T5 trans swap, now RMS leak

I've done the rear main on my rebuilt (under 6k miles) B23ft twice now. The first time didn't seal because of a botched speedi-sleeve on my part. The second one sealed perfectly for a couple thousand miles. I had the trans off last week to swap in a T5. It was bone dry.

Now, after a couple hundred miles driving with the T5 it's slinging a substantial amount of oil off the back of the flywheel, to the point it's even coming out of the CPS hole at the TOP of the bell housing. Can anyone think of a reason for this besides a terrible coincidence? Nothing about the T5 install could have damaged the seal. Maybe the vibration/resonance from the different transmission?

What brand of seal are you using? I've had really bad luck with aftermarket, OEM has sealed up nicely for years. Last elring I installed was dripping after 6 months, replaced at a year with a National, got a year from that. Swapped to OEM, 2 years and counting. A bunch of people I have talked to have had the similar experiences.

Aside from that, nothing I know of that would cause an issue like that other than breather system issues. Can you pull the lower bracket, see if the seal is walking out by any chance?

There’s also the paper gasket behind the rms seal carrier. I had one leaking recently and this was the cause.

gsellstr said:

What brand of seal are you using? I've had really bad luck with aftermarket, OEM has sealed up nicely for years. Last elring I installed was dripping after 6 months, replaced at a year with a National, got a year from that. Swapped to OEM, 2 years and counting. A bunch of people I have talked to have had the similar experiences.

Aside from that, nothing I know of that would cause an issue like that other than breather system issues. Can you pull the lower bracket, see if the seal is walking out by any chance?

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The first seal was a brown Elring, and I had a speedi-sleeve on the crank. Then I pulled the sleeve off the crank and put an OEM seal (the kid that comes with the installation sleeve) on it. That had been sealing until today. I'll put it on ramps in a bit and pull the bottom cover off. I'm thinking I may need to put another speedi-sleeve on (correctly this time) with a new OEM seal.

Mudbutt said:

There?s also the paper gasket behind the rms seal carrier. I had one leaking recently and this was the cause.

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Yup, that got replaced when I did the second RMS. I used Permatex #2 to be sure it wouldn't leak, and it has been leak free. I suspect the seal on the crank, but we'll have to wait and see.

The real bummer is that I was supposed to do a three day drive all over CA, leaving this Friday. That might be pushing it...

Might also have had the seal retainer start coming loose, or a bolt came out perhaps. Should be obvious when you pull the cover off if either of those are the issue. If it is the retainer, you might be able to tighten back up without pulling things apart.

Good luck!

BTW, Ryan hit you up about the yard run tomorrow?

gsellstr said:

Might also have had the seal retainer start coming loose, or a bolt came out perhaps. Should be obvious when you pull the cover off if either of those are the issue. If it is the retainer, you might be able to tighten back up without pulling things apart.

Good luck!

BTW, Ryan hit you up about the yard run tomorrow?

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I pulled the cover and couldn't see much. It all seemed fairly dry around the retainer and no bolts had fallen out. I smeared some of the fluid from the bottom of the bellhousing on a piece of paper, and it's definitely mostly red ATF. I think the RMS is weeping a bit where it mates to the oil pan, but the main leak that's leaving drops on the ground is, in fact, the trans. Another reason to love this T5...

And no, Ryan didn't mention a yard run. Which one?

Ahh, well, looks like the trans gets to come out again. lol

Hitting up Oakland and Newark, leaving his place around 8.