Jonathan
07-20-2020, 09:34 PM
I have my pan off looking to fix a few persistent leaks. My pan wasn't leaking anywhere obvious, but I wanted to take it off and redo the seal anyway. And, most importantly, I wanted to have it off so I could see from underneath exactly how the dipstick tube slides into place. Mine has leaked out of that dipstick tube off and on pretty much the entire time I've had the car.
I did notice something I hadn't seen before though. The hole for the bolt that secures the lower bracket of the dipstick tube is the same hole used from underneath by one of the pan bolts. And on my car this hole goes all the way through from one side to the other. Like I could probe with a slim screwdriver all the way through the hole uninhibited and see the screwdriver end poke out the other side.
Is this how they all are? Anyone ever see this as a concern for leaks? Conceivably if you didn't have a good seal around that pan bolt along with some RTV in the threads, you might get some ATF travel out that way and through the opposite side where the tube bracket bolt is. I had never thought of putting some RTV on that tube bracket bolt, but maybe I will now.
It's probably not a huge source of the leaks, because the pathway is pretty tiny and circuitous, but it still might be contributing some? Any thoughts or experiences similar?
I did notice something I hadn't seen before though. The hole for the bolt that secures the lower bracket of the dipstick tube is the same hole used from underneath by one of the pan bolts. And on my car this hole goes all the way through from one side to the other. Like I could probe with a slim screwdriver all the way through the hole uninhibited and see the screwdriver end poke out the other side.
Is this how they all are? Anyone ever see this as a concern for leaks? Conceivably if you didn't have a good seal around that pan bolt along with some RTV in the threads, you might get some ATF travel out that way and through the opposite side where the tube bracket bolt is. I had never thought of putting some RTV on that tube bracket bolt, but maybe I will now.
It's probably not a huge source of the leaks, because the pathway is pretty tiny and circuitous, but it still might be contributing some? Any thoughts or experiences similar?