ATF on top of transmission

Arjen · Post by **Arjen** » December 30th, 2006, 8:11 am

I own a 1991 Mazda MX-3 (Eunos Presso with K8 engine).

I noticed that the level in the automatic transmission is dropping fast. When I look under the car I see that a large area is dripping wet with oil.

When I looked under hood I noticed that there is a lot of ATF *on top* of the box. You all know there is a lot of stuff blocking the view with this car, and the drawings in the online manual are a bit too small to shed some light on what is on top of the box that could be leaking.

The transmission works as good (or as bad) as it always did. I remember hearing someting bouncing under the car when I was driving last week.

Perhaps a bolt or cover loosend and that's what I heard bouncing off the road.

Does any of you have any idea if there is something on top of the box that would cause spilling of ATF when it gets lost? A (link to a) picture perhaps?

Arjen.

Aston Wards · Post by **Aston Wards** » December 30th, 2006, 5:42 pm

couple of things..., is the dipstick inserted tightly? and are you sure it is ATF fluid? (red) oh yeah, has it been topped up recently? cos it is easy to spill ATF in doing so!

check the ATF level, clean up the spill as best you can, then keep an eye to see if it reappears..., that's the best i can come up with, s'been a while since mine was auto

Arjen · Post by **Arjen** » December 31st, 2006, 1:11 am

Aston Wards wrote:couple of things..., is the dipstick inserted tightly? and are you sure it is ATF fluid? (red) oh yeah, has it been topped up recently? cos it is easy to spill ATF in doing so!

Yes, it's red, the dipstick is all the way down and the tube is dry as a bone. Not topped up for months now.

check the ATF level, clean up the spill as best you can, then keep an eye to see if it reappears..., that's the best i can come up with, s'been a while since mine was auto

What I could try is find a pressure cleaner but if there's an opening the box get 'topped' up with H2O...

Arjen.

Aston Wards · Post by **Aston Wards** » January 1st, 2007, 10:52 pm

i'm not sure on how the system operates, but there is the std auto tranny cooler...., perhaps the leak is to/from there??? that is the only other thing i can think of (shrug)

Post by **Custommx3** » January 2nd, 2007, 9:17 am

Could be where your speedo gear is mounted to the top of the tranny.

Arjen · Post by **Arjen** » January 7th, 2007, 9:58 am

Custommx3 wrote:Could be where your speedo gear is mounted to the top of the tranny.

I found what I think must be the culprit. On top of the tranny there are a few things that look like a disk with a protruding center held in place by a circlip. I found the circlip of the rear one like this:

http://www.pbase.com/image/72729416

I lost close to a liter of ATF.

Arjen.