Transmission Leakage

About twice per summer I have to add some Transmission fluid in my 2000 outback LS - I also notice a little Transmission Fluid in the bilge. I had the boat into the dealer last year(while it was still under warranty) and they claimed there was NO LEAK AT ALL and it was fine. Sure enough first couple times out I had to add again and noticed a little more fluid in the bilge, I called and informed them and they said its out of warranty now. In Winter Storage I noticed more had leaked into the bilge after totally cleaning it all out before putting it away. What could be causing this? do the seals shrink when they are cold causing leakage? Would Trans Stop Leak Help my problem? About how much would it cost to have this serviced?

I had to put teflon pipe thread tape on the plastic connectors. It was 3 years ago but I recall them located at the rear of the engine on top of the tranny. I have a 2001 Mobius.
Hope that helps.

If you trace your leak to the rear seal, it would be a good time to check your shaft allignment. Poor allignment or shaft vibration could lead to early seal failure. See if you can dig out your work sheet that indicates that you requested they check the fluid leak inside the warranty period. Maybe some joy there? Good luck!
Tony

I have a 2003 Outback LSV and I am having a similar problem with the transmission leaking. After I purchased the boat I noticed orangeish water in the engine and ski compartment. I took to a dealer and they cleaned the engine compartment and ran the boat with a "diaper" under the engine and they said they couldn't find a leak. I still have to add trans fluid every running. Memorial Day weekend the trans actually slipped while trying to pull a skier. Very dissapointing for a boat of that price. I am taking the boat back to the dealer where I boat it to have them check it out. Help!!

jaretb

I had same problem this winter on my 2000 Kamberra. I checked everything that I could think of and finally pulled the inspection cover for the trans filter. I found what looked like wax around the inspection plate next to the seal. I cleaned the plate and seal, seems to have solved the problem. This plate is on the bottom of the transmission, so make sure that before you pull this plate off that you remove as much of the fluid from the trans as possible. Even with this I still had some fluid spill out when I removed the cover. I hope that this helps.

Andy

Well I dropped it at the dealer where I bought Saturday. I will pass along this info. Maybe that will fix it. Thanks!

I am having the same problem. I have leak and have added trans fluid a couple of times. For me I have isolated the issue to when I have more than 4 people in the boat. I can pull the first skier or wake boarder for a half hour or so then all power is gone, when I give 3/4s to full throttle it will barely even pull hard. I can feel when it goes while trying to pull, I push the throttle to the hard spot, then the next time try to push to the same spot and it goes right past and no torque. If I quit for about 1/2 hour and pull the dip stick(sometimes it is low sometimes its not), then it will run okay for another couple of hours then the same thing.

The heavier boater load seams to trigger my tranny slip. Then the fix appears to be cool down or removing the dipstick(maybe a vapor lock or something?). Mine goes back to the dealer for the second time on this next week. The first time we looked at the motor oil and it yielded nothing.

I wanted to give an update on my Transmission Problems. My dealer, Chicago Sea Ray, work with indmar to replace the transmission. They indicated that it looked like to trans fluid was just slightly burnt and that possibly the leakage was from the vent hole. Indmar was looking for them to reproduce the problem but the dealer, Steve in service, gave them my report, happens after boat is warm and with heaverier load, conviced them that the effort to reproduce may have been more than the effort to replace.

So indmar sent a new trans and they replaced it. This has corrected all of my trans problems. I have put about 15 hours ont he new trans and it has showed no leaks and not lost power. In fact the new trans seams to pull harder than the new one ever did. So it may have been a problem from the get go it just did not present itself until later.

I am very happy with my dealer service, Steve at Chicago Sea Ray, and our engine builder Indmar for resloving this issue. I reported this problem and continued to follow up on it and they corrected it. In this case I think keeping a good eye on the fluids and making sure to note all of the symptoms and specifics about what you were doing how much weight, when during the day, etc, helped make this successfull for everyone.