Rough morning.. Leak between Transmission and Motor wtf?

[JAYMEN]

My plan was to do all 4 mounts on my car today and I was all pumped up until I opened up the pkg. To make a long story short the vendor forgot to ship the motor mounts so I only could install the snub and tranny mount.
I figured big deal, I'll sort that out on Monday even though it would've been nice to do all 4 at the same time.

Anyways I pull the belly pan and I see this leak at the flange where the trans mounts to the engine
It was leaking enough fluid to be concerned. Thing is I had a new clutch done by a local shop and I asked them to replace any seals or anything that would need to be done while it was apart...apparently not.

So is there a seal there that could be causing this leak?
Is there something that could've gotten messed up by the shop to cause it...

I'm calling the shop on Monday but I want an idea of what might've happened so they can't BS me.

Not the best pics:
If it's unclear its right where the back of the belly pan mounts to that cross member.







On a side note the snub mount and trans mount totally eliminated the DT slop I was experiencing

I'll post pics later of the leak.

[EBG 18T]

are you refering to the rear main seal?

[reapersa4]

I was gonna say RMS..

[eg6siR]

is it leaking motor oil or gear oil?
If it's motor oil your rear main would be the culprit, if it's gear oil the front seal on the trans could be bad (aka input shaft seal).

[JAYMEN]

is it leaking motor oil or gear oil?
If it's motor oil your rear main would be the culprit, if it's gear oil the front seal on the trans could be bad (aka input shaft seal).

Pics up, is that rear main seal or input shaft seal?

The oil wasn't black but I couldn't tell if it was gear or motor oil.

[eg6siR]

it looks like motor oil, but I can't be sure... I would take it back to the shop who did the clutch and seals and tell them it's leaking... If they stand behind their work they will pull the trans back out and replace the seal. Atleast that's what we would do at my shop.. I'm gonna bet it's the rear main oil seal though, it's pretty rare that the input shaft seal leaks on the tranny. I would get it fixed soon though, oil on your clutch is never good.

[mrbacardi35]

This is just another reason to upgrade the clutch if you haven't done it yet since either way tranny is coming off..hehe

[diplomat128]

Are you sure it's really leaking from there and not coming down from the engine? I had a similar leak somewhere near the front of my transmission and it was my valve cover gasket that was leaking towards the rear of the engine down to the transmission... cost me 70$ to fix by a local VAG garage.

[Sales@RAI]

Are you sure it's really leaking from there and not coming down from the engine? I had a similar leak somewhere near the front of my transmission and it was my valve cover gasket that was leaking towards the rear of the engine down to the transmission... cost me 70$ to fix by a local VAG garage.

looks like too much oil to be something small

[CrzyCal]

Sometimes, (I don't know about Audi's) there is an "Oil Separator Plate" behind the Flywheel. It's a common replacement part for Subarus as the plate was made from plastic and had massive leak problems. Subaru updated to a metal plate to fix the problem, but, of course, the oil leak can destroy your clutch.

[JAYMEN]

Are you sure it's really leaking from there and not coming down from the engine? I had a similar leak somewhere near the front of my transmission and it was my valve cover gasket that was leaking towards the rear of the engine down to the transmission... cost me 70$ to fix by a local VAG garage.

I actually cleaned up that spot where it built up.
Started the car and saw the same amount of oil build up after running for about 3 min.

I wish it was the Valve cover gasket because I did one of those before on my 1.8T Golf and it was pretty straight forward.

[JAYMEN]

This is just another reason to upgrade the clutch if you haven't done it yet since either way tranny is coming off..hehe

Just upgraded the clutch that's why this is so dissapointing.
The shop had all of this apart and either didn't inspect the rear main seal or totally ignored it all together.
I actually made a big point that if there was anything that they would recommend to change when the tranny was pulled that I would happily get the parts from them for install.
I'll call the shop tomorrow. I'm pretty sure they'll honour their work and help me out.

[JAYMEN]

Does anyone know if that is the Rear Main Seal?

[JAYMEN]

is it leaking motor oil or gear oil?
If it's motor oil your rear main would be the culprit, if it's gear oil the front seal on the trans could be bad (aka input shaft seal).

I just looked back at my receipt and I remembered that they changed out the input shaft seal. Maybe the f'd that up?

[AZUltra]

Go off what eg6sir said above. You should easily be able to tell what fluid it is based off smell. Trans fluid will have a characteristically sweet smell while oil smells like well oil. Once you figure out which it is you will have a good idea where to look. Either way take it back to the shop and go in assuming they did something wrong until they can prove otherwise.

[MikeWire]

Doesn't look like motor oil.

That looks like power steering fluid. Kinda greenish and thin.

Knowing the PS issues the A4 has, I bet that's it. I used some Lucas PS stop leak/re-conditioner and just checked by reservoir last night and I haven't lost any fluid, so it worked. You may try some of that.

+Rep is good

[JAYMEN]

Doesn't look like motor oil.

That looks like power steering fluid. Kinda greenish and thin.

Knowing the PS issues the A4 has, I bet that's it. I used some Lucas PS stop leak/re-conditioner and just checked by reservoir last night and I haven't lost any fluid, so it worked. You may try some of that.

+Rep is good

Actually the oil/fluid was yellowish brown.
It's either motor or trans oil but I'll get a couple drops tonight and have smell it. I really didn't think of doing that yesterday cause I was so pissed.

Either way I'll give you a + rep for trying to help

[MikeWire]

Werd, thx!

FYI, gear oil stinks like a refinery, so that's probably the easiest way to tell it from motor oil.

When I first noticed my PS leak, I thought it was the front diff or TC (tip) fluid and it looked brownish too, but it was just dirt and road grime.

Good luck!

[mrbacardi35]

^^^Agree with Mike, tranny fluid smells.

[Papachristou]

like the others have said, tranny fluid will have a strong, unique smell to it. plus its fairly clear and thicker. it has to be either the rear main or input seal.

how long ago was this work done?

[diagnosticator]

Trans input shaft seal leaking.

[JAYMEN]

like the others have said, tranny fluid will have a strong, unique smell to it. plus its fairly clear and thicker. it has to be either the rear main or input seal.

how long ago was this work done?

It was done 2 weeks ago ~ 400km's

I finally got a hold of the shop and I'm bringing it in tonight. I post back later with an update.

[Papachristou]

i would definitely bring it back. if it was just done a few hundred miles ago. perhaps diagnosticator could chime in on if or how they could have messed up the input seal


this is why i DIY the clutch. much thanks to all the guys here for advice, giving me phone numbers to call with questions and the guides.

[JAYMEN]

i would definitely bring it back. if it was just done a few hundred miles ago. perhaps diagnosticator could chime in on if or how they could have messed up the input seal


this is why i DIY the clutch. much thanks to all the guys here for advice, giving me phone numbers to call with questions and the guides.

Well I had back in the shop yesterday and it was determined that it is in fact gear oil.

Now I guess my clutch is soaked?

Either way it's leaking enough that it would've been completely dry as it's dripping at a rate where I'd easily lose 1/2L a week

The shop said if it had to do with their install then they will take care of it but if somehow the new clutch caused the issue (I don't see how) then we'd have to further discuss.

This is turning out to be a real shitty x-mas.