1993 saturn sl2 5 spd, tranny leak

If there is transmission fluid coming out of the bell housing then most likely its leaking from the quill bearing seal.That is in that sleeve that the throw out bearing slides on.Where the input shaft comes out of in the bell housing.

ok louie, looks like my bro and i have some more work to do. its still drivable for now so ill use it for short trips, fix my saab then finish my saturn.

If it is that quill bearing it's not just a pop in seal you have to remove the transmission bell housing and press it in and press it out.

speciality tools required i am guessing? possibly need to take this one to a shop then..

To save some money on labor i would do the labor yourself just bring the transmission shop your bell housing to replace it.

thats what i was thinking. we already had the tranny out once. y pay someone to do something we have already done. not to mention we pulled the engine on my brothers 94 sc2 twice. although this time it will be my engine we are pulling being as how it is my understanding that in order to remove the transmission you have to remove the engine and transmission out of the car as 1 unit.

If i replace the engine with a 5 speed and it's a S model like yours i will pull it all as a one because if you leave the transmission in it's hard to line the clutch back up with the transmission when putting the engine back in.To just remove the transmission you support the engine and remove the sub frame and the transmission.

we have pulled engine on saturns before, we just need to find a cherry picker to lift the engine and tranny out. and the up side about removing the engine i will have the space to do some other work on the engine when it is out of the car, fuel filter, oil change, plugs and wires, valve cover gasket, any suggestions? anything i should inspect for wear when the engine is out of the car?

You can replace the plugs wires valve cover gasket fuel filter and change the oil pretty easy with the engine in.I cant think of anything to check while the engine is out.I would much rather remove drop the sub frame and then the transmission but if you want to do all the work of taking out the transmission and engine then go for it.

how hard is it to drop the subframe? and do you need a lift to do so? all we have is floor jacks and a few jack stands. if it is possible to do this with the engine in i wud prefer it that way but i am not the experienced one with the mechanical workings of a car, hence the reason my brother has been helping me out with pretty much everything ive done to the car. things i can do on a car by myself is pretty limited, plugs and wires, oil change, battery replacement. and maybe if i try hard enough general brake maintanence. but thats about it. im a computer guy not car guy but to get my car going im not afraid to get my hands dirty and get it done.

The sub frame is pretty easy to drop and you can do it on jack stands have done it before.You just have to support the engine at the eyelet by the throttle body so when you remove the sub frame everything doesnt fall on you.

so support it with either a cherry picker or other strong sturdy item from a chain. should be easy enough.

The cherry picker works i have seen people lay a 4x4 across the fenders and run a chain from it but i can't recommend that method because it's wood.The engine support i have is a otc stinger the cheaper less weight rated one works great it's a universal one.

latest update: the tranny was still leaking last time i drove the car but yesterday morning the ignition lock cylinder ceased up and the key will not turn either way. starting to debate on keeping the car when i get it fixed, again.. as of right now the car is parked until i can find the time and money to fix it.

So did you fix the transmission leak and it still leaks?What position is the key stuck in?

have not had a chance to pull the tranny yet, key is stuck in the acc position, is not completely off yet not on.

Sorry it took so long to get back to you i have been without a computer or internet for several days.In the acc position you can remove the cylinder Take all the 5.5mm screws out of the steer column shroud then pull the top cover out.Then unplug the connectors above the cylinder then you will see a square release tab push it down then slide the cylinder out.Then you can see if the cylinder is jammed up or the housing itself.Let me know what you find.

its ok, im in no hurry to fix it so a late reply is ok. the tranny still needs to be removed which just might have to wait til late july. am getting a seasonal job that has 14 hour days so fixing a car will be a bit difficult in the summer months.

Well keep me posted on what you find i will be here.

got a new ignition lock cylinder, no time to put it in yet though. the keys are blank and dont have the saturn logo on them so it will be easy to tell the difference for the keys that unlock the doors and the keys to start the car. un intended added security so i dont mind using 2 seperate keys as opposed to 1 for everything. i am probably going to be paying my brother to replace the seals in the transmission while i am working long hours. 1 question though. is it possible that the front seal could be pressed in using standard tools in anyones average garage? if so how?

Did you remove the key cylinder to see if it was that binding up or something else?Or did you just buy a new cylinder?Is the new cylinder already coded to the new key it came with?I would have the new cylinder coded to your old key.Also its been a few years since i replaced a quill seal/bearing the main thing is to be careful not to crack the bell housing when pressing it in and out.if your careful i don't see why you couldn't do it with a press and some press adapters.

well i figured out what was exactly wrong with the tranny, the exact same thing that happened to my brothers 94 sc2, a pin inside the tranny wore a hole in the bell housing therefore causing it to leak, my other brother that i am having helping with the car pulled the tranny out the bottom found this out. the top motor mount also broke causing the engine to fall breaking the throttle cable and a rusted ac line, but thats about all the damage. so as long as the engine and tranny are out i am going to be replacing timing chain, oil pan seal, valve cover gasket, possibly main bearing seal (it went out on my brothers car causing him to pull the engine a while ago) and replacing the tranny with a used one from a junk yard. but i will be putting the new seals that i ordered into the junk yard tranny upon bringing it home to ensure that it doesnt leak because of that. does all this sound like a good plan? and do you have any suggestions or tips? thanks for your time louie

If the top engine mount broke when you removed the transmission you probably didnt use a engine support.As far as your plan goes sounds good nothing wrond with replacing seals when the transmission is out.You can match up some pvc fittings to make axle seal installers etc thats my tip make sure you get a dead blow soft faced hammer to hammet on the pvc fitting and tap lightly.

so the hand tools of a pvc fitting and a deadblow will work to "press" the seals into the replacement tranny correct?

