trans leaking

[blk320i 0]

was checking round the car the other day and noticed the auto tranny fluid was low so this arvo i topped it up. this evening i went for a drive on the motorway to give her a good run and noticed it was smoking. i quickly took an off ramp and pulled over to see what was going on. i had a look under the car and there were spots of tranny fluid on the ground, so i made my way home. when i got home i looked under the car again with a torch and found more spots of fluid on the driveway and a sh*tload of fluid over the exhaust and underside of the car which was smoking as it was burning off on the hot exhaust. is there any common reason for the tranny to be leaking? does this sound like it would be a major repair job? where to start? if the tranny fluid was overfilled would it leak like this? help......

[will 169]

The tranny will leak if overfilled but you would have had to put a lot of extra fluid in it to do so. (normally)

There is a vent at the tail of the box just above the rear yoke.

You need to try to determine where the fluid is coming from.. ie the front of the box out of the torque converter area or the rear out of the breather on top of the box or from the rear seal where the yoke goes in or even around where the dipstick pipe bolts the sump pan of the box. Check the oil cooler pipes that go to the radiator are not fractured in any way or loose at the gearbox or radiator.

If it is coming from the breather then drain all the fluid from the box and start again and get the correct amount in the box.

If it is coming from somewhere else, it could be a big job depending from where.

So get under the car and look carefully. Maybe you will have to clean off the oil as best you can and take it for a short run so there is not such a mess to see where it is coming from. Maybe take it and get it steam cleaned and put it on a hoist after a short run..??

And if this fails, call 0800 Gus... (check his sticky under for sale..)