ATF leak

[Matt Levitt]

I have a 99 Outback Wagon which I purchased used in September. In January,
my car started leaking transmission fluid. I brought it to a local mechanic
that I usually feel like I'm not getting screwed at. They replaced the front
axle seal, transmission pan gasket and transmission filter. They recommended
I do a dye test to make sure they got all of the leaks, but I'm just out of
college and figured that I would be able to tell if there were any more
leaks myself. The small puddle of transmission fluid on the floor of my
garage was a pretty good indicator that it's still leaking fluid. I jacked
the car up yesterday to see where it was leaking from. It's hard for me to
tell (mostly because I'm car-stupid), but the 6 or so screws that screw into
the bottom of the pan were all wet with fluid. I did notice that a screw was
missing, one that screws into the side of the pan from the back. I'm sure
that can't be helping the condition, but I don't think that's the only
problem. I'm not sure if I should bring the car back to the same mechanic
and hope I don't get screwed again or if I should just take it to a Subaru
dealer. I've already spent a considerable amount of money on this problem
already, and I would hope that the local mechanic would be somehow honest
and not charge me full-price to try to fix the problem again. Or should I
just feed the beast? It's not losing a lot of transmission fluid.

/rant

 

[Edward Hayes]

I don't understand. They replaced the AT pan gasket and you have oil on the
screw heads and one screw missing. I think they must have done that work on
someone else's vehicle and not yours. Find a good honest mechanic this time
who checks the gasket, replaces the missing bolt and retorques all the pan
gasket bolts. Ed Hayes

 

[TG]

I would agreee with Ed if it were not such an obvious error on their part.
Any idiot can correctly replce a gasket so insist they redo the repair, I
don't think they will even want to charge you. TG

 

[Edward Hayes]

They better not charge you.

I would agreee with Ed if it were not such an obvious error on their part.
Any idiot can correctly replce a gasket so insist they redo the repair, I
don't think they will even want to charge you. TG

me should

 

[Matt Levitt]

I don't understand. They replaced the AT pan gasket and you have oil on the
screw heads and one screw missing. I think they must have done that work on
someone else's vehicle and not yours. Find a good honest mechanic this time
who checks the gasket, replaces the missing bolt and retorques all the pan
gasket bolts. Ed Hayes

For starters, the 'missing bolt' was me being car-stupid and paranoid. It
sure looks like it's a missing bolt (why would a hole have threads if a bolt
isn't supposed to screw in there?) But, I did take the Subaru back there
today. They retorqued all of the bolts (free of charge) and, so far, it is
no longer leaking. We'll see... I was driving the Outback rather hard before
this problem started, so I wonder if the problem was my fault. I hate to
baby the thing now, but I can't afford to repair any more damage that I may
cause