RE: Replacing slushbox seals

[Dave Conner <conner@cfm.ohio-state.edu>]

At 03:04 PM 4/9/99 +0200, Alex M. wrote:
>I haven't resealed the transmission yet. I have put a "stop-leak" product
>and it has helped a bit, I know it won't last forever, though, so I am still
>preparing to remove and reseal the transmission, probably sometime this
>year.

I did the same in my 89 100.  Starting about two years ago, I added one
liter of K&W Stop Leak over a period of about 9 months...took that long to
leak one liter.  It may have helped.  The leak seemed to slow for awhile
but now it's worse than ever.  Left the car parked for the past five days
and there is a 50 cm spot of ATF on the driveway.  The rate of leakage is
erratic and this is the worst I've seen.  The main leak, maybe the only
one, is from the second gear servo (piston) cover.  I guess something
inside rotates and the amount of fluid leak depends on the position at
which the rotation stops.  Sometimes the leak will be only a few drops.

> What tool did you use to pull the transmission from
>the car? I'm contemplating purchasing a true transmission jack (one with
>adjustable arms you can bolt the transmission to). 

As I mentioned earlier, The AT/diff/torque converter assembly weighs about
70 kg (150 lbs).
I used a standard 3 ton trolley jack.  Not ideal though, because it is too
far under the car to work the handle properly.  I inserted it from the
front of the car with the bumper removed, which gave the clearance needed.
I did not secure the tranny to the jack and upon lowering it, it wanted to
fall off the jack.  I haven't tried to install a tranny with this tool but
I'm sure it will be awkward.  I couldn't tell where to put the jack to
balance the trans/diff/torque converter assembly.  I put it in the middle,
but it turned out the heaviest part of the assembly is the AT itself, which
is the rear part, and smaller in overall size.

>It seems like the hardest part is removing the transmission from the car.
>Once you have it on the bench, separating the final drive from the
>transmission and replacing the seals looks pretty straightforward. ETKA
>shows a large o-ring that seals the final drive-transmission joint. While
>you have the final drive and transmission separated, it's a good idea to
>also address the mixing fluids problem. The pinion shaft is sealed by two
>seals that are located in a common housing. This housing is bolted to the
>final drive housing and sealed by couple of o-rings. Several people also
>reported having a leak from the round cover on the RH side of the
>transmission. It's a cover for the 2nd gear brake band piston - again, the
>piston can be removed and new seals installed. You don't have to disassemble
>the internals of either the transmission nor the final drive to replace
>those seals, so it seems like an easy job. I can dig out the part numbers if
>you don't have ETKA. It also doesn't seem to me like you need any special
>tools to do this.
>
>Aleksander Mierzwa
>Warsaw, Poland
>mailto:alex@matrix.pl
>87 Audi 5000CS turbo (mine)


Yes, removing and replacing the trans may very well be the hardest part.
I've read that replacing seals is not difficult, but I'm still wary of the
unknown.

Removing the AT was a lot of work.  Not terribly difficult, but I was doing
it on a junk car where I didn't have to worry about ruining anything.  Lots
of things were already off the car which gave better/easier access.  I kept
thinking I was ready to drop the trans and would discover yet another bolt
had to be removed.  One or the last things in the way was the transmission
mount brackets.  Merely unbolting the mounts from the trans was not enough.
 The brackets were still in the way and had to be almost completely removed.  
Maybe it would have been better to leave the brackets attached to the trans
and only unbolt the rubber mounts themselves, or at least unbolt the rubber
mounts first.
  
The axle shafts must also be dealt with.  It isn't necessary to unbolt them
from the wheel hubs, but they are in the way if only unbolted at the trans.
 If the CV boots/grease need to be renewed this would be the time to do it.
 Having the shafts completely out of the way would ease tranny
access/removal.  Of course, if the shafts will be removed, the hub nut must
be broken free with the wheels on the ground, >before< raising the car on
jack stands.  The problem comes if you wait til midway in the tranny
removal process to decide you want to remove the shafts.

It will be necessary to unbolt the exhaust downpipe at the exhaust
manifold, so there is potential trouble there if any of these nuts are
siezed.    

I don't have ETKA (yet).  I hope to eventually get a copy and did ask Bob
(mx@snet.net) to send me a copy when he offered a couple of weeks ago.

But I do have the parts fiche.  It shows the individual seals with p/n's
and also lists a "Set of Gaskets"  (pn 010 398 007B) with a total of 13
gaskets and seals in it. 
While there are different versions of the 087 3 speed trans, this same
gasket set seems to be spec'ed for all of them. 

Five of these seals are for the second gear piston...
1 each - 010 323 487C
1 each - 010 323 533A
3 each - 003 323 525A

Other seals in the set include...
1 each - 010 321 371B (gasket for oil pan)

And the following which I haven't identified yet, regarding what part of
the trans. they are for ...
1 each - 010 321 182   (seal)
2 each - 010 321 385B (gasket)
1 each - 010 323 487B (sealing washer)
1 each - 010 323 525C (sealing washer)
1 each - 010 409 549A (sealing washer)
1 each - N 028 201 2    (sealing washer)

**********
Question #1 - Does this list include the seal(s) between the AT and diff
which prevents the fluids from mixing?  (which ones are they?)
**********

The fluid strainer and axle shaft seals are >not< on this list.   

It appears the second gear piston cover could be removed without removing
the AT from the car.  
********
Question #2 - Would it be possible to replace only the second gear piston
seals without removing the AT from the car?
********

It seems a person would be fumbling blindly, so maybe an experienced person
could do it while a novice like me might screw it up.
It sure would save a lot of work and at the rate my '89 is leaking from
this spot I could be running out of time.

bye,
Dave C.


Columbus, OH 

87 5KS 
89 100E 
86 4KQ