Help, My transmission repair is leaking badly.

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Well, here’s my problem. It’s a 2001 Saturn L 100 with 165,000 miles on it. I felt it had a small transmission leak. Now with these GM transmissions there are no drain plugs or dipstick. I bought a WIX - Transmission Filter Kit Part # 58611. I read that I might need a better gasket so I bought a Fel-Pro TOS18715 Trans Pan Gasket. I took the transmission pan off and clean everything really good. Put the Fel-Pro Gasket on and hand tighten the screws. I did not use any grease to hold the gasket in place but it has two plugs to line it up. I went by the Wix instructions to torque it. It said to torque it to 120 inch pounds. Now my cheap craftsman torque does not have inch pounds. It has foot pounds. I did the conversion and it’s only 10 foot pounds. I dial my wretch to that and tighten the gasket. I did not want to over tighten it. The transmission pan reminds me of a cookie sheet. A cookie sheet may be stronger. Anyway, it looked loose after I tighten it to 10 foot pounds but what the hey, I poured in the transmission fluid. (Valvoline Maxlife ATF). It leaked everywhere. Thank God it did it there rather than the road. How should I fix it?

Torque it down to 30 foot pounds and just pour in my fluid.
Take it off and put the Wix gasket on it and redo the job.

Thanks for your help
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I would try to snug it down some more. Try 20 ft lbs first. And cris cross the tightening of the bolts to evenly snug it down. If it still leaks increase it to 23 ft lbs and try it again.

Regards, JC.
 
Regardless of torque specs, you have to use common sense. The gasket is a soft material that seals the pan to the block, so you want to snug the bolts so you don't squish the gasket, which will cause it to leak. Rather, what you want to do is snug it (tighten opposing bolts to even out the pressure), and drive it for a few days to let the heat help seat the gasket, and then very gently reapply some pressure to the bolts to snug it again. It's better on a new gasket to go a bit loose than over tighten and crush it.

Right now, I'd do a hand check of the bolts to see how tight you actually made them...if you can fairly easily loosen them...so you just cinched them up, I'd warm the trans up and let the gasket seat and then gently snug the bolts. if you've crushed the poor thing, get a new one and follow the above rec.
 
Remove the pan get a new gasket and make sure the sealing surface of the oil pan is not warped from being improperly torqued. Proper tools usually help greatly with proper job.
 
Is the gasket rubber or cork or something else?

I hope you didn't get the gasket pinched (or folded on top of itself) on one section of he pan where it wouldn't be flat. Can you have someone turn on the car while it's up on jackstands and you look underneath to see where it's leaking out?

Regards, JC.
 
Do not torque it to 30.

You'll need to re-do it. The torque measurements are for dry threads, if you try to use them in real life you'll over tighten by a long shot. Also, your torque wrench is not accurate at that torque, you would need a smaller torque wrench to be accurate at 120 in. lb.

Take it apart. You may need to pound the flange out flat again with a hammer on a flat metal surface.

Use a good quality silicone, I recommend Permatex Ultra Grey. Either put it on direct without a gasket or smear it all over both sides of your gasket, the choice is yours.

Tighten the bolts by using your hands directly on your socket extension. Let it cure for 1 hour.

Snug the nuts using a 1/4" ratchet with your hand only half way up the handle, do not use the end of the ratchet handle. If you don't have a 1/4" ratchet, use a 3/8" ratchet with extreme care. Do not use a 1/2" ratchet.

Let the silicone cure all night, more if possible before refilling with oil. Start engine and check for seepage, you may need to snug up a few bolts if necessary, always being careful to not over-tighten.

Good luck.
 
see if you can get the kind of gasket that is metal sandwiched by rubber.. the all rubber ones are much harder to get right.
 
Be sure also that you didn't miss any gasket holes when putting the bolts in. It's easy for the gasket to slide off center and your bolt misses the gasket hole and then you have a large hole which will leak.
 
The gasket is suppose to be the best. This gasket has a steel core and compression limiters to prevent it from distorting or being squeezed out. I guess I got the torque wrong.
 
It leaked all over the pan. It was way too loose. This gasket has a steel core and compression limiters to prevent it from distorting or being squeezed out. I guess I should have tighten more than I did. I do like the suggestion to use a good quality silicone from Cardenio327 I may pick up the Permatex Ultra Grey silicone and use his suggestion.
 
