I need help people... I put my car away for the winter in my indoor garage about a month ago. I had to move it so I put it in accessory, put it into neutral and pushed it a few feet. I then noticed an oil spill lined up with where the shift lever would be in the car. The oil looks clean and orange... Is this transmission oil? What could this spell if the transmission is a sealed unit? I tried starting the car and it started and drove no problem with no lights on in the dash... The streets here are full of snow and driving it to the dealer right now is out of the question... I'm afraid if I leave it parked all winter, the car will drain itself out completely (whatever it is) and then it will be impossible to drive it in spring... Am I in for a HUGE repair bill? What could it be if not the tranny itself? Trans cooler? Any ideas?

 

It sounds like it could be coolant, as I believe this may be the color you are describing. You may want to "pop the hood" and check your coolant level. While your there, see if the coolant's color is close to that of the spill on the garage floor.

Good luck...

 

I don't think coolant would be so oily. This has a texture like oil, very greasy. Crankshaft seal?

 

It's not orange at all... It's light brown and it's oil... I added some pics, maybe someone here will have seen this before and can tell me what to expect. I don't get it, I didn't do anything out of the ordinary and the car works fine.... Any help would be appreciated...

 

Well...That certainly is not orange! From the pictures that is engine oil, probably from a seal. It also is, based on the pics, a fairly aggressive leak. You'll probably need to wait until the snow clears, then it's off to the dealer or local garage.

I can relate to snow issue, we live in the Lake Tahoe area and are getting a fair amount of the white stuff. I have a check engine light on and I can't get it looked at until we have a stretch of decent weather.

 

Sorry to disagree with you here dave but that looks like the rear of the transmission therefore it looks like quite a bad leak from the rear of the transmission

 

The boys at Jaguar here say it's either the seal of the oil pan (transmission oil pan) or the pan itself. It might also be leaking from the connection from transmission to transmission oil cooler. Opinions?

 

Leave it alone till spring, have your dealer or an indy look at it then.

 

I thought these trans don't have a gasket there. Some sort of jag super duper special seal. lol

 

If it's a transmission fluid leak, isn't that more concerning than an engine oil leak? You can't simply top off a sealed transmission!

 

I had a similar situation with my 2002 XKR. It was one of the tranny cooler lines. The line had worked loose and had to be repaired, and the tranny fluid topped off. Granted your car is a later model but it really looks similar.

Hopefully it is just a cooler line. That repair is not extremely expensive. If it's a seal, then the tranny will have to come out and then you are talking serious coin.

As long as you aren't driving it, there is no pressure in the lines (or on the seal) so you won't lose anymore fluid that what you see. The other question is how long has this been going on. Hopefully not long...I guess you would have noticed it before now?

 

Gavin...

Looks like I stand corrected, let's hope this is an easy fix.

 

Had the same issue on my 2004 VDP.

 

Hi
i think it may be the fitting that is in the back of the gear box,
its a plug and shocket for the wireing for the gear box,
there is a seal that gos,
the pan has to come off and you replace it from in side the box,

 

I had exactly the same problem exactly a year ago wth my 2007 XK. I thought it was trans fluid, turned out to be oil. After fretting all winter (car isnt driven in canadian winter) I took it to the dealer in the spring and it turned out to be a leaking seal on the oil filter. Presumably had not been well tightened at the last oil change but didnt leak at all until it sat in the garage for a couple of months and dried out some.

Good luck.