move to lakeland, it will set you free. and hogcar wins...

you can see the scale and the pen i pointing to what would be my guess is the vent... i can lift it up and spin it...

i wonder if you fill through the shifter it drifts over, or an over fill spits oil....


beers

 

Well, that's part of the mystery - I've got no leakage at all. The entire tranny is completely dry on the outside. Spotless.
So is the turret.

 

how many people smelling this have an uninsulated aftermarket cat/mid pipe?

 

i think i qualify as not insulated aftermarket cat... and no problem... trans oil was changed at 30k miles with rp... as was the diff...

was done by the dealer while they were replacing my mop...

beers

 

What happened to the MOP?
I think mine is sticking open after hard runs.

 

had a cel, at 18 k miles... they replaced the o2 sensor. then at 30 k miles. with lots of imput the mop was replaced... car never ran bad. but bad stuff happened after...

pm me for the rest of the story...

beers

 

I went to Redline 75W140NS gear oil after the second trans failure, partly because I know my trans is getting much hotter now due to the radiated heat from my exhaust which I know for a fact glows bright cherry red under various throttle conditions (melted the rear O2 wiring connector solid ) and comes a bit closer to the trans due to the straighter run. I never got the gear oil smell until I made that oil change, and I didn't fill it through the shifter because if you ever spill gear oil in the interior you'll never get rid of that smell.

 

Must be running some monster EGTs. My midpipe doesn't reach those kinds of temps.

The technique for the gear oil requires a few feet of nitrile tubing and a funnel.
Chance of getting gear oil inside the car is nil.
I have a magic potion for oil spills, just in case.

 

ok, I thought you were just pouring it in the hole

 

I have a full factory exhaust system and have only filled the tranny from underneath the car. I might have gone maybe a tenth of a quart over on this latest fill, but that's the only reason I can thing of.

 

The dealer (of course) says they can't smell it. I'm going to try sealing the rubber boot this weekend and seeing if that helps.

 

I got it at the track day I did with stock cat.... Never had a problem on the street or autocrossing.

 

I got the oil smell too after my second trans oil change. No leaks at all, not even any residue. It's absolutely clean and yet, the light smell.
Am I a car geek if I like it?

 

I got it after I added Pre mix.

Had it for 3 tank fulls, then it went away.

Are you sure its not premix?

 

gear oil and exhaust oil are two entirely different smells

 

Even though I was entirely sure it was gear oil, I still stuck some up my nose to be sure (for comparison).

Yes. Yes, you are.
Actually, if I know that it isn't something immanently failing, I don't mind it either.
The wife has a different opinion...

 

It's not premix. I don't premix (yet - waiting to hear what olddragger finds out from the lab) and I have the smell. Like a lot of folks, the smell started after my first tranny fluid change last June.

Hopefully someone figures out how to get rid of it 'cause I can't stand the smell.

 

I just noticed the smell after my RP tranny change, but it was probably the most noticable after about 4-5 days of NOT driving the car b/c of winter weather...??? I went to get something out of the car after it had been sitting for 5 days and the smell was very noticable??

 

I'm reviving this old thread. I just changed the transmission fluid to RP75W90 and now my cabin smells like a giant natural gas leak!! I thought maybe it'll go away after a week, but it's actually getting stronger. Kind of iffy if you think about it cause we've been breathing in the odorless OEM transmission fluid all this time unknowningly.

Why can't aftermarket gear oil be odorless like the OEM fill?!

 

OEM oil stinks, too.

I don't know why this is happening and I am stumped.

I checked every seal on the tranny (front, rear, turret and all of the sensors) and I can't find oil anywhere.
Does any manufacturer make a dye that would be benign to the transmission internals that I can add to the oil for a couple of weeks?

 

Yes, on the dye. We use it in the OEM and, with an ultraviolet/black light we see where the leaks are. I'll look into that and see where I can direct you to buy some. Even better, if we have some laying around I'll send it to you. In the meantime, try "apexdyes.com".

 

The only thing I can think of is my OEM fluid fill was a little low. Maybe they underfilled it on purpose.

Do people with the Miata have the same problem?

 

Same problem here. Been almost 3 weeks now. The smell seems to be dying down though. Only a very faint smell now. I'll give it more time before I tear down the center console.

FS

 

if you want the rid the smell forever guys buy new cabin air filters.

 

You've obviously never worked with tranny fluid