Yes the pipe fitting slip joint on one side and threads on the other side.

on the back of the motor there is a sensor right above and slightly to the left of the crankshaft position sensor, this sensor has 2 inputs/outputs for vaccumm lines, one leads to the air intake manifold and the other leads to another shorter line that is attached to the firewall. both of them are off and i dont know which one goes to which line. i think this is the canister purge solenoid we discussed a while ago but i am not really positive. can you tell me which hose goes on which particular position on the sensor? we inspected the timing chain and it still looked new yet and there is only 124 thousand miles on the car so we decided no to replace the timing chain at this time. we found a new way to lift the engine as well, we attached a 2x8 board to the roof rafters of the garage and used a chain and come a long to lift the engine, hopefully it will also work for purring the engine back in after we re attach the sub frame.

Yes thats the canister purge solenoid and it doesnt matter which hose goes to which nipple.I would never use a come along to lift the engine out i would rent a engine hoist.If you were just removing thr transmission you could have just dropped the subframe and took it out the bottom all you would have to do is support the engine.Thats how i take them.out.

yes that is how he removed the transmission but the engine ended up coming out with it somehow, i dont know exactly how all i know is the top motor mount broke when the jack he was using to support the engine slid out from under it, accidents happen and i am kinda short on funds to be renting an engine hoist, so the come along with a thicker chain works well for lifting the engine for now being as how it is after all only a 4 cyl engine and not a monster of a v8. it works well for lowering as well and has 2 hook ups with a pulley as a center connection so it works better than you would think for lifting in a pinch. thanks for the info bout the canister purge solenoid louie.

Your welcome i see how you broke the engine mount you didnt use a engine support on top you used a floor jack on the bottom very dangerous especially considering what happened.Keep me posted.

yes indeed dangerous, we have done it before but not with all but one mount removed, i was not present at the time it was being done being as how my brother is the one doing most of the work. he is rather gifted when it comes to fixing cars he just tries to take too many shortcuts, hence the broken motor mount. thanks also for the past refferal to rock auto, their prices are insanely good even with shipping and needless to say they have gotten plenty of business from my brother and myself.

He won't be gifted for long taking short cuts like.Your welcome about the rockauto i have bought a lot of parts myself from them did they ever email you a 5 percent discount code from there?

so far no discount code. shame shame because last week i placed an order totaling about $120.

Here is one that expires on july 24 you put in the how did you hear about us box.57637393242193

better yet here is one that expires on sept 11th 62539003242193 they send me these codes all the time i guess i spend more there then you lol.

we got the k frame bolted back onto the car, tie rod ends installed, ball joints are in, valve cover gasket done, ac drier and radiator installed, and ignition switch installed, wheels were put back on and set on the ground. all in all progress was made so im satisfied for the day. still have to replace oil pan seal, attach transmission find out where all the wires go and put the works back into the car.
next question is when we put the engine back into the car, do we have to put the engine and tranny in at the same time or can we put the tranny in, pull it aside and then lower the engine in?

On the manual transmissions i always put the engine and transmission in all together.You just set the chain on the hook so the transmission is slung downward let the transmission touch the frame and slide it over so the engine can come down.Also if you removed the radiator fan assembly goog if not take it out it gives you a lot more room.

got the engine bolted onto 3 mounts to hold it in so we could get the car out of the garage it was halfway in, the come a long with the logging chain worked rather well for lowering the engine into place, granted we knew how big of a board to use with the proper bolts for mounting the logging chain. and i finally got a discount code from rock auto. haha. one of the wires on the back of the motor we need to re attach to the wire it came off of, hopefully this should be it for fixing for a while, aside from the e brake arm that is ceased on one of the back calipers yet. after its all assembled i just need to take it in for an alignment and possible ac recharge if they are not too expencive.

You let the a/c charge out to remove the engine?I never do i zip tie the the a/c compressor to the radiator core support and remove the radiator fan assembly and that gives me plenty of room.Most of the time i have seen that roll pin in differential break and come thru the trans case like yours did in the automatics and manaul transmissions is from people spinning there tires in the ice or trying to rock there car out of there snow covered drive way.Its pretty common back east for that pin to break.But here in sunny california you really dont see that happen.Also the ebrake arms on the caliper freezing up really common back east.Hopefully it doesnt cause the brakes to drag i have seen that before.

when the engine dropped it broke an ac line off the radiator that was already severely corroded. and the caliper e brake arm is just really rusted, needs replacing. the ebrake still grips 1 wheel but i disconnected the cable from the rusted caliper as to not become a sitting duck.

ok so we are almost finished with the assembly but there is a plug on the back of the motor underneath the knock sensor with a tan with black stripe wire leading to it. im wondering what it is becase i had to re connect a segment of wire to it and the plug is now missing with a bare tan and black wire hanging there. im wondering if you know what that particular plug is for. i looked in the haynes manual and the wiring diagrams are complicated to say the least and unclear. hope you get back soon, thanks louie