DCT Pan Leak

[Glutton4punishment]

I have been attempting to resolve a small DCT pan leak with no luck. I have replaced the pan gasket twice the last time I used what was suppose to be a Viton gasket. I found the Viton gasket on EBay for 90 bucks. I may be wrong but I was taught that Viton rubber smells a little like Cinnamon and this gasket did not smell at all.

So I'm down to replacing the pan and was hoping someone may know where to purchase a decent billet pan that doesn't cost a ton of money.

 

[houtan]

Are you sure it’s from the pan and not the mechatronics seal where it plugs in? My leak looked like it was from the pan but after the pan was replaced the leak was still there. That’s when the dealership realized the leak was coming from above from the mechatronics plug.

 

[Glutton4punishment]

Are you sure it’s from the pan and not the mechatronics seal where it plugs in? My leak looked like it was from the pan but after the pan was replaced the leak was still there. That’s when the dealership realized the leak was coming from above from the mechatronics plug.

Thank you for getting back to me.
I will admit it is not an easy leak to pin point. I'm sure I'm on the right track just because each time I have replaced the gasket the leak has stopped for a month or two. It seems like a few heat cycles and it comes back. I suspect that the pan must be slightly wrapped.
If I am going to replace the pan I would like to make it an upgrade if I can. The Burger Motorsports cover is a beautiful piece of machine work but even at the sale price of 800 bucks it is a little above my budget. I found a complete DCT on eBay with 60k miles on it for 900 bucks. Its hard to spend almost the same amount on a cover.

 

[houtan]

no problem. Sounds like what was happening to me. My recommendation would be to reach your hand up where the plug is and see if there is a small puddle of oil up there. I think it fills up and eventually makes its way down. The oil ends up covering the oil pan so it looks like to the extent where it looks like the leak is coming from the oil pan gasket when in reality its slowly trickling down from above.

 

[Glutton4punishment]

I’m going to take your advice and check that out. It would be just like me to be short sighted and miss this.
I hesitate to ask, if you are right will this repair require transmission removal?

 

[Lurcher]

Had my complete pan replaced at 34k. Mechanic didn't want to risk it with just gasket . All the custom pans are big bucks....

 

[Glutton4punishment]

Had my complete pan replaced at 34k. Mechanic didn't want to risk it with just gasket . All the custom pans are big bucks....

 

[Glutton4punishment]

Here’s the rest of the story. My car has 50,000 miles on it. The water pump decided to fail. So I thought I would tackle the transmission leak while I changed the water pump and thermostat. I got it up and the covers removed and sure enough the transmission cover was wet. I had already ordered the new cover and gasket so I was ready. I took a real hard look to see if this fluid could be coming from anywhere else. At first I was thought it may be coming from the plug like was suggested earlier. Turned out my engine valve cover had cracked and oil was dribbling down from above.
Here’s the part that has me most worried. I have been lurking on this forum for a while. Everything that has been mentioned on the forum as a weak link has failed. BTW the water pump thermostat have got to be the hardest to change that I have ever come across.

 

[carabuser]

ed out my engine valve cover had cracked and oil was dribbling down from above.
Here’s the part that has me most worried. I have been lurking on this forum for a while. Everything that has been mentioned on the forum as a weak link has failed. BTW the water pump thermostat have got to be the hardest to change that I have ever come across.

I'm gearing up for a water pump and thermostat change on my car. What made it so tricky?

Is it any worse than the same job on a 335i?

 

[Glutton4punishment]

For me what made my replacement difficult was how much stuff I had to take off just to get to it. Then when I could finally see it the hose clamps that I needed to loosen were clocked in such a way that I couldn't get to the screwdrive's because they were behind the rack and pinion. Then I had to take my rack and pinion loose and pull it out of the way. All the while coolant is dripping down on you as you wiggle around underneath trying to find that combination of wobbles and extensions to get those hose clamps loose. So the short answer is space on the Z 4 is tight and that makes it difficult. Is this area the same on the 335i? I do not know but the You Tube video that I watched before hand of Otto at BavAuto made it look a lot easier. I think he was working on a 3 series. Now in hind sight after having done it once it would be a little easier then the first time.

 

[carabuser]

For me what made my replacement difficult was how much stuff I had to take off just to get to it. Then when I could finally see it the hose clamps that I needed to loosen were clocked in such a way that I couldn't get to the screwdrive's because they were behind the rack and pinion. Then I had to take my rack and pinion loose and pull it out of the way. All the while coolant is dripping down on you as you wiggle around underneath trying to find that combination of wobbles and extensions to get those hose clamps loose. So the short answer is space on the Z 4 is tight and that makes it difficult. Is this area the same on the 335i? I do not know but the You Tube video that I watched before hand of Otto at BavAuto made it look a lot easier. I think he was working on a 3 series. Now in hind sight after having done it once it would be a little easier then the first time.

I'm leaving it for a 4 day weekend in case it ends up being a nightmare. The videos for the 335i just show the sway bar being dropped. Really don't want to have remove the intercooler as it was a very tight fit.

How would you compare this job to something like downpipe install? Easier or harder?

 

[Glutton4punishment]

@carabuser To be honest I really can't tell you if it's harder than down pipes or not. But I can say that while I was working on my car I was looking at those down pipes and it looked pretty tight up in there.
Here is one thing I did while working on the water pump that you may want to consider. I took sample's of the two different size o rings for the water hose connectors down to a seal house here in Seattle and bought replacement o rings. BMW doesn't list the o rings separate from the hose's.