Annoying oil leak on 89 GQ TB42 with Auto transmission...

[ckh]

I had noticed a small oil leak brought to my attention from a mate who had a drop of oil on his driveway, looking under neath, there was a little drop on the bell housing bolt, I thought it may have been seeping past the rear seal as I slightly overfilled it on the last oil change, the level on the dip stick isnt dropping so its not a bad leak.. I degreased everything, and looked over the next few days no droplet.. when I felt the area had the slightest amount of oil only enough to notice on my finger..
I decided to drop about a half LTR of oil out, so now its a faction below the full mark on the dip stick. The other day climbed under it and noticed the oil leak appeared to be coming down the front of the bell housing, from the back of the sump. tightened all the nuts up a could but there were 2 or 4 I could'nt get a spanner onto as there is a large iron bracket of some description covering 2/3's of the nuts concerned.

Its an 89 GQ TB42 with auto transmission..am I being too concerned about a drop of oil that takes a number of days to develop?

[Lieney]

I don't like oil leaks and would see what I could do to combat this issue.
See how the bracket is mounted that covers those botls, and if it can be removed easily, then tighten the rest of the bolts. Piece of mind
Or, if you know it's trans fluid, keep a bottle in your car as a back-up if you don't want to do the bolts up.
I'd also be considering changing the seal that is leaking at some stage and just weigh up the size of the leak, the cost of repair etc and go from there.
If the sump is leaking, plan a removal day and reseal with new gasket, fluid and filter etc.

[ckh]

I don't like oil leaks and would see what I could do to combat this issue.
See how the bracket is mounted that covers those botls, and if it can be removed easily, then tighten the rest of the bolts. Piece of mind
Or, if you know it's trans fluid, keep a bottle in your car as a back-up if you don't want to do the bolts up.
I'd also be considering changing the seal that is leaking at some stage and just weigh up the size of the leak, the cost of repair etc and go from there.
If the sump is leaking, plan a removal day and reseal with new gasket, fluid and filter etc.

Reading and googling found a few people saying it could be the tappet cover leaking down the back of the motor, so checked it last night and there was a little and I mean little amount of oil on the back of the motor, got several turns on the screws on the rear 2 screws and a few to several turns on all the others, have given the back of the motor a degrease today and hopefully thats what the peobem was, will give an update soon..

Marc

[NissanGQ4.2]

Hi Marc

Unfortunately its just a matter of elimination, start at the easiest cheapest part to replace and work your way through it.

On my GQ I had rear seal leak, but also knew it was leaking from somewhere else, just could not pin point anything obvious.

Turned out I had a hair line fracture in the bell housing would only let the slightest drop out when sitting there cold but once warmed up would expand enough to allow oil to pass through faster.

I only found out about the hairline fracture when my gearbox died and I had 2 strip it down for a rebuild. It was more obvious on the inside as the previous owner had smeared silicone over it before selling it.....was wondering why there was silicone on the inside and soon worked out why :( nothing major as gearbox was already out, just not budgeted for in the original rebuild costs :(

Cheers

Todd

[ckh]

Reading and googling found a few people saying it could be the tappet cover leaking down the back of the motor, so checked it last night and there was a little and I mean little amount of oil on the back of the motor, got several turns on the screws on the rear 2 screws and a few to several turns on all the others, have given the back of the motor a degrease today and hopefully thats what the peobem was, will give an update soon..

Marc


Oil drop on bell housing bolt again this morning, checked the back of the motor, and doesnt seem to be coming from the tappet cover . when climbing under it, I can see wetness from theedge of the sump down the front of the bellhousig cover, so hopfully its just the sump gasket thats shot, there are three bolts I cant get a socket or a spanner onto that are attached to the auto transmission, so I leaning towards the sump gasket, as there is no oil on or around the bellhousing drain.. any ideas?

Marc

[ckh]

How accurate is this statement, as it describes my problem to a t

"generally if its the rear main it will leak out of the little hole at the bottom of the bellhousing.
sump will run down the front of the sandwich plate between block and gearbox. and rocker cover well yeah just runs everywhere."

1 "generally if its the rear main it will leak out of the little hole at the bottom of the bellhousing." Nothing coming out of little hole..

2 "sump will run down the front of the sandwich plate between block and gearbox."
I can see wetness on the "sandwich plate between block and Auto transmission then it ends up on the bell housing bolt on the left side "passenger side"

A sump gasket I can do my self, but a rear seal is going to kill me, its been like this since the day after I got it, and I pout it down for ages to that I had overfilled my oil and was about 1-2mm over the full mark on the dip stick..

????