spyonu2007

iTrader: (2)

So..

I took my car in to have all my leaks fixed. Mainly the axle seals were the problem, and I didnt want to mess with it.

I got the car back, and noticed over the course of a week or so, this gearl lube smell..

So I took it back in, and they put it up in the air.
My Transfercase was wet, and wreaked of Diaqueen...

Hrmm..
The tech pulled the fill plug and fluid just gushed out, probably about 2-3 fluid oz came out before he got the fill plug back in.

I figured that the diaqueen was expanded, from driving it in.
So they kept the car over night and the next day they went to check the fluid.

"Hey, we got your tx case figured out, we had to drain another 13 fluid oz of Diaqueen from the case to get the fluid level with the fill plug."..

By my calculations, thats a total of 36oz that was in my case, and the only way they could of done that is to fill it with it off the car... unless they had a pump, I cant fathom the mess that would make stuffing that much Diaqueen in my transfercase... Thats what they said... The physics are mind boggeling. So.. I drove a week and a half around with +16 oz in my transfercase.. What possibly could go wrong?

"We think that the fluid must of been foaming up out of a vent. It should stop now"

"No biggie.."

I continued to drive the car, and the smell persisted, but the entire undercarriage was covered in a thin coat of Diaqueen..

I checked the fluid level twice, but it seemed to be full. I poked a piece of white zip tie in there and it came out wet.. All looked good. Aside from the case being completely wet, every time I checked it.. Each time, same deal.. Wipe it off, spray it down with break clean, wipe off... Looks new.

Drove it at a hpde event and man, did it ever get noisy.

Drained the fluid and whowsers! 5.5 Fluid ounces of black goo. I have pictures.

Dropped it back off at the shop and had them figure out why my Tx case lost so much fluid.

This is the fun part.

The first suggestion is that my car makes too much power for this transfercase to survive.. (Quoted direct from the Trans guys mouth). Yeah.. I run 20psi, on 110 octane, on a 35r car. SO....what, 400hp?

I said really? Beacuse I can list a half dozen folks I know personally that are making way more power than I have, and don't seem to have this issue...
Ive been running no more than 20psi on the road course, and 16-17psi on the street.


Long and short, they said that the seal on the transfercase itself failed. (the one physically in the txcase, where the txcase goes together.. Not the one between the Txcase and Transmission.

They have no explanation on why this could happen..

My gut says... 36oz of fluid in the txcase expanded.. Expanded to the point where it needed to find the path of least resistance to exit, an that path was the seal...
Im looking for any other plausible explanation.

Anyone got any other ideas? Maybe my logic is flawed.

I sent the question to Jon at TRE, but thought I should post it up here too.

6-speed

iTrader: (20)

Interesting.

The T-case only holds about .58 quarts, which is about 18 fl. ounces.

I know people change their fluid before and after racing (drag or track), but never heard of the fluid heating so much that it would expand and bust a seal.

It also shouldn't explain the t-case noise during your race; if the t-case was overfilled the gears would still get lubrication.

wshihdnevo

iTrader: (88)

This seems better than under filling like I did. I would always shoot to put close to a quart in when filling it yourself. It will save you a x-case in the long run

spyonu2007

iTrader: (2)

Perhaps I was too wordy,

My concern is, that the transfercase had more than 30oz in it and it was driven about 10 days like that... Could it expand enough to damage the seal on the transfercase, ultimatly causing it to fail?

They stated that they removed 13oz out, plus the 3 that I saw come out, making it an even 18-20oz...

The transfercase leaked from then on.

Evo8luva

iTrader: (6)

I think its possible...

make them fix or replace ur tcase... You DO NOT wanna deal with it leaking everything out and welding itself together, especially on the highway. Not a good time.

whitey4d

iTrader: (1)

Check the trans fluid level now too. Was the Tcase just out of the car? There are some seals between the two that if are damaged can cause the trans to fill in to the Tcase.

1d10t

iTrader: (19)

They definitely admitted to adding too much fluid. They have no facts as to the hp numbers that you have, nor how that would affect that seal. Too much fluid will commonly blow seals. Make them replace it

Whoop_ass

iTrader: (7)

there is so little oil in the tcase... more oil could only help keep it cool and running better I reckon!!!

iy

iTrader: (1)

Let's do this mental exercise...what do you think would happen if you ran your car with 10 quarts of oil in the crankcase?

Of course overfilling it by almost 100% could damage it. I would demand they replace it. It is fine before, then they overfill it, not by a few OZ but by 100%, and then say you have too much power? Give me a break...

Whoop_ass

iTrader: (7)

in the case of an engine then maybe it is bad.
Crank case pressure is the major culprit here that can blow seal.

but for a gearbox i realy don't think so.
put it this way the IX box suffers from overheating and the 8 carries more oil in the box.

makes sense to me, i am not saying overfill the thing till it can take anymore.
but there is only like 600ml of fluid in a TC.
not much at all!!!

spyonu2007

iTrader: (2)

the txcase was designed to hold about 20.
Filling it up to 36oz, takes up any expansion room the lube has when it gets hot.
That forced out the seal between the case halves.
Once driven up to full temp, the oil expands... It had no where to go, but out.

Mellon Racing

iTrader: (38)

how frustrating that must be for ya Dan, any news on the plan of action?