BrianG

I just got my car serviced by the worst shop on the continent. The screwed up everything they touched. Not the least of which was the transmission service they did. The pan gasket is hemorrhaging like it's had it's throat cut. Of course he told me that the car requires cooler lines........ it doesn't!!

My question actually is........... is there generally an issue with the sealing of this pan gasket? Is it usually placed dry, or should I consider some silicone or maybe some non-hardening Yamabond (which I'd probably favor, actually).

And, is the torque value for these bolts actually 71 lbs??

Tony

71 lbs....eh..i dont think so.

sounds like they crushed the gasket and/or deformed it. Ask them where them where they got the tq values from?

All ive ever done is put i light film of the tranny fluid on either side of the gasket...never had a leak.

borland

Brian,

Install it dry.

On your 4 speed automatic, the cork gasket should be installed without sealant. The pan is designed to hold the gasket in place and give the gasket the correct amount of compression when the bolts are bottomed out.

Shop manual says 5.9 ft-lbs.

Mark

"And, is the torque value for these bolts actually 71 lbs??"

"Shop manual says 5.9 ft-lbs"

That shop is full of idiots.

5.9 ft-lbs = 71 INCH lbs (I think...my math sux in my advancing age!)

If they actually torqued them to 71 ft-lbs....I can't believe they didn't shear off the bolts AND/OR strip the threads!

BrianG

I was just quoting a Rennlist member from a previous post about tranny issues:

I thought it a bit high!!

I note that this pan gasket appears to be rubber. There are some rubber ears poking out from the gasket area.............

So, how do I stop the bleeding??

Mike LaBranche

You'll have to:

1. drain the fluid
2. pull the pan
3. probably replace the gasket
4. clean, clean, clean
5. re-install pan and gasket
6. re-fill fluid

It's not too bad a job. Probably a couple hours if you take your time.

Mark

quote:
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torque pan bolts71lbs; filter bolts 35lbs
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I'm pretty positive this are INCH pounds!

dr bob

Rubber gasket as others point out.

Inch pounds is correct. be sure the bolts are pulled up evenly by hand before the wrench gets near them, by the way,

There's a spot that leaks where the reservoir attaches to that tube at the rear corner of the gearbox. make sure that's not leaking. Plus, the reservoir itself mounts using a couple tiny screws to inserts molded into the plastic reservoir itself. These take four grams/meter of torque or they will strip out of the plastic. OK, just barely finger-snug is the American conversion ;-)

Good luck!

BrianG

Thanks, dr. bob, I have cleaned the underside with an engine degreaser product and have been able to spot the leakage source. There is definitely no front main-seal leakage (touch wood), the plastic filler/reservoir joint is not the culprit, the banjo bolts for the cooler lines are clean and dry, and there is no apparent leakage from the shifter shaft. The pan seal, however, is oozing badly!

I'm in disassembly mode this evening and I'll be looking at that gasket really close.....

Do I prefer the rubber one, or the cork one?

dr bob

I think on the M28 gearbox there's only the rubber gasket. It's a U-shaped goody that assembles over the rim of the sump, and has a flat face where it snugs up against the bottom of the transmission casting. These are always assembled without sealant of any kind, by the way.

If in fact your fluid-change shop was able to get 70lb/ft of torque on the bolts, there's a real good chance they warped the sump. When you get the old one off, clean it and place it flange-face down, no gasket, on a flat surface to check for distortion. If there's more than a few thousanths of gap at any place on the face, you might want to --gently-- try to coax the sump back to true. If you can't do that, consider another sump. There's not much to screw up on these, so a new or even a used one from one of the Big Three might not be a bad idea. You are going to need the new gasket from one of them anyway.


A few years ago I posted a step-by-step procedure for the fluid change. It's archived at Greg Nichols' tips page at http://www.nichols.nu/tip275.htm The only thing I didn't remember to put in that post was a list of the critical torque values.

For the trans pan, 8mm bolts (this is the -thread- size, not the size of the head) use 8Nm, equivalent to 5.9 lbf/ft or 70.8lbf/in

The crew plug in the pan takes 14Nm, probably because of the aluminum crush ring seal and the 10mm thread size. That's equivalent to 10.3lbf/ft or 124lbf/in. The screw plug in the converter takes the same torque.

The filter-to-valve body 5mm bolts take a hefty 4Nm, which translates to 35.4lbf/in. This is barely snug up on the o-ring seal to the suction tube, by the way.

The posted procedure lists some other watch-outs, and also an easy way to fill the trans again when you are done.


Good luck!

BrianG

Awesome insrtuctions!! Thanks again!@!