Oct. 14/15 @ Summit Point - Registration now Open

#21

Just signed up to race B) But still relegated to GTS unfortunately (no time to work on the car) :frowning:

See yall there.

#22

It’s starting to look like the BMW will not be making the trip to Summit this weekend, may have to bring a Mazda in it’s place.

I can’t seem to keep fluid in either trans I have. The original unit leaks horribly from the front (new seal) and the replacement unit leaks equally as bad from the rear (tried two new seals). I’ve replace the transmission 3 times in the last 3 days trying various fixes, nothing seams to be working for me.

I’m calling a local BMW parts place tomorrow, but when I talked to them of Saturday they didn’t know if they had any 5 speeds in stock.

Wish me luck, still 5 days to get something to work. The good news is I can now do a trans swap in under 3 hours.

-Scott

#23

I’ll add a little to his post in case you guys have any ideas. Scott’s a little frustrated. We need to keep him from burning the car and going to Spec Miata.

The ‘good’ trans pumps fluid out the rear seal, apparently so bad the rear of the car gets coated with it on a test drive. Output flange was inspected and does not have a groove, and measures ok around the circumference. Seals fit snugly. I suspected the breather may be clogged, but removing the reverse switch and fashioning a breather there did not change the outcome. We are both completely baffled why the trans continues to push fluid out while being driven, yet leaks not when on the bench. Fresh ideas welcomed.

#24

Make sure the trans isn’t overfilled…The trans should only have enough fluid for someone to put their finger in the fill hole and just be able to touch the fluid

The other problem I ran into are not so "new" seals. If these seals sit on a shelf somewhere for a while they get hard. If the seals are not soft, pliable and flexible the will leak. I recommend ordering new seals directly from BMW.

Also. putting new seals on is not as easy as it looks. They require special tools, some experience, and finesse. Take the tranny to a reputable BMW shop to have the seals installed……that way if it leaks your not on the hook for labor to pull it back out.

Good luck

#25

Here is the answer, ask me how I know… If the trans is out of an earily model car the shifter plate was attached to the transmission via two 13mm bolts that are drilled into the top of the two trasmission cavaties. So, if you use the later style shifter bracket that attaches to the trans tunnel , the thru and tapped 13mm holes allow fluid to pour out of the rear of the transmission. Loc-tite some 13mm bolts into the tapped holes and the problem will be solved. Regards, Robert Patton. P.S. I think the size is 13mm.

#26

If that is the case, I will literally drive the car into a wall.

I thought the ‘new’ trans is a later model (had two sensors in the bell housing, No. 21) and I am using an older style shifter bracket that attaches on top.

Back to the dealer to get another rear seal, removed it to do some investigating.

Thanks for the info, although I don’t know weather to be happy or frustrated with this discovery.

What weight oil is everyone using?

-Scott

#27

Scott, call and we can discuss? Robert Patton 8oo-755-1715

#28

Patton wrote:

Oy, I forgot about this, I had this issue when I put the 87 trans in the 89 car. I remember noticing the bolt holes robert referrs to when they were side by side. they were the 13mm hex heads. Funny enough I cannot for the life of me remember what I did, but that trans leaked not after installed.

#29

Re the trans shifter plate bolt…

I had the same experiance that Robert had, coated the bottom of the car pretty good…there were some transistion tranny’s that had provision for both the early plate and the late dog bone shift supports, if you put the dog bone on a car with provisions for the plate, one of the plate mounting bolt holes goes all they way thru and will leak badly…I imagine if you have the plate type support and the mount bolts were not real tight or the boss that the mount butts up to is chipped/cracked etc it oculd leak from there also.

Al

#30

Problem solved, many thanks to Robert and others.

That stupid bolt hole cost me 10+ hours of wrenching, but could have cost me a new transmission without the input from this forum.

A quick alingment and oil change and I’m ready for the track.

Thanks again,

-Scott

#31

Scott - regarding gear oil - we use Redline MTL 70W80.
Ed

#32

That’s what I picked up on the way home, thanks for the reply.

-Scott

#33

Scott, the missing bolts/stupidity cost me two seals and about 4 hours of frustration. Luckily I was made aware of the shifter plate holes prior to removal of the transmission. For two races I ran the car with the leak…I bet it wasn’t nice for anyone in back of me during those races. Oops, there was no one in back of me as I was the last place car. Oh well. We now return back to our regularly scheduled programming…Who is going to Summit Point? Regards, Robert Patton

#34

Patton wrote:

[quote]Scott, the missing bolts/stupidity cost me two seals and about 4 hours of frustration. Luckily I was made aware of the shifter plate holes prior to removal of the transmission. For two races I ran the car with the leak…I bet it wasn’t nice for anyone in back of me during those races. Oops, there was no one in back of me as I was the last place car. Oh well. We now return back to our regularly scheduled programming…Who is going to Summit Point? Regards, Robert Patton[/quote]I would have never noticed except for the fact that I set the 2 trannys side by side…and went WTF is this ? Glad you had the fix , and sorry you had to do all the work…