David Neibert
SCCoA Admin
The Lentech AOD I bought for my 93 has had issues with leaking from the pan since the day it was installed back in 2004. When first installed and filled with fluid I discovered about 2 quarts of fluid on the floor the next morning. Tried snugging up the pan bolts, but all felt tight.
Pulled the pan (Lentech cast aluminum), installed a new gasket (rubber looking one) and used some Permatex ultra blue gasket sealer on both sides of the gasket. When removing the bolts I noticed that about 2/3s of them had a portion of the aluminum threads coming out with the bolts I ran a tap into all the holes reinstalled and tightened the bolts to about 20-25 ft lbs. Didn't leak nearly as much, but was still dripping from the pan and the leak seemed to be coming from the pan gasket.
After hearing that some Lentech transmissions had been built with pan bolts that were too long, I removed several of the bolts and measured the length to insure I wasn't bottoming out in the bottom of the holes in the tranny before tightening against the pan gasket. The bolt length turned out to be correct, but just to be on the safe side I added a couple washers to each bolt to insure more pressure would be applied to the pan gasket. All that did was remove more aluminum threads from the tapped holes in the transmission. I decided to leave it alone and live with the dripping fluid for the time being.
After a year or so, I decided it was going to be necessary to change over to a full manual VB with a trans brake if I ever wanted it to launch with boost. Great...this is my chance to fix that stupid leaking pan at the same time. I supplied the shop that changed the Valve Body with a set of heli-coils to repair the threads for all the pan bolts and at the same time I switched over to the John Deere hydraulic fluid. I also supplied another pan gasket and filter to make sure the rubberised type gasket was used. I instucted the guy doing the work to use a generous amount of sealer on both sides of the gasket, torque it down good and allow it to sit overnight before adding any fluid.
A week after getting the car back I noticed it was still leaking It was probably leaking from day one, but since the hydraulic oil looks just like motor oil when on the floor, it took a little longer to notice. I took a look at the pan to see if sealer was used on both sidesof the gasket and it was...I also tried tightening the bolts, they were all about as tight as I dared go (over 30 ft. lbs). At the time I had bigger problems with the car and decided to leave it alone for now. Since then (Oct 2006) it has begun to leak more and also sprang a leak from the filler tube.
Other than bringing the pan to work to make sure the sealing surface is milled flat, I don't know what else would account for the sealing problems. I've got the same pan on my 91 and I never have any problems with leaking on it. Is there some kind of super duper sealer or AOD pan gasket that will seal better, or am I stuck with this leak forever ?
David
PS: I'm also leaking trans fluid from the driveshaft splined yoke (end cap not sealed).
Pulled the pan (Lentech cast aluminum), installed a new gasket (rubber looking one) and used some Permatex ultra blue gasket sealer on both sides of the gasket. When removing the bolts I noticed that about 2/3s of them had a portion of the aluminum threads coming out with the bolts I ran a tap into all the holes reinstalled and tightened the bolts to about 20-25 ft lbs. Didn't leak nearly as much, but was still dripping from the pan and the leak seemed to be coming from the pan gasket.
After hearing that some Lentech transmissions had been built with pan bolts that were too long, I removed several of the bolts and measured the length to insure I wasn't bottoming out in the bottom of the holes in the tranny before tightening against the pan gasket. The bolt length turned out to be correct, but just to be on the safe side I added a couple washers to each bolt to insure more pressure would be applied to the pan gasket. All that did was remove more aluminum threads from the tapped holes in the transmission. I decided to leave it alone and live with the dripping fluid for the time being.
After a year or so, I decided it was going to be necessary to change over to a full manual VB with a trans brake if I ever wanted it to launch with boost. Great...this is my chance to fix that stupid leaking pan at the same time. I supplied the shop that changed the Valve Body with a set of heli-coils to repair the threads for all the pan bolts and at the same time I switched over to the John Deere hydraulic fluid. I also supplied another pan gasket and filter to make sure the rubberised type gasket was used. I instucted the guy doing the work to use a generous amount of sealer on both sides of the gasket, torque it down good and allow it to sit overnight before adding any fluid.
A week after getting the car back I noticed it was still leaking It was probably leaking from day one, but since the hydraulic oil looks just like motor oil when on the floor, it took a little longer to notice. I took a look at the pan to see if sealer was used on both sidesof the gasket and it was...I also tried tightening the bolts, they were all about as tight as I dared go (over 30 ft. lbs). At the time I had bigger problems with the car and decided to leave it alone for now. Since then (Oct 2006) it has begun to leak more and also sprang a leak from the filler tube.
Other than bringing the pan to work to make sure the sealing surface is milled flat, I don't know what else would account for the sealing problems. I've got the same pan on my 91 and I never have any problems with leaking on it. Is there some kind of super duper sealer or AOD pan gasket that will seal better, or am I stuck with this leak forever ?
David
PS: I'm also leaking trans fluid from the driveshaft splined yoke (end cap not sealed).