Trans leak and vibration gone with 1 STUPID FIX!!!

[2002WRXSTi]

Yeah now sit seems obvious but seriously I would have never guessed it was what it is. As you will be able to see kinda in the picture the 2 shiny bolt heads in the bottom of the tail shaft were loose

Went to my old oil change place to bitch that it was leaking like mad since they did a filter for me. So they put on a new gasket and as the top guy was filling it up the guy under yelled to stop cause it was leaking even worse! Dropped the pan and the same thing happens as trans fluid is raining from the back. So I go down under and see it raining from the back of the pan and I grabbed a 13mm wrench. 2 turn and it stopped leaking

I then drive it home and low & behold no vibrations :shifty:

Smooth as silk now, so I figure I should take the 2 bolts out one at a time. Squirt the holes with brake clean, dry em out then put some locktite on the 2 bottom bolts so this doesn't happen again

 

[unity]

Damn.... Glad it was nothing major, but it could have been. I would check those bolts again (vibration or not) in a month or so.

 

[2002WRXSTi]

Kinda wonder what the torque those bolts are supposed to have is? Gonna be a pain to get at the upper ones but I want to jack it up and go over em all cause man that vibration was bad before.

 

[kustomizingkid]

That's crazy simple... good deal mang!

 

[bsmith96mark]

Hey an easy fix is great, especially with Mark 8's. I think Ford built these cars to really screw with us! LOL

 

[CobraStar_LS8]

I think Ford built these cars to really screw with us! LOL

No...it's for us to learn...people who wrenched thousands of cars couldn't believe there's a new world out there when they looked into my Mark

 

[2002WRXSTi]

Well now I gotta watch how fast I am going all the time since my damn vibration isn't governing my speed anymore

Coming down Rt18 just now I kept hitting 65/70 and it is a 45mph zone almost it's entire distance

 

[chicken]

thats like when i switch from my 5.0 explorer to my markviii ill be cruising down some backroad, look down and see im going 90!!!! oops

 

[2002WRXSTi]

Well I'm off to lift the car up and pull out the bolts so I can lock tite them. That and make sure it ain't still leaking?

 

[2002WRXSTi]

OK no loctite on the bolts cause I wasn't in the mood to pull all the bolts out and clean them. So I tightened the 4 bolts I could get to on the side of the tail shaft and they were from a half to three quarter of a turn loose. All snugged up now and again the it feels like a completely different car

Also at around 80/90mph now I can feel a high speed drive shaft vibration. May be the reason all the bolts backed out? That and it doesn't look like my floors will ever have a rust problem now with all the ATF coating em

 

[chicken]

thats a high tech anti rusting agent lolol

 

[driller]

Also at around 80/90mph now I can feel a high speed drive shaft vibration. May be the reason all the bolts backed out?

Could be. I would have to wonder why the bolts loosened.

 

[2002WRXSTi]

thats a high tech anti rusting agent lolol

Yeah well I'm recycling big time this way...trans fluid for motion and then immediately use for an anti rust inhibitor . All the while I was in a constant state of changing my fluid

Could be. I would have to wonder why the bolts loosened.

Kinda why I wanted to hear if anybody else ever had this problem? I have had to change my tail shaft bushing in my 727 trans in my Challenger before but I was able to make a tool to let me press it out. Something I don't feel like having to do if I hurt the bushing in this trans.

 

[kustomizingkid]

I like the jacking method... lol... and the mismatched wheels....

It aint rusty!

 

[2002WRXSTi]

I like the jacking method... lol... and the mismatched wheels....

It aint rusty!

Yeah I just picked up 2 tires for the front 17" in rims so I can look a bit less WT :shifty:

That was the second side I did tightening the trans bolts. I had just done the other side and even with the 2 jacks it was still cramped under there trying to get to the bolts

 

[mlschultz]

I had the same problem with the tail shaft coming loose and leaking through the seal a few years back before all my major mods were done.

When I had the trans built for the blower, they replaced the original tail shaft. I am not sure of this, but I thought they said the new one was a beefier one than the 98 Mark tail shaft, and was from a newer 4r70w. I could be totally wrong on this, so I will ask them for sure. Also not sure if they used locktite on the bolts, but I have beat the piss out the car many times since then, and not a single trans problem for the past few years.