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Help please


1995Craig

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Hi, think I know what this is but it's a confusing one. Last few days my AE101 hatch manual has been leaving this fluid under the passenger side front. it is dripping off the bottom of the alloy casing under where the clutch and selector mechanisms are. It looks to me like hydraulic fluid. Clutch and brakes are full and are green coloured anyway. power steering maybe is a little less than full but is hard to say for sure. Could it be gear box oil?? I've had it to a workshop I've used in the past and they found the oil cooler leak I knew about but was leaving cause it wasn't too bad and fixed it and cleaned the bottom of the motor off but 2 days later this is what I get after a 45 minute drive to work. Can't get better shots or a better look at the moment just wondering if anyone has some ideas for  me.  I'm thinking a leak in the power steering system but can't see where it's coming from.
 

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Edited by 1995Craig
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What colour is your coolant?  Leaks from the thermostat or water outlet on the end of the head will run down to the top of the gearbox and then find their way around the housing and drip on to the ground.  That leak spot is a long way away from where you'd expect a power-steering leak to be.

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Hi thanks for the responses, Hiro coolant is green and this is a really light oily fluid I'm nearly sure is hydraulic but can't find the bloody leak and don't have any drop on the dipstick of the power steer tank. How do I check the gearbox \ diff levels in this model please ??

Rebuilder there is a film on a main pipe near the tank which leads over that side but that may be just years of crud keep the suggestions coming I'll keep checking.

 

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9 hours ago, 1995Craig said:

Hi thanks for the responses, Hiro coolant is green and this is a really light oily fluid I'm nearly sure is hydraulic but can't find the bloody leak and don't have any drop on the dipstick of the power steer tank. How do I check the gearbox \ diff levels in this model please ??

Rebuilder there is a film on a main pipe near the tank which leads over that side but that may be just years of crud keep the suggestions coming I'll keep checking.

 

Checking gearbox oil level is simply by removing the fill plug (when it is cold) and sticking your finger in the hole - the level should be just up to the bottom of the hole.  Diff oil is shared with the gearbox.

 

Got a photo of the pipe you're referring to?  Again I don't think any of the power-steering components or piping get that far over the engine bay, they're all concentrated around the steering column (naturally) and the driver's side of the engine (where the pump, reservoir and "cooler" are), unless it has somehow leaked internally in to the rack (which would be a rather large amount of fluid to lose)

Edited by Hiro Protagonist
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Thanks again Hiro,  yeah that's why it's got me stumped, I'll get a pic up in the next couple of days of my hose but the P\S reservoir is still showing no loss on the dipstick.

I can't tell from the owners manual pic where the gearbox plug is could you point me to it. answer may be a little delayed [ doing all this around the wife kids & christmas stuff].

Amazing thing is aside from the dropped fluid damn thing is still driving like a brand new car no indications of any problem at all & air con is better than the wife's '07 Tuscon in the NSW heatwave.

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1 hour ago, 1995Craig said:

Thanks again Hiro,  yeah that's why it's got me stumped, I'll get a pic up in the next couple of days of my hose but the P\S reservoir is still showing no loss on the dipstick.

I can't tell from the owners manual pic where the gearbox plug is could you point me to it. answer may be a little delayed [ doing all this around the wife kids & christmas stuff].

Amazing thing is aside from the dropped fluid damn thing is still driving like a brand new car no indications of any problem at all & air con is better than the wife's '07 Tuscon in the NSW heatwave.

Fill plug is on the front (radiator) side of the gearbox about halfway down, just under and to the right of the clutch slave cylinder boot.  Will be an 24mm hex-head, if you look straight down beside the coolant overflow bottle you should see it.

 

I'll take a photo of the workshop manual when I get home if you need any more guidance

 

 

Edited by Hiro Protagonist
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My beema gearbox takes ATF too. 

If you are confident that its not power steering (im not convinced) and If you dont know the history maybe someone put ATF in your manual box.

Dont all the drifto ae86drivinclub dudes put ATF into their T50 gearboxes in an attempt to fix unfixable synchros? maybe someone did the same to yours.

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Hi all, Many thanks Hiro [ spot on as always] with your info took 5 seconds to find, then a  24mm socket & came out easy followed by a line of red atf type fluid down the side of the casing so the tranny is actually overfull if I understand  correctly it should be just under the lip? and it has the wrong fluid in it cause that sure isn't 75w90 gear oil in there. not sure where to go now still thinking about it but that would seem to indicate gearbox leak maybe?  BTW bloody thing hardly dropped any fluid at all yesterday . 

So while I was thinking the wife decided I should have a check done by the workshop that did my clutch -they fitted me in before work and found a leaking seal on the right axle travelling to the bottom of the box and dripping from there. Quoted $120 max to replace so getting done Wednesday.  They confirmed the box is full of ATF but think it would be fine as it's been that way since before I got it. What's the concencuss here need changing or leave as is??

Edited by 1995Craig
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If you're getting the axle seal replaced they have to pretty much drain the box anyway, might as well take the opportunity to fill it up with gear oil instead of ATF.  Only needs about 2.5L of gear oil so it won't break the bank.  Unless you fill up via the breather on top of the box or with a pump it's hard to really overfill it anyway as the excess drains out the fill hole before you get a chance to tighten it up.

 

This is all fresh in my head because I changed the gearbox oil in mine last month, followed 2 weeks later by changing the CV axles (which meant that half the new oil I put in got dropped anyway).

Edited by Hiro Protagonist
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