Agreed, but having cut my teeth on my first motorcycle, a british bike,( 1973 750 Triumph Tiger) Bought from the original owner in 74. He lived in a bad area, wanted to buy a house in a better area, for his daughter to start school. Knew the guy he sold his old pristine B S A to, he loved the bike, said nothing but good things about the seller. They worked at the same place, that's how it was found.Seems the brits design little flaws into their products to keep you coming back, for parts if nothing else.Many can be cured by small modifications, others take a bit of a redesign on something, & others just keep on happening as nothing else can really be done but replace things as wear parts.

 

The reason we Brits have never been able to make computers is that the engineers still have not discovered how to make them leak oil.

 

And Microsoft don't do that do they.

 

Have you not seen the Bletchley code cracker then.

 

That's not a leak, it's marking its turf.

 

After replacing the VVT seals, not my leak. Still a drip from what looks to be the plastic trans pan, but above it looks to be dry. Ordered a steel one on the web, bought the seal, filter,8 quart's of Motocraft SP trans fluid, from the Ford dealer, will make sure the trans has enough fluid to drive to get the e check, & drive a bit before winter.Change all fluids, filters, serpentine belt, upper control arms, rubber on upper ball joint is shot from what looks like the car wash to me.As well as anything that i see, want to put it back to a worry, & leak free condition.

 

While you are there, replace the plastic sleeve around the main electrical connector. It locks in place with a tab that can only be reached when the pan is off. The sleeve is towards the back, passenger side, fairly high up.

Separately, double check the fill procedure with the metal pan. The trans takes in one LESS quart as with the plastic pan, and the fill hole to use is on the metal pan, not on the transmission anymore. In other words, the metal pans I have seen have both the fill and drain holes on the pan itself. The plastic pan has just a drain hole, and the fill hole is on the trans.

This place has great write-ups for these transmissions: www.thectsc.com/tree-faq

 

UPDATE on VVT seal treatment. After a fair run in warm weather so far my pre installation treatment of the seals is working. Not the slightest seepage.

 

Seepage takes time. Keep an eye on the VVT seals and keep us posted. Good luck....

 

It is not a design flaw. British cars (I have owned several) that do not leak oil have been known to explode from the built up pressure.

 

Well guys got the front the car up enough to see, looks as if the trans plastic pan has been reused, hopefull that is the source of the leak. Got all but 2 bolts loose with the torx bit's, others vise grips handled & tightened them all more than they were loosened, leak should better, if not stopped . Got the fill plug too loose lost, & an ounce or two, the fluid on the floor looked new, so looks like there's plenty of clean fluid.Have the steel pan, bolts, gasket, & 8 quarts of Mercon S P trans fluid so far, will need at least a couple more,will get the o'ringed sleeve, with the electrical connections, & saw something about 3 rubber type shift boots that get hard. Have to pull valve body to get at them, but that should not be too hard to do. They are right under it, & will only fit one way, is my understanding, if so, it's is well worth a little extra effort if things last longer, & work more like new.

 

Viton would be great.. we use those many areas on Porsche engines, like oil return tubes and pressure sending units, assembled with a Vaseline like paste (curil T) and no leaks.


Another thought would be Yamabond which forms a thin elastic film. This is used to seal motorcycle case halves but does not dry as brittle, and not nasty like silicone sealants.


Keep us posted on the viton if found. In the meantime I'm going to replace with the factory seal coated with curil.

 

UPDATE. The "liquid electrical insulation tape" i first used melted in extreme heat so I used high temp silicone gasket maker and 100% succcess and holding.

 

Viton seals ? Are they the ones with the spring-like collar around the opening ? That sounds like a good idea.