Transmission leak - please advise

[docc]

You know your Scura is in the final stages of darkening when the mating surfaces of the cases are being subdued. 

 

This goes much further and it will form a spontaneous black hole and never be seen or heard from again . . .

[Scud]

Got home last night to find that my special tool had arrived from Harpers (the one to remove the nut that retains the input gear). So that, along with other tools graciously lent to me, made it possible to split the cases. The good news - I do not see any evidence of a crack. Also, I'm pretty sure the leak was due to loose fasteners. Three of the top ones, near the source of the leak came free with almost no effort - and there's no way to re-torque those without removing at least the rear cover of the transmission.

 

A further discovery - they must paint the castings without any masking at the factory, then send them off for machining. The inside of my transmission case had a lot of the crinkle paint, and it was starting to come off. There was some black sludge that had settled in the bottom of the oil - some of which I assume was due to the paint coming off. 

 

 

So... It seems possible that re-torqueing the fasteners could have cured the leak, but I am glad to get the sludge-inducing crinkle paint out of the inside of the transmission case. I don't know if it causes a big enough problem to worry about, but it seems that bits of paint floating about cannot be good for seals and bearings.