I noticed some leaking from my trans pan all over the place. I guess it was from using that stupid orange rtv along with a cork gasket. When i first got the car, the trans pan was glued on so good, i had to pry for 10 mins to break the seal. I got fed up with the cork fgasket randomly leaking so i took out the screws and it fell off on its own. I bought a new gasket and this time, they gave me a rubber seal. It says torque the bolts down to 10 ft/lbs. I set my tq wrench to that because i didnt want to break any of them. (lowest setting the wrench had). I start turning and sure enough, i broke one of them. Drilled for an hour and used a screw extractor. I burrowed a screw from my rearend because they are the same thread. I got all the bolts tight and sure enough, i look today and its leaking like mad from the rear of the pan. How can i stop it from leaking, i never have good luck with gaskets.

 

10 ft pounds seems awful tight for a trans pan, most are like 60 inch pounds,

are you sure that it`s the trans pan?
mine had a leak that i swore was the trans pns and after three gaskets i took it to the trans shop and it was the trans line fittings, one was cracked causing the leak.
the fluid travled down the trans and made it`s way so it looked like the trans pan was leaking.

good luck there a pain to fix.
i would almost do anything instead of trying to seal up a trans.

 

I recently just replaced my trans filter and got a rubber seal with it, and it said torque it to 12 ft/lbs. Well i don't have a torque wrench so i just used a socket and normal wrench then tightened it till it seemed like it was just about to bend the metal. Hasn't leaked yet. Try maybe going just to 12 ft/lbs and see if it fixes it.

 

Well i broke 2 screws before they got to 10 ft/lbs so i aint goin any tighter. The lines look alright. The rubber gasket said no tighter than 12 ft/lbs.
I guess ill put an 1/8 turn on every screw and see what happens.

 

I always had tranny pans leak until I bought a good 3/8 drive torque wrench an torqued to spec (10-12 lb/ft). If you have one of the cheap pointer style wrenches, it's not going to be very accurate at the bottom end of it's scale and is probably over-torquing the bolts. Mine goes from 5 lb/ft to 80 lb/ft so I torque them all to 8 lb/ft then hit 'em again to 12 lb/ft. I have used both cork and rubber gaskets w/no sealer and have had no leaks using this technique with an accurate torque wrench.

 

Well i went out and a couple of em felt a little loose with my smaller wrench so i tightened em up... I guess the torque wrench is fairly unaccurate at low numbers cuz mine goes from 10- 150.

 

There are specific forums for specific topics.... "trans pan" doesn't belong on LT1 Engine Tech. Moving to "Drivetrain".

Please post on correct forum.

 

If you don't 'kill' the bolt when tightening it you usually won't run into problems. I changed mine this last weekend and no leaks yet. If you do it too tight there is the possibilty of squeezing the gasket or like a lot of you are saying, stripping the bolt.

 

Sorry about the wrong post, i meant to put it in drivetrain but i guess i was in the wrong spot. Anyhow, is it possible that the bolts can be too tight and make the gasket not work? As in, could too tight cause leaks?

And another thing, now that fluid breached the gasket, will it always be in between the gasket and metal causing more leaks, or will it eventually make its way out and dry up?

 

Yeah, too tight will deform the pan sealing surface and have lotsa press. at the bolt holes and not near as much in between the bolt holes. Uneven tightening of the bolts will do kinda the same thing. I always had leaks until I started using a torque wrench.

 

Are there like smaller range torque wrenches? Because iset mine at 10ft/lbs and i break 2 screws which is the smallest setting so there is no way to do it for me and yes, they are the stock screws.

 

Yes. Go to Sears and pick up an inch pound torque wrench.
It will go alot lighter than the long arm foot pound wrench.
I have both due to my TA rear cover cap bolts needing 5 Foot pounds of torque.
I know it sounds like common sense but 12 inch pounds = 1 foot pound.
If your breaking tranny pan bolts off then you are going WAY too tight.
You might even have warped the trans pan beyond reuse.

 

I think the screws got weak over time from extreme heat. It says 120 in/lbs so i put the wrench at 10 ft/lbs which is its lowest setting. I did not have them tight at all when they broke, just 1/8 turn past snug.

Thanks for verifying on the in/lb wrench, ill have to pick one of those things up to fix this once and for all.

 

Sounds crazy, but..... A buddy and I had figured this trick out back in 99 when we were doing simultanious trans services. He took the pan off, cleaned it, dried it and replace the filter. He took some weather strip adhesive (we call yellow snot) and ran a small bead of it around the trans pan, placed the gasket and flipped the pan over to place 5 QTS of fluid on the pan to hold the gasket... Go out side for a smoke and return to a completed pan seal......


Don't ask but it works!! Make sure the trans case is DRY before replacing the pan and gasket... I know it can be hard but just catch it at the right time... TQ the bolts in a cross pattern... I've never had a problem doing it that way.... never had a problem getting the adhesive off the next time...



You CAN over TQ gaskets. You'll crush them. I've never had a problem w/ the cork ones. I like them. The rubber ones will rip if over TQ'd... Like what was said above, you'll also warp the pan. Making an uneven mounting serface.