3rd & 4th Generation (1992–1996 & 1997–2001)Toyota Camry Discussion for years: 1992-1996 & 1997-2001
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My 94 1mzfe has developed a slow steady drip from the tranny after parking. It seems to be coming from a cover plate on the tranny close to the exhaust Y-Pipe.
The pix below shows the drip from the tranny looking from under the front of the engine towards the back.
This one shows an enlarged view.
The leak is coming from behind that thin cover plate that is seen on the left of the 2nd pix.
Anyone know where this leak is originating from?
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92 Corolla 4AFE, 94 Camry LE V6
Last edited by LynchburgCSI; 10-21-2010 at 11:49 PM.
Reason: click free pics!
Bad transmission seal.
Switch to a high mileage ATF to help slow down the leak. Valvoline, Castrol, Pennzoil.... have high mileage ATFs that you can find at your local dept or auto part store.
At this point, its work risking the $25 investment to try Autorx, $15 for Lubegard red, or $10 for Lucas transmission fix.
If you recently filled your transmission, could it be spillage?
And, make sure that you check your ATF level while vehicle is running, in park, on a level surface, while vehicle is hot. If its overfilled, it could be puking.
Don't forget that the power steering uses ATF. Make sure that the power steering hoses and reservoir haven't leaked all over.
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Preventive maintenance prevents mechanical problems. Ripe out your owners manual's maintenance schedule and start some common sense intervals for ALL fluids in your vehicle.
Thanks for your advice deadrx7conv. Yes I just replaced the tranny fluid last month and did add 8 oz of AutoRX. The instructions say to run it for 1k miles and drain and refill with tranny oil only. I had no leak before the drain and refill but I'll run the AutoRX for the full 1k miles and see what happens.
Hope I don't have to drop the tranny to replace the seals but I just might have to.
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92 Corolla 4AFE, 94 Camry LE V6
agree. I think you can rent a trans jack (for free) from pep boys - the hardest part of this job is gently sliding the trans off...you remove the side engine mounts, and tilt the entire drive line to gain access..
Since you have to 'flush' out the Autorx in 1k-2k miles, use Valvoline Maxlife with stopleak. Its a little thicker and should 'assist' you with postponing the inevitable. Your best bet is 12 quarts of ATF exchanged via the cooler line in bucket method to remove that 'snake oil' (just kidding but I won't use it).
I certainly hope that Autorx didn't 'cause' the leak, because its lanolin esters(aka biodiesel & soap) shouldn't cause a seal issue. But, if the ATF's varnish/lacquer were creating a seal, they were just washed out of your trans!!!!
If the leak doesn't slow, be polite and hit Autorx for a refund and post on their products forums. Good luck!!
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Preventive maintenance prevents mechanical problems. Ripe out your owners manual's maintenance schedule and start some common sense intervals for ALL fluids in your vehicle.
I've heard of horror stories of leaky seals after a tranny drain/refill esp. if the tranny was never properly maintained. Since I got this car used at 155K miles I don't know if it was ever drained. It didn't look like it was after I drained the oil, dark brownish red color. I suspect that the auto rx did indeed clean out the varnish deposits on the seals causing the leak.
Well see after a 1000 miles!
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92 Corolla 4AFE, 94 Camry LE V6
I don't think you should wait that long. I'd replace all of the fluid right now if it was my car. AutoRX should not be used in a transmission IMO, there is no reason for it, and it can only potentially cause problems. There is no combustion gases and impurities in a transmission, which AutoRX is designed to clean out (among other things) so why put that stuff in a Tranny?
I know I'm a little bit hijacking the thread but I wanted to add to 91boz horror stories... I've not only heard some, I've seen one by myself and amazed at how it turned out.
A friend of mine was given an old chevy tracker as his 1st car. Car was almost not maintained at all except perhaps for oil changes. Tranny fluid never got flushed and tranny was having problems but running, fluid was dirty and all...
We flush the fluid and ... the tranny ain't even shifting anymore, worse than before. We put back the old dirty fluid in it and it started to work like before the drain. And yeah, we used the recommended fluid for the new... I couldn't believe it myself.