I'll be honest being in a shop as a tech I do not use a torque wrench on transmission pans. I use a 1/4in ratchet or better yet my nut driver with a nut driver you tighten them until they are snug. You have to have the feel for it obviously.
 
Originally Posted By: ram_man
I'll be honest being in a shop as a tech I do not use a torque wrench on transmission pans. I use a 1/4in ratchet or better yet my nut driver with a nut driver you tighten them until they are snug. You have to have the feel for it obviously.
You have the touch otherwise you couldn't make a living turning wrenches.
 
Originally Posted By: ram_man
I'll be honest being in a shop as a tech I do not use a torque wrench on transmission pans. I use a 1/4in ratchet or better yet my nut driver with a nut driver you tighten them until they are snug. You have to have the feel for it obviously.


Yup. I don't use one on VCG's either. 1/4" and snug until they "feel" right.

That said, for somebody who doesn't have the experience to tighten by feel, having the right tools (and even for those that do, you still need them for certain tasks) is imperative.
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: ram_man
I'll be honest being in a shop as a tech I do not use a torque wrench on transmission pans. I use a 1/4in ratchet or better yet my nut driver with a nut driver you tighten them until they are snug. You have to have the feel for it obviously.


Yup. I don't use one on VCG's either. 1/4" and snug until they "feel" right.

That said, for somebody who doesn't have the experience to tighten by feel, having the right tools (and even for those that do, you still need them for certain tasks) is imperative.


Yup same here , 1/4" and just snug evenly a few times till they feel right.

A 1/2" torque wrench at 10 lb would be way out of wack , they are not accurate for small amounts of torque .
 
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Go by feel. Don't over do it, don't over think it.

If you push the gasket out, you have gone too far. You should not see any areas where it is sticking out past the flange or wavy. That is way too tight, and too tight on pan gaskets will cause leaks. The bolts should feel snug, but not so tight the gasket is being squeezed. Be sure to do the criss cross pattern, that is the key far more than tightening to exactly 120 in lbs.

The Felpro gaskets are good, but once it's been squeezed like that, I would get a new one and redo it. I don't think tightening will fix your problem unless the bolts are somehow so loose you can remove them without a ratchet. I suspect you actually overtightened it.

When you take it off again, make sure both gasket surfaces are perfectly clean and the pan is perfectly straight at the flanges.
 
What was wrong with the OE gasket? They are molded rubber and re-usable. At any rate, the Fel-Pro replacement should be fine, no RTV needed.

Hate to say it, but take it back apart, inspect and repair/replace as needed and reassemble. Those are pretty hard to mess up- I've done many and NEVER had one leak. Also agree with the others who suggest snugging by hand. DO NOT attempt to set them to 30lbs! They are 8mm X 1.25 bolts going into an aluminum case, doing that is a recipe for disaster. Use a 1/4" ratchet and choke up on the handle- you'll do fine. Also remember- clean and dry!
 
Originally Posted By: OVERKILL
Originally Posted By: ram_man
I'll be honest being in a shop as a tech I do not use a torque wrench on transmission pans. I use a 1/4in ratchet or better yet my nut driver with a nut driver you tighten them until they are snug. You have to have the feel for it obviously.


Yup. I don't use one on VCG's either. 1/4" and snug until they "feel" right.

That said, for somebody who doesn't have the experience to tighten by feel, having the right tools (and even for those that do, you still need them for certain tasks) is imperative.


Absolutely and cheap tools are the wrong tool will make the best tech look like a fool. Since your a diy though I'd try to snug them up and see if you can salvage the job. If not then redo it with the proper torque wrench. You don't have to buy the best of the best just something decent from the parts store would be ok.
and I'd say to the above comment about having the touch I believe that's probably true in a sense but even us "professionals" screw up. I try very hard to be precise but already in my career I've misdiagnosed a couple things nothing major but when you get it wrong you are humbled by it and reminded how much you do not know.
 
Originally Posted By: ram_man

Absolutely and cheap tools are the wrong tool will make the best tech look like a fool.


Is that a snapon truck guy quote :p
 
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