bradland

I started noticing a couple drips on the garage floor, I HATE drips!!!!, but they are too far back to be coming from the engine. Tranny right! I jack her up this morning to take a look, hoping it's just fluid from the rear engine (trans) mount. The mount looks fine, but I will replace it when I'm sorting this out. The entire pan is lightly soaked, not dripping soaked but bad enough. I did a complete trans flush a couple months ago but I didn't touch the pan. So obviously I need to drop the pan and throw a new gasket on her, I'll do the filter as well while it's open. Also, the metal shroud under the mount was covered in oil on top and bottom which I thought seemed odd....

So here's my question-
Everything above the pan is clean except for the entry point for the parking lock shaft. There is an oil seal ( 9031112001 ) that I'm sure should be replaced since I'm at 193,XXX miles. How accessible is that seal to remove and replace once I drop the pan?

Thanks guys!

dicer

When under there always retighten the pan bolts they loosen up.

bradland

DICER
I thought that may be the majority of the problem. I didn't do it this morning but I may try that before I change the gasket just to see how quickly any fluid comes back...

dicer

I'm not a fan of any sort of gasket goo on an automatic transmission, but with the synthetic lubes now it maybe necessary to use a very thin film on the gasket, most gaskets come coated with a sealer of sorts, but they need clean not oily metal.

Banshee365

The shift selector shaft seals are easily replaceable by just removing the shift rod from the selector shaft and delicately popping the out. They are like little tiny crank or cam seals. Install greased and flush with a socket or something. Also, the factory seal on the trans pan is FIPG or pretty much an RTV. You can use cork or rubber but the pan is designed to be installed with FIPG. Using a thicker gasket can deform the pan around the holes when the bolts are tightened. I have used rubber in the past and had no leaks but do have slight distorting around the bolt holes. If I were installing a trans pan that I felt comfortable that I wouldn't be removing again soon I would use Toyota FIPG. I just did an engine oil pan with the factory FIPG and it really works fantastic. Not a whisper of a leak there.

bradland

Thanks banshee that's the info I was looking for. No wonder I couldn't find a Lexus part number for the pan gasket. Felpro makes one but it sounds like I need to stick with FIPG (no pun intended...)

djamps

For what it's worth I used a felpro rubber gasket on a '01 tundra (same transmission pan) and it's not leaking a drop. It had a rubber gasket already on it as well, I'm guessing from the factory since I'm unaware of any previous trans work but I could be wrong. I did use some FIPG on all the bolt threads just in case.

dicer

To use the fipg stuff the mating surfaces have to be ultra clean not a small amount of transmission oil on them at all, and that is really difficult on a used in the car transmission. Upside down on a bench it works great. And unless the pan is leaking there is no reason to remove it with under 200,000 miles that is if the trans fluid has been changed occasionally.

bradland

The rear mount should arrive in a few days. This is not an urgent repair so I think I will replace the mount, re torque the pan bolts, clean everything up, drain what's in the pan and put a new gasket on the drain plug. I'll drive her for a week or two and re check to see what's going on under there. If I need to replace the seal on the lock shaft then so be it but this way the pan stays on unless it's absolutely necessary to drop it...

ejthomp

Make sure it isn't the oil pressure sensor on top of the oil filter.... $15 part.

Mine was leaking at 200,000 miles and creating quite a mess.

bradland

Thanks ejthomp but my seepage is coming from the transmission. I will take a quick look at that sensor when I'm under the car again tho....