How difficult is it to remove the tranny?
 

My X is leaking oil from the main engine seal, where the engine meets the tranny. Also it's leaking oil from the oil pan. I have removed trannys from older cars (mopars) and it's not that hard. I was wondering on these newer cars if it's much harder to take it out?

Search for SwissFranks post on this. He gave some pretty good detail. It didn't look that hard if you have done it before.

how do you know it's oil rather than tranny fluid? it might be the torque converter seal.

I wouldnt have thought it would be to difficult provided you have the kit i.e car lift, tranny jack/support. Wouldn't want to attempt it on ramps or the like.

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How difficult is it to remove the tranny?

I think I would just tell him to get out of the house, myself. :)

Good luck with that.. some tranny's can be pretty persistent. You might have to wedge or pry them out with a special tool or two. :bustingup

:popcorn:

car lift...and tranny jack are a must as said above....

I replaced my engine a while back, and the most difficult part for me, were the bolts between the tranny and the engine...very hard to get to (for me at least)

I ended up taking out the engine with the tranny attached to it using a hoist...

Ehh, it's not terribly hard, but it's not any fun either. I've done it on lifts and from my home garage with the vehicle only a few feet from the ground. I got a socket set from Harbor Freight for the bolts that hold the transmission on. Make sure you a breaker bar and enough extensions so that you're at least as long as the transmission so you can have full swing. I'm guessing I have about 8 extensions total to make the length, and while that many extensions means it flops around a lot, it also means that you can move around the tranny tunnel with a little more ease.

Drop the entire exhaust, remove the drive line. Access to the bolts from about the 3 o'clock all the way to the 9 o'clock going clockwise it's pretty straight forward, the starter can be a bitch, and anything above the 3 -9 position means the crossmember needs to be dropped, the weight of the engine and trans hanging down will allow you to reach the other top bolts. I always put the bolts into a piece of cardboard to ensure that I put them back in the same place they came from as it's easy to mix them up between thickness and length. Disconnect all linkages, wires going into and secured to the side of the trans (reverse wire, 02's, etc), then the fun begins. On a lift, obviously a tranny jack comes into play. When I've done it on the garage floor, it's a little twist and turn while pulling backwards and bringing it down onto my chest, then sliding out from underneath it.

Replace both the rear main seal on the engine and the output shaft seal on the trans while you're at it. They're both going to be a bear to get out...I've cut them out before. Save the old ones though as you can cheat and use them to help seat the new seals instead of banging/tapping directly on the face of the new ones.

On a side job since you're already going to be removing the transmission cooler lines, you could take some significant weight out of the trans itself by draining the pan and then basically doing a drain and fill while you're at it. You'll probably drain out about 8 or so quarts of oil from the draining, MAYBE a quart from the torque converter.

MAKE SURE you seat the torque converter properly before bolting the trans back up. I thought I had once on a customers 750iL, ends up I hadn't and it broke the two tabs off the aluminum gear ring inside the trans itself, so I had the pleasure of taking apart my first transmission.

This is all I've got off the top of my head...

thanks for all your replies guys. I probably gonna just have it done by a shop. I took another look and it does not look fun to take out. Thanks for all your advise.

Fun definately isn't the word I'd use for it!