Transmission Seal?

[Waynes345]

So last run of the day my son was pulling me surfing. They heard some clicking and the trans slipped and something smelled hot. I told them to shut it down, hopped in the boat, emptied the bags and opened the doghouse to a mess. Looks like the blower hose came off the blower and got wrapped around the drive shaft. Wire wrapped all over the place. It was dark and I didn't have any wire cutters to get it off with, but it appears that we lost the tranny fluid. I assume there is a seal on the back of the tranny where the drive shaft attaches. That appears to be my problem. Had to leave it tied to a friends dock until morning when I can get a better idea what is going on. Anybody seen anything like this or know what the seal is like? It's a '99 Outback DD with a 1:1 PCM drive train. Any input is appreciated.

I've attached a picture of the problem. You can see the wire wrapped around the shaft between the tranny and where the drive shaft bolts on. I assume that is where the fluid leaked, but can't tell for sure. Anybody have experience with these DD tranmissions?

[Waynes345]

Does anbody know if I unbolt the driveshaft at the trans coupling (Outback DD), whether I can slide it back and get to the oil seal on the tranny? I've got it in my driveway and am going to see what I can do as the local marina didn't want to touch it.

[viking]

Holy Cow.........what a mess. Really freek deal. I'm going to NOWcheck my blower hose before heading out every time. Who would of thought that would happen?

I hope it isn't too bad or expensive for you? Do you think the tranny is OK? I would hate to see you have to buy a new transmissing because of a plastic/wire hose :(

[Waynes345]

I got all the wire out of there and it looks like the oil seal is gone. I'm assuming (hoping?) that the loss of the fluid out the back caused it to quit spinning. I'm trying to figure out how to slide the shaft back so I can get a better look.

[Waynes345]

Well, I ended up taking my OB to a dealer for service on the trans as I didn't have the means to do it myself. The end result of having the wire from the blower hose wrapped up in between the coupler and the trans was that they had to pull and rebuild the trans. The good new is that I dropped it off Monday at 5:00 and it is ready to go today. The bad new is that with parts and service the tab is almost $1200. Just another thing to keep an eye on.