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Escort gearbox leak

The gearbox on my 97 1.6 escort is leaking into the bell hosing. I seem to remember there has been a small patch of oil under the bell housing for about the last 2 years. Anyway, when my mechanic changed the clutch (there wasn't contamination on the plates BTW), he pointed out the oil in the bell housing & said the gearbox (manual) was low on oil so he topped it up. Since this the leak seems worse, leaving oil about the size of a 10p on the drive overnight. My mechanic reckons it's an oil seal, requiring a complete strip down, costing around £250. On getting other opinions I have been told that this is rare & it's more likely to be something else like a cracked casting, & I'd be looking at about £450 for a recon gearbox fitted. My questions are,

Anyone seen this problem before & what's the likely problem, are the above suggestions likely to be correct? Are the above quoted prices OK? Is there any additive I can use to help slow the leak? I only want to keep the car for 6-12 months, is it likely to last if I keep topping up the oil? Could it be that the oil is leaking from somewhere towards the top of the box, so once the oil is low it'll stop leaking & I can take my chance with low oil, just risking having to have a recon one which is one of the above options anyway.

Sorry for so many questions, but as I'm not planning on keeping the car long I'm not happy about spending too much on it.

Thanks

Dave

Reply to
Dave Griffs
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Your mechanic obviously can't be trusted or he would have changed the oil seal while he had the car apart to do the clutch. It's only about 10p for a seal but mechanics charge for labour. All that will happen is that your nice new clutch will go again soon and you will have to pay for that and the new seal. It might last a year, but will soon fail. Some rip-off merchants will do one job, put the car together and wait for the other bits they know about to fail, then charge again. God knows why you didn't just agree to the new seal and oil refill while he was doing the clutch. Don't bother with additives, they don't work and on the Escort depending on the engine, you will knacker it. You're best going to a garage and knowing what you're talking about to get an idea if the mechanic does! Never touch the main dealer as all they can do is replace minor parts.

Reply to
Pete

If it hasn't been getting on to the clutch, it probably still won't. It's probably the oil seal on the primary shaft and it would have been better to change it while the box was out. He's a bit of a d*****ad.

Depends on your POV, but if you can live with the leak, seeing as you only want to keep the car a while longer, I would live with it.

No

Yes.

It's probably not as bad as you think anyway. It always looks bad on the drive because oil spreads out so much, if you catch it in a container, you'll be surprised how little there is.

I wouldn't spend anything on it if I were you.

You're welcome.

Steve

Reply to
shazzbat

Escort gearboxes are ten a penny. You will have the IB5 box as present on Escorts, Fiestas etc (watch out for hydraulic ones though!). Depending on how mechanically minded you are, you could probably change the box yourself in less time it takes to cook a Sunday roast.

Box from a scrap yard plus the lower arm bolts and a bottle of gearbox oil should set you back about 60-70 quid.

There is also the option of just ignoring it and topping up the box oil as you go until you send the car to the scrap yard.

Reply to
Sandy Nuts

If it's just the primary shaft oil seal needs replacing, the price seems a bit steep. Often these type of seals can be hooked out and replaced without any stripping.

Again, if it is the seal, one of seal swelling additives could fix it. Normally on the shelf at Halfords. IME, for small leaks, they do work. I used it in an auto box, some years ago, that had a small leak from the selector shaft. It hasn't leaked since.

Yup. No reason why it shouldn't.

If I were you I'd stick some additive in, and if that didn't cure it I'd just keep topping up. It's going to be considerably cheaper to do that for 6 months, than have the seal, or whatever is wrong with it, professionally fixed. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

Actually the seal swelling additives do work. Maybe not in all cases, but it's certainly worth trying first. After all, the only risk is that it might not work in this particular case, and he'd be wasting the few quid spent on it. It certainly wont do any harm, and if it does work, he's quids in. Mike.

Reply to
Mike G

Forget putting additives in. Live with the drip and just check the oil every few weeks.

Reply to
Conor

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