Apparant common VY transmission issue

[H Bomb]

Hi all, thanks for your time,

I have had some nice bright red drops dripping onto my garage floor for about a month now, at a recent service I asked my mechanic (not a dealer and someone I trust) about finding it and hopefully it was just a power steering pump etc. He said it was coming from a seal in the transmission and that unfortunately it is a big deal. He stated that there is some gasket in there that can get stripped out by something blah blah.... and that it is common to the VY's, so much so that when I rang a auto transmission specialist he knew exactly what I was talking about and said they even had a "kit" that they put in it to stop it happening again. I cant find any mention of it on here though. I have a VYII calais that has been driven by miss daisy and has 130,000k's on it and has been "maintained" pretty well according to the book (god knows what the initial dealer would have done).
Anyway its apparantly a drop the transmission out replace bulk seals and make the new "modification" at a cost of about a grand job....the auto I felt was working ok, the fluid level was ok and the fluid nice and red and "fresh", they both (seperately) warned me that it could "go" at anytime and if I wanted to avoid a potential re-co then it probably should be done soon. Does this sound legit? I mean I respect my car and like the Holden but I keep seeming to discover these "issues" that are "common to VY's, they do it all the time".

Thanks for any assistance and feel free to tell me to suck it up and stop whining but the thought of the car in the shop again and a thousand bucks better spent towards rims and suspension work is starting to get to me.

 

[wortus]

I have not heard of any common problems or kits around, these transmissions are revised from say a VR/VS and fix most of th eproblems they had.
If it's leaking onto the ground then I can only suggest it is the rear seal, a seal where the selector goes into the case or a loose clloing hose/line. Have you thought about having a look under the car, if need be degrease the underneath and refill the transmission and drive it for a week or so and then take another look. I can't see how any internal seals that required the box being pulled down would make it leak onto the ground.

Last service I had to add a fair amount of fluid to mine and there are no signs of any leaks and the fluid level has not dropped since. It had prior to my ownership been dealer serviced!

 

[Calaber]

Yep, I'm with Wortus on this one. There are only a couple of locations where trans oil can escape and an "internal seal" problem is most unlikely to cause an external leak. I'd do as Wortus suggests. It should be pretty easy to determine the source of the leak by getting under the car and having a good look. The external leak points do not require transmission removal - just a few associated parts and the cost, if you can't do it yourself, should not be excessive.

 

[VYMAD]

I had to replace my rear seal in the tranny recently. Easy as, drop out tail shaft, pull out seal, bang new one in. I think this is relatively common, but is a minor thing, well under fifty bucks for the seal. As for what you have stated your mechanic told you, well I've never heard of it and have never read it on this forum either. As stated above, degrease it and check for where the leak is coming from after a couple of days driving. The hoses for power steering often need their clamps tightened, too. Just check that it aint leaking from there as this is the same red fluid. Ask yourself o I know/trust my mechanic very well?

 

[H Bomb]

Thanks for your quick replies guys, I do trust this mechanic as he is a brother of a good friend and I have known him for a while. He had it 3 weeks ago and degreased it then and said watch the levels of the fluid and he will have a good look next time I drop it in, which I did tonight and he will have a good look tommorrow. He said actually that he will drop out the box take it to the auto place, have them service it and fix it and then he will put it back in hence saving me labour costs than if I just went straight to the auto guys. He is thinking its a pump/convertor seal that has been chewed out by a bush that has slipped forward (which is the common vy thing) and is leaking out of the bell housing?, so he can replace the seal no problem but it will just keep doing it so hence the auto will come out, be partly dismantled and get the bush replaced with the new "non slip kit" if required to stop the seal continuing to chew out. He said he cant really tell until he gets it out but that is worst case scenario so I'm prepared.
Its not pissing out fluid but Im one of these anal guys who likes to keep my cars from turning to cr@p with small niggles that dont get fixed and develop into massive problems.
Thanks again, and be honest if it sounds wrong let me know....

 

[Jacko84]

bellhousing if its leaking from there and its red its the front pump seal yes its a bit of labour but only one little seal at the front but hey if your getting that done id get the whole box recond,
could also be worth doing your rear main at the same time. PS i wouldnt like the front seal to blow out while im driving.

 

[H Bomb]

yeah jacko84 thats what he was getting at, he said the reco shouldnt be necessary as the current fluid whilst leaking is in good nick with no krud in it, he also stated that he wouldnt want the front seal to blow out while driving either, it is our family car so I need it to be trustworthy for a long haul at times, hopefully its a bit early for the reco, its only the old school V6 in the VYII and only 130,000kms, no V8 or supercharger grrrrr.....