2000 D2 non SAI. Like the title says I recently replaced the transmission oil pan gasket and the transmission filter since the old gasket had cracked severely during a mishap on the trail. After replacing the gasket and filter (filter came with the gasket so figured might as well) there has been a transmission leak that is dripping only from one of the pan bolts.

I've read on other thread that these little screw-clamp pieces can break but mine seem fine and seem to provide a solid amount of force. Could this be due to not torquing the pan in the right sequence? Could there be a culprit above the bolt?

It is the passenger side middle bolt on the tranny oil pan. I'm going to check the breather tube but that shouldn't matter anyway if the leak is only when cold and not under pressure right?

 

The actual torque sequence typically isn't important, however you do want to evenly torque all the bolts in a sequence of your choosing rather than crank one down and move on to the next. Is your level ok? Any chance the pan itself got tweaked during the trail mishap?

 

Hmm, they seemed pretty even. Maybe I'll just drain it to the fill plug and loosen them all and make sure it's really even.

The mishap involved revving up unmetered to 5000rpm in low-gear reverse up a 40° incline and me laying on the brake to not drive into a tree lol

I think the gasket wasn't amazing before but putting that much pressure into play seemed to have laid waste to it. The leak is not anything like it was but I would prefer not to top it off weekly. Level is okay currently but not for long.

 

Spray it with some brake clean and make absolutely certain it's not just ATF that got squeezed out during the install. I would go around them with a small 1/4 ratchet and just make sure they didn't loosen up after a hot/cold cycle. If it's only leaking on the side of the drive shaft I would be suspect of the pan surface not being 100% flat.

 

Oh it's been two weeks and I can watch the sucker drip some days. It slows considerably when it's hot and driven. It's definitely not residual being squeezed out. It's dark out now but tomorrow after work I'll do a little exploring.

I would be only a little surprised, but surprised nonetheless if the pan were misshapen as a result of that incident, the temp needle never rose and I was fairly quick to shut the engine off And investigate and get the Rover rolling again. I will be ordering an ultragauge very soon and I have a 180° thermostat on my kitchen counter soon to be installed and currently has a fresh whatever thermostat.

Either way I don't think it was overheated and warped but I may be wrong. I'll report back tomorrow night.

Cats

 

It's highly unlikely to warp from heat or pressure. My remark was regarding an impact to it, before I knew what went down on the trail. Also, questioning the fluid level was asking if it was overfilled. I'd drain it and start over, making sure that both surfaces are clean and dry and the gasket is properly seated before you assemble. Then torque slowly with a 1/4" setup.

 

What exactly was the mishap? Did you land on the pan? Overfill it possibly? You have it running when you check the level, and when it comes out the fill plug your good. There is no temp needle for the transmission, so it sounds like you got stuck or hung up and dogged on the LR to get out of the situation. Just trying to get all the info/clues to help you out the best we can.

 

It may have been overfilled due to following a fill procedure from a different thread that had me fill the tranny while a second person is actively shifting gears. I have since filled it using your procedure Best4x4.

There was no trauma to the pan so seems unlikely it would be warped for any reason. I think the info I provided is pretty telling but here's the full version:

Offroading in low gearing, turning around on a very steep slope. While reversing, the engine hit 5000rpm with my foot OFF the accelerator and started climbing up the hill before I laid on the brake and shut the engine off. Upon starting it up again, it repeated itself to 5000rpm then the engine clunked and died.

What happened under the hood:
Air intake never fit flush due to bad engine mount, and unbeknownst to me at the time, at the right angle the intake would ease off a bit and the engine would suck air and rev up. So the air intake started slipping off while I was reversing up this hill and revved up out of control and I had to give the brake all I had (low reverse is a TANK). Upon stopping and starting the engine, the engine mounts failed completely and the engine dropped a few inches and the air intake came off completely and the engine died.

Put everything back together and drove home just fine but it then had tranny fluid dripping out around the pan gasket. My oil leak is worse now too but I can tolerate that for now.

Have since replaced engine mounts and transmissions mounts (those were destroyed as well), trans pan gasket, trans filter, and shock absorbers. This all happened about a month ago. I know there is no temp needle, I was just clarifying that the event was so short lived there was hardly any time to have chanced heat damage.

 

[Edit] Problem identified. After a thorough cleaning of the transmission/transfer case area I found the transmission had a hairline crack that was seeping. Best4x4 you were right about there being trauma, but this all adds up to a driveshaft failure the previous owner had described to me. Apparently it didn't knock a hole in the transmission bit cracked it pretty bad in a very convenient spot. Likely the crack was worsened during my trail mishap.

Either way, being such a small crack I cleaned the hell out of it and roughed it up and slathered on JBWeld Steelstik until I source a cheap replacement.

Bump.

I replaced the transmission pan gasket a second time with yet another new gasket. I thought I could see where the gasket may have twisted slightly but still am unsure how that would cause this leak.

Thought I had meticulously set the gasket this time but lo and behold with new gasket and new bolts all evenly torqued it is still seeping out from the passenger side at the seal.

During the gasket re-do I added the appropriate amount of BlueDevil transmission sealer though I hate the idea of stop leaks or additives like it. No dice. Even for what seems like such a miniscule gap.

Seen many conflicting answers regarding sealing the pan with RTV so opted not to. I'll do it if I have to but the transmission fluid I lose in the process is not cheap.