[JohnnyRambles]

I noticed some seepage around the transmission pan gasket while changing my oil the other day. It's not flat out dripping, but is wet all around the gasket and is obviously trans fluid. Normally I would not be very worried, but without a dip stick for the trans it's slightly more concerning.
The pan also appears to have a rather liberal use of RTV sealant on two edges. I assume it's that way from the factory, as the original owner kept spotless maintenance records and there's not mention of it from the dealer notes.

Has anyone else had this leaking issue? Or the same liberal use of sealant? I'll try to get some pictures tomorrow.

 

[MtBiker]

Sounds like a good opportunity for a trans flush and service. How many miles do you have on your rig?

 

[JohnnyRambles]

Sounds like a good opportunity for a trans flush and service. How many miles do you have on your rig?

Only 26k, so it might be a bit premature to go that far. The van is also still under the full warranty, so I was really just wondering if this had come up for anyone else before I take it in to have it checked out.

 

[keeponvaning]

Have you tried tightening the cover bolts? I would let the dealer deal with it at 26k miles tho!

 

[30 Ounce]

RTV sealant is standard from the factory. I searched hard to find a gasket when I changed the trans fluid only to discover the factory used RTV. There is a procedure though. Instruction's say to apply RTV and loosely, by hand, screw in the pan and let it set up fo an hour and then tighten the pan down to specified torque. Then fill with trans fluid.

 

[Dwight]

User grnd0 had a leaking gasket. Fixed at dealer.

 

[Josh Cissell]

Can you post a picture of it?

Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

 

[JohnnyRambles]

Have you tried tightening the cover bolts? I would let the dealer deal with it at 26k miles tho!

No, as you mentioned I'll probably leave that to the dealer. My 3 year warranty runs out in April and I've been using a little antifreeze as well, so I already had planned on taking it in.

Can you post a picture of it?

Sent from my SM-P900 using Tapatalk

Will do. I plan on getting one tomorrow.

 

[Rich Maund]

When using RTV as a sealant, it is also really important to have clean surfaces for the RTV to seal to. If there is oil film present, its gonna weep later. For me, after I have let it drip for an hour. I use a cloth with carb cleaner on it to clean the surfaces and then apply RTV and install loose and allow to set up. I've done this for years doing motorcycle and odd vehicle maintenance. Cleanliness counts when you are sealing something.

A local dealer changed the valve body on the transmission on our 2001 Sebring years ago. A month later it leaked like a stuck pig. The kid/mechanic/Napoleon Dynamite Lookalike was in a hurry and got sloppy kludging it together.

 

[Charger7022]

mine leaks a little. i had it to the dealer and they re sealed it but it still leaks

 

[Promasterblues]

I have this problem, I will be bringing it in to the dealer.

 

[[email protected]]

Mine seeps a little, there is a good thread on how to check your ATF level, search ATF, my level was fine at 58K miles.

 

[uralwrench]

That trans pan is something that you cannot do in a hurry. And I believe that is where an issue lay. Dealer techs are always in a hurry. In this case you really need to allow the time for it to stop dripping on it's own after you drop the pan to service it. If you don't' the fluid dripping down will contaminate the new RTV seal. When I serviced mine, I let it drip for a couple hours til it finished, then I could wipe it off and then solvent clean the flange and begin the RTV application following the directions on the tube of right stuff black RTV. Mine worked great and in almost14k more miles has no weeps since I did the service.

 

[[email protected]]

I was going to use RTV but worried about the fluid contaminating the new seal (and was not going to wait for it to completely stop) so I used the gasket that came with the filter. It has not leaked after 15K miles. It took about 20 minutes to get the factory RTV scrapped off the pan and transmission to give the gasket a good surface.