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97 Legacy outback blowing trans fluid out of the vent.


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Ok I am looking for help with this. 97 Legacy Outback with an Automatic trans just started blowing its fluid out of the vent tube. Was running great with this used transmission for about a month and a half. Any ideas on why it might do this? Time for another used trans? It is still under a 6 month warranty but this is the second trans I have put in. The first one had a cracked differential housing. This one seemed good up until this evening. Any ideas would be greatly appreciated.

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Check the Radiator fluid to make sure the tranny cooler hasnt sprung a leak.

 

Check the fluid level, hell  i would change it to make sure its the right level.

 

Check to make sure you have the proper dip stick. It happens sometimes on used transmissions.

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It will be Monday before I can look further. It was a used transmission but it did come with a 6 month parts warranty. Cooler was clear and car has been running fine for a month and a half with no issues. I still have to get it back home. I can hope somehow a line got plugged and that is all it is. If not it is time to raise some hell with the yard I got it from as it would be the second bad trans I got from them. 

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Found out the fluid is pumping out of the front diff vent. Front differential is full of trans fluid and the trans is about empty. Looks like a seal between the two sections let go. How hard is it to replace a seal in this location? Would I be better off using my warranty to get another used trans? I end up replacing all the external seals when I swap out the used trans and that is about 45 bucks a shot. If the seal between the diff and trans is easy enough to change I may go that route. Any help is greatly appreciated.

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Will they refund you and let you keep the transmission? Maybe work it out so all you pay is the core cost if they don't wanna give it up for free.

 

I don't think it requires a full rebuild, but to get to the double seal between the transmission and diff is pretty involved. Diff case has to come off, and the pinion shaft has to come out. I don't know exactly what's involved to get to that point. If you don't have a factory service manual for the car, search around here and get one online.

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Yes they are letting me keep this transmission as I had returned the original as a core. I will be looking for a service manual if I do go this route. Can't be much harder than changing the differential and planetaries in a Caddy 4T60E.

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4t60 doesn't have a hypoid gearset. The biggest worry with these is making sure the pinion backlash doesn't change, but that's all set with shims behind the front pinion bearing, so as long as you don't lose the shims it should be OK.

 

 

I might be steering you in the wrong direction though.

There should be seals on the tube that runs through the diff case that connects the torque converter to the trans pump. If the torque converter was ever removed those seals could have been damaged.

That's probably more likely than bad pinion seals. I don't think those seals require a major tear down to replace either.

Edited by Fairtax4me
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That could be a possibility as the yard required replacement of the converter and external seals to honor the warranty. Odd that it would run 2 months with no issues and then suddenly a major failure but that can happen. I will take a look at that first after I get the trans out.

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