Transmission pan gasket (vehicle, replace, price, leak)

[frecny]

I have a small drip leak being left on my driveway from the trans pan gasket. I went for an oil change about 2,000 miles ago and my mechanic said he tightened the gasket to see if it would hold. Obviously not. How quickly do I have to get it replaced? How normal is this to leak? It was changed about 40k miles ago.

[KoobleKar]

It's not imperative to get it replaced immediately as long as you check the trans fluid regularly (by the prescribed method listed in your owner's manual) and top it up as needed.

You don't want to overfill a transmission either.

Not knowing the vehicle you have, it's tough to determine how often this should happen although I have seen many trans pan gaskets last the lifetime of the vehicle without a leak. It does seem strange that it's happened twice to you??

[NJGOAT]

Outof curiosity, is it leaking in the same location it was previously? The issue may be with the pan itself as a small defect or some slight damage could allow a small leak to form as the gasket ages. It is definitely not common for them to fail and definitely not twice in 40k miles. As KoobleKar said, it's not imperative to get it replaced, but you should monitor the fluid level in the trans and keep it topped up if starts to get low. That gets tricky though as you don't want to overfill it.

[brien51]

If one over tightens the screws that hold the pan in place it could very well ruin the gasket by putting too much pressure upon it thus creating a leak by crushing the gasket. These monkeys in these quick lubes tend to used the air gun a bit too liberally. These should only be hand tightened not by a pneumatic air gun.

[NJGOAT]

Originally Posted by brien51

If one over tightens the screws that hold the pan in place it could very well ruin the gasket by putting too much pressure upon it thus creating a leak by crushing the gasket. These monkeys in these quick lubes tend to used the air gun a bit too liberally. These should only be hand tightened not by a pneumatic air gun.

Good point.

Manufacturers provide torque specs for a reason.

[M3 Mitch]

Originally Posted by NJGOAT

Good point.

Manufacturers provide torque specs for a reason.

You know, in my experience, if all the bolts are present and torqued reasonably close to spec, but you still have a leak, tightening the bolts has never stopped the leak. I mean, it's so easy, everybody has to try it, but I have never seen it work.

Pan gasket is not hard to change at all, unless your tranny fluid is quite fresh, I would just do a drain and refill, cleaning the screen or replacing the filter depending on which one you have, and replace the gasket as part of that maintenance procedure. I guess if the fluid is fresh you can clean up the bottom of the tranny, drain it carefully and then save and re-use it. Although if you go that way be damn sure you don't manage to get some dirt into your trans this way - once I wrote that up I have to say re-using the used fluid is probably not a good idea...but whatever, it can be done.

I agree with what's been posted so far that this is not something you need to fix right away, just keep an eye on the fluid level, and as noted do not overfill it.

Final thought - Permatex makes a spray on "leak fix". OK, I can already hear you pro mechanics snickering - well I am pretty much in agreement with you that this will be fixed by wrenching, not a can of snake oil - but I have seen this stuff reduce the severity of a non-pressurized leak. At worst you are out the price of the spray can.

[NJGOAT]

Originally Posted by M3 Mitch

Final thought - Permatex makes a spray on "leak fix". OK, I can already hear you pro mechanics snickering - well I am pretty much in agreement with you that this will be fixed by wrenching, not a can of snake oil - but I have seen this stuff reduce the severity of a non-pressurized leak. At worst you are out the price of the spray can.

You could always just slap some JB Weld on there....