As for the poster's leak : Be certain where the leak comes from before tearing down the whole thing, buying a new seal, changing it, reinstall and notice the leak is still there. Clean your whole tranny exterior with some engine degreaser, go for a ride then come back and make a torough check... the oil on the bottom of the tranny might have worked its way from some other place. (I had oil dripping from the bottom of the engine, turned out to be the valve cover gasket leaking...)
If it's really coming from the plate you mentionned, then I agree with other posters on the worn out seal.
Last edited by Solid_Koolaid; 10-27-2010 at 12:52 AM.
just like what solid coolaid said - everything looks like its covered in oil. the leak can be coming from the pan and being blown back and sprayed around as you drive and make it look like as though its coming from somewhere else.
you can always try lucas oil as well- thick as molasses and will usually slow any leak down to a crawl/drip
and better hope that it's not the tranny/shaft seal- getting the tranny off would be the easy part. the hard part would be taking the entire tranny apart to get to that seal, since it has to be taken off from the inside
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"Life is a deep sleep, of which love is the dream..." Ripped...and the girls are loving it.
From the looks of the crud in the pictures, the leak has been progressing for a while, and now you noticed it.
Sorry Koolaid, I won't and can't believe it. No way in hell would new ATF not work where old ATF was. You did something wrong. Old fluid should NEVER reenter a sump. Once its out, get it recycled. Lets quit with the 'old wives tales'.
The fluid is obviously red. Its either ATF or PSF.
There is this "auto-rx" fanboy club. Its not even worth wasting your breath trying to argue with them. Its no different than the brainwashed "Apple" users, liberals, Chevy vs Ford chimps..... For $30, you're going to want to believe it did something whether it did or not.
Autorx is $30 for a 12 ounce bottle. Anyone remember what slick50, duralube, QMI,.. originally sold for?
For $30, you could have purchased 8 quarts of Maxlife from Walmart and pumped it through the ATF cooler line and kept on driving. Now, you'll need to use at least 12 quarts to remove that stuff from your transmission. New ATF benefits your transmission more than any additive.
Concerning Lucas, its just a viscosity index improver(viscosity modifier). At 48cst its considerably thicker than 7cst ATF(usually 5cst after 15k miles). So, it simply bumps the viscosity back up to where it should be. For $10, you don't have to change out your ATF until its next scheduled maintenance. And, being tacky, its seems to stick everywhere even when diluted heavily. This might build some compression where its needed, more so than the viscosity change hints at, and thereby reduce leaks, increase fluid pressure, reduce ATF blow by, reduce ATF pump slip...... http://www.lucasoil.com/images/media...D1F42F1FEF.pdf
And, there is Lubegard. The flaxseed/jojoba esters will treat the seals the same way lanolin(autorx) does. You don't have to flush your transmission after usage. Just toss the bottle in and keep driving. Its the same viscosity as ATF. I recommend it for factory and generic ATFs. I find that there is no need for it with a quality full synthetic ATF. Lubegard is the only snake oil that has had OE approval(via OE testing and TSBs) over the years. Smartblend, its competitor or clone, can be used the same way. http://lubegard.com/pdfs/ATFProtectantPS.pdf http://www.lifeautomotive.com/Products/ATFP4001.asp
The MerconV vs. Amsoil test is a good read. And, MerconV is a mile or so above DexronII/III in performance which Toyota recommends. This is one reason I will always recommend a full synthetic. http://www.enhancedsyntheticoil.com/...TF_merconv.pdf
We want to believe or hope that the automaker makes reasonable maintenance recommendations. They don't. Maintenance recommended typically borders on warranty time and heavily weighs toward lowering the cost of ownership. Maintenance recommended has NOTHING to do with keeping your vehicle in an optimum state of tune, and making it last.
For ATF, I will always recommend a full synthetic if thats in your budget. Its not like you ever change the ATF. So, $120 worth of synthetic will go a long way. Whats a pair of sneakers cost these days?
If for some reason, synthetic is out of the budget, then consider ANY merconV. MerconV is way above DexII/III in performance and an excellent upgrade.
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Preventive maintenance prevents mechanical problems. Ripe out your owners manual's maintenance schedule and start some common sense intervals for ALL fluids in your vehicle.
