transmission Pan Bolts. I was in fact careful to not over-torque the bolts. It is surprising that this particular bolt snapped. There were no issues with the other bolts.

The second leak is streaming out of the inside of the bolt shown in the picture above and in the pictures below. I am unsure as to why this is. I hope someone on here can have some useful information as to what is going on with this bolt. I did test it by trying to tighten it, but is very tight and did not move.




This morning, I went out to look at everything again.
It was my intention today to let the engine run, cycle through all the gears again, and re-inspect the leaks to see if I could learn anything new. It was also my intention to see if the car would have a functional reverse gear and to see if any of the forward driving gears were functional.

With the car still on Jack Stands, I let the engine run for bout ten minutes, then cycled through each gear allowing them to remain stationary for about a minute before switching gears. This time, I watched the front wheels to make sure they were turning, and they were.
I turned the engine off, dropped the car down from the Jack Stands, and attempted to drive in reverse. The car drove in reverse with no problems.
I also drove out into the parking lot in order to test the forward driving gears.
The car did drive forward with no real problems at first, but after a minute or so, everything did not sound good so I parked the car and am calling it a day.

It will be next weekend before I can get back to working on my car.
All thoughts and useful advice are welcome.


(This post was edited by vanevery on Nov 17, 2013, 12:42 PM)


nickwarner
Veteran / Moderator
nickwarner profile image

Nov 17, 2013, 10:12 PM

Post #2 of 7 (2965 views)
Re: Cracked Transmission Pan / Need Help. Sign In

The piece that was laying in the old pan is a magnet, it is there to catch any small shavings of steel to keep them from going into the transmission internals. It should go back into the new one to continue to protect it, just clean it off real good to get the junk off of it.

Definitely need to remedy the broken off bolt issue. Don't worry, its happened to all of us at some point in time. But the second leak isn't from that bolt, its just where it is collecting as it runs out. Looks like your front pump seal is bad and thats why it is leaking when the engine is running, as the pump is actually making fluid flow at that time. The seal itself is cheap, but the bad news is you have to drop the tranny to get at it. If you decide to try to tackle this job yourself let us know, we can give you some tips on how to get this thing out and back in properly.


MarineGrunt
Enthusiast
MarineGrunt profile image

Nov 19, 2013, 5:24 PM

Post #3 of 7 (2951 views)
Re: Cracked Transmission Pan / Need Help. Sign In

You said it didn't sound so good. If you can elaborate on the sound someone might be able to help figure out what the problem is.

How long was it driven without fluid or did you just attempt to put it into gear?


Discretesignals
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
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Nov 19, 2013, 5:47 PM

Post #4 of 7 (2950 views)
Re: Cracked Transmission Pan / Need Help. Sign In

I don't think it is pouring out of the bolt, but coming out behind the bolt between the transmission bell housing and the oil pan. Don't understand why a pump seal would go on that after you smack a curb. Hopefully the case isn't cracked.

Maybe you should put the old oil pan back on and let your insurance company take care of it. This looks like it may be really expensive.





Since we volunteer our time and knowledge, we ask for you to please follow up when a problem is resolved.


vanevery
New User

Nov 20, 2013, 4:43 PM

Post #5 of 7 (2938 views)
Re: Cracked Transmission Pan / Need Help. Sign In

 

Thank you everyone for your advice.

@nickwarner
Magnet: Thank You.
Pump Seal. That sounds more than I want to take on my own without the proper tools to drop the Transmission.


@MarineGrunt
The sound seems to me to result from a low pressure in the system.
When the engine first turns on and myself then switching through the gears, everything sounds normal.
The longer the engine runs, then it sounds like the transmission begins to struggle and then slip a bit.
The car did reverse just fine. It also drove forward for a few seconds with no issue until it then sounded as if to struggle to switch gears.


@DiscreteSignals
This may well end up an insurance claim.
Will see what I can do this weekend.
If it does not look like I can fix it, then the insurance claim will begin.

I spoke with my insurance agency and they said they would cover it, no problem.
Deductible is $500.00 and they said any expense on their end more than $1800 will add points to my insurance and raise my rates.
My goal is to try and fix it should it be able to be fixed without dropping the Transmission.

I will inspect everything more closely this weekend.
I gotta locate the source of that second leak.
At the moment, I just can't find it.
Will keep you posted.


(This post was edited by vanevery on Nov 20, 2013, 4:44 PM)


vanevery
New User

Nov 23, 2013, 7:33 PM

Post #6 of 7 (2925 views)
Re: Cracked Transmission Pan / Need Help. Sign In

Got a good look underneath the car today.
There seem to be leaks at at least 4 or 5 bolts in the transmission case.
The longer the engine runs, the more noticeable the leaks become.

I am somewhat concerned there may be more damage underneath the car than just the transmission. There seem to be some oily puddles towards the rear of the car on the ground. More so than typical drop spots. I do not see any leaks dripping down from the car where those spots are, but the puddles are there.

I think it is time to take the car to a shop and let them do what they can do.
This is covered by my insurance, so that is good.


(This post was edited by vanevery on Nov 23, 2013, 7:36 PM)


Discretesignals
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Discretesignals profile image

Nov 24, 2013, 7:53 AM

Post #7 of 7 (2913 views)
Re: Cracked Transmission Pan / Need Help. Sign In

If you go the shop and insurance route, be sure to put the old filter and old pan back on. Have the vehicle towed to the shop. The insurance company may send an adjuster out to take pictures of the damage. If they seen you were messing around with it, that may give them the option of denying your claim.





Since we volunteer our time and knowledge, we ask for you to please follow up when a problem is resolved.

(This post was edited by Discretesignals on Nov 24, 2013, 7:55 AM)






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