Manual transmission

[hbrown]

I recently had to swap out my manual transmission in my 89' 240-First I bought a used transmission from a junkyard and decided that I wanted to clean it out good before I put it in so I took the casing halves apart so I could see the condition of it. I was very unsatisfied by the internals of it- it had some serious bearing play and more tooth chips than I wanted to be putting back in my car- so I put it aside. Then I bought a whole 240 parts car that had a transmission in it- (for less than I paid for the junkyard transmission) so I removed that transmission and checked it out- it looked fine inside so I was in business. Well, I cleaned it all up and installed it- I used the Royal Purple synthetic manual transmission fluid that is GL-4 rated. It shifts great, but the fluid is leaking badly at the front seal. (yeah, I know I should have put new seals in it- call me a dummy- but they looked and felt fine) Lesson learned.

My question is this: Are there supposed to be gaskets where the front bearing cover goes on inside the bellhousing, and at the parting line where the case halves go together? I have seen the contents of a rebuild kit that included a gasket for the casing halves- I looked at all three transmissions I have and none of them had any gaskets anywhere except for at the shifter plate cover- there was just sealer on all the mating surfaces. I used Hylomar sealant when I reassembled it- it said on the tube that it was recommended for gearbox casings and such- so I figured it was the right stuff. I can't tell if the seal is leaking or something else up front. It seems to have either leaked down past the level of oil, or it has mostly leaked out at this point- I am gonna put it back up on blocks and check the level of oil this weekend and see how much is left in it.

This is very aggravating- take this as a good piece of advice- if you buy a used transmission- just go ahead and do the seals- now I am looking at basically doing the whole job over again- which is no fun in a home driveway. Also beware of junkyard trannys- if I had put it in the car and tried to drive it and found out it was FUBAR then at least I could have taken it back- (and just been out of the time and aggravation of the installation). But I just had to take it apart to inspect and clean it- and then they won't warranty it after you take it apart. Just a crappy ordeal all together. Why are these trannys so hard to getworked on or get parts for? Why is it I can't find any standard GL-4 oil in my part of the country?OK- I'll quit ranting now. I love my 240, but durn!!!!HBZ

[b16sareoverrated]

yes you have to remove the front retainer to replace the seal and while you are at it you should replace the rear one, you will have to take the yoke off.. as for the gaset surfaces, there are no gaskets buff them really good and put loctite gasket eliminator on the surfaces. be very careful wityh the seals and use a seal driver or a piece of wood to drive them in.

[92gvr4#333]

mad props on your throughness of your junk yard trans. Most would just slide it in and hope for the best.

Good job on the tear down and inspection.

did you replace the syncros on the one you did just put in?