Ok... we're trying to troubleshoot the problem, not encourage him into pouring snake oils in his tranny.
I'm ok with additives if you really don't have the kind of time or money to fix the real problem but it's a temporary plaster on your tranny at most (if it does anything...)
But obviously here he has some kind of oil leak, nothing to get anxious over, it's either a seal or gasket gone bad. He needs to pinpoint where it's coming from before doing what too much people do (engaging into costly teardown, repairs, taking the risk of damaging something else and end up with a tranny that may not even work correctly anymore, etc.) then when he perfectly knows where the leak is coming from, do the right repair. period.
As for my story, I said I couldn't believe it myself... and don't think you,re some smartass by telling me "Old fluid should NEVER reenter a sump." like I'm not aware of that fact. In a perfect world I would never have done that except the tranny was shot and would not run properly with new fluid (and YEAH the proper fluid, at the proper level, checked the proper way)
Theory behind that weird happening : tranny was shot, running with way too dirty a fluid... that dirty fluid got way thicker overtime due to all the crap in it. Pour some new -way less viscous- fluid and it doesn't shift anymore. The tranny was obviously not able to build pressure in the lines to positively engage the clutch packs. Why so ? I could never be sure but probably internal leaks in the pressure lines, solenoids, whatever... but the old fluid was able to build enough pressure for the tranny to run (and I didn't say it ran great but it ran) due to the high viscosity.
And don't you start me with that patronizing "Old wives tales" of yours. I'll be in the first row to take 'em down.
BTW, I've never seen old fluid thicker than newer fluid. It'll always shear down as much as ~1/2 the originally visc. So, the logic that the old fluid was too thick is statistically false, even when loaded with wear and particles. A UOA on the fluid would've proved that. Too late now. And, I've rebuilt enough transmissions, worked in gear manufacturing and durability testing for these transmissions, and will NEVER believe a new ATF didn't work compared to an old ATF. Something was overlooked even if you think the level was correct, the ATF was correct, the 'everything' was correct..... You missed something.
He already has added Autorx, and there are probably many other members here contemplating that $30 expensive. I'd save it for quality beer.
I'm still waiting for the gazillion autorx users to post in and 'defend' it. Maybe they haven't been made aware of this thread. But, obviously, its difficult to argue with a picture 'showing a leak' that wasn't there before it.
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Preventive maintenance prevents mechanical problems. Ripe out your owners manual's maintenance schedule and start some common sense intervals for ALL fluids in your vehicle.
For autorx I agree with you, never in the world would I suggest pouring crap in it.
As for the tranny fluid, hey, I've seen the stuff... I don,t say it's normal, no one knows what the previous owner had done, I repeat, the car was crap, tranny was shot, why ? as you say we'll never know.
There's not much to be overlooked in a tranny fluid flush and never had I seen before this kind of symptoms too, that's why I was mentionning it because it was unusual as an "horror story". Had the tranny been taken care of way before, I'm sure the problem wouldn't have existed at all and the new fluid would have made the tranny behave better for sure. I'm not here to argue over the fact that oil gets less viscous over time, I've been doing ASTM oil testings in labs while studying in aeronautics (Saybolt viscosimeter and the likes). I know (for engine oils at least, never been testing hydraulic oils for viscosity but I guess it's about the same principles) that they're using polymer additives (like polybutene, polymerised alcostyrene, and other spooky named chemicals ) as viscosity modifiers which tend to break down (shear) over time hence the decreased viscosity.
But fact remains that, even if at first glance I couldn't believe it myself, the damn tranny oil was crappy and way more viscous...
Maybe the previous owner had poured a huge amount of the aforementionned snake oils (Lucas thing ?) in the tranny hence the way higher viscosity because his tranny began to slip and that """"""fixed"""""" the problem which was probably, as I said, a matter of leaky internals and too low pressure on the clutch packs.
But that happened because of poor maintenance in the first place. Should the previous owner of that Tracker have changed the ATF fluid at timely intervals, the tranny may not have gone wrong and he wouldn't have had to use additives.
I'm not arguing with you, I simply didn't like being talked to like a child about old wives tales etc.
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) as viscosity modifiers which tend to break down (shear) over time hence the decreased viscosity.
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