Clutch leak? Help please!

[Maciejman]

You sir are the MAN!

Looks like the 9000 model instructions will be pretty much exact to my 9-5 set up. This is invaluable to be able to see this step by step. I never would have thought to cover the hole with smooth tape either!

Still heard horror stories about getting the seal out, so not looking forward to that. Digger mentioned a seal puller that I'll pick up but otherwise this will be a first time job for me. I do typically have pretty good patience so I'm confident that I can get in there and get it out without damaging the shaft or seating surface.

Thank you so much for sending this! Cheers my friend!

[geoff 9-3]

I’ve read that someone put a screw thru the seal and pulled it out.

[Maciejman]

I've read this trick a few times as well, but unfortunately it seems as if everyone who has done this has done it with the trans out of the car. From what I've read, there's just not enough room to do this trick without dropping the trans- which is what I'll attempt to do. I've read it's is difficult to do, but not impossible.

I'm first going to start with a flush and fill before I do anything with the seal. Seems I've figured out with my issue that the wrong type of gear oil has been used. My leak is not producing a reddish/pinkish color, it's nearly identical to clean motor oil. So it would look as if the previous owner has recently changed it with the wrong (non-GM) stuff. They could have also overfilled if they didn't pull the overfill plug, which would only add to the leaking issue. On the plus side if someone has recently changed the fluid, I shouldn't have too hard a time getting the drain and fill plugs loose! I've read those are a huge pain to break free.

I'll flush and get the correct 0063 in there, in the correct amounts and see if that fixes my leak. Better to start there and then pull the seal if it's still an issue- especially if I find the case has been overfilled. Thanks for all the help! Keep it coming if you think of anything else.

[Digger]

If you have a small enough drill to fit your working space, run a couple of pilot holes into the seal and the screw trick works. Hit center of the ring on opposite sides and stop as soon as you make an opening for the screw tip, don't keep going into the casing. The seal puller comes with the seal driver and for pushing the seal into place a thin wall deep socket, or a short piece of pipe can be used. If its a choice between dropping the tranny or $50 bucks for the tool, if you have the money get the tool, they don't have them at harbor freight, but I have seen them on amazon for as low as $15.

When it comes to tranny juice there is the wrong stuff, but there is also the better than GM stuff. When all you have to identify what's in the case is color, smell and feel it's hard to tell the difference between amzoil and synthetic motor oil and when you don't know for sure what you have its best to flush and fill.

Takes some effort to over fill a gear box in a shop with the car up on the hoist, but on the garage floor with the car lifted high on one side for working room its much easier to do. The over fill plug is the fill plug and on most cars this tranny is stuffed into there is no working room, so you have the right assortment of tools to get at the little sucker, or you sacrifice some of the tools you have to make what you need to fit the hole.

[Maciejman]

Sounds good- I won't count out the screw trick just yet!

When you say better than GM stuff, are you talking Redline's MTL(75w80)? Sounds like many have switched over to that stuff and swear by it. Reviews are also pretty darn good from all car users from what I can tell. With our colder climate here maybe the car would benefit from the lower 80.. Otherwise I think I'll stick with the original 0063.

As for overfilling, am I wrong that on these cars there's a check plug roughly half way between fill and drain plugs that should be used as the guide to when you have the proper amount of fluid in? Once the fluid starts coming out the check plug you're good.. The worksheet says 1.5 liters is the proper amount to add for final fill after flushing so this is what I'll use as my guide. But.... This is why I assumed it would be easy to overfill, if the check plug wasn't pulled I assume there's much more room to fit additional fluid in there? Am I off on the purpose of the check plug?

[Digger]

Redline is red and Amsoil looks like oil, but 75x90 is what you should use. I know it gets cold here, but you're not racing a snow machine at sub zero and you want summertime protection too.

I know what you're talking about with the check plug, but I haven't seen one on a front wheel drive tranny in years. So I checked the WIS and if you have one its not mentioned, but there are a lot of things a trained mechanic is expected to know that aren't mentioned in the WIS.

[Digger]

Thanks Digger. Definitely plan on a good flush before filling for good! Thanks for the tips including the fill plug- Don't want to drain the fluid without being able to get new fluid in! It'll be interesting to see what the last owner has in there. It shifts good but my leak isn't pink or red! At the very least I hope it's a clean oil color that comes out so I know for sure that THAT is whats leaking from my shaft seal.

I'll update when I have a chance to find out- hopefully this weekend. Thanks!

Found a 150K mile 1995 Saab 900 convert coming up for auction with steering leak, sloppy tranny, brakes, weak clutch and tranny that won't go into reverse. Started looking into tranny and found this listing http://saabworld.net/showthread.php?t=687 showing a fill plug up top and a level plug on the side. When I looked at the WIS for an 04 9-5 it only showed the #2 "level plug" as highest plug in the housing. A poster in this link believes all the 2002 and up 9-5 gear box have same housing. Worth taking a look.

Getting the #2 plug out is the one that takes ingenuity or tool.

[Maciejman]

Hey Digger. Thanks for keeping me in mind. I actually beat you to the punch in regards to that psi index. I found the one for my car, well 2002 and up anyway and it basically shows the same image. (I would include a pic but won't let me on my phone) I can confirm I do have check plug 2. I haven't tried getting to it yet but I'll give it a shot.

I'm actually under the car right now. Fill plug out, drain plug out and fluid drained. Just letting drip for a while now. It's definitely not the correct fluid, but it is as I suspected based on my leak- an oil look to it and smells like oil also. No pink hue at all. Can't wait to get it swapped out for the right stuff and see if 1. It shifts better and gets rid of my sometimes tough to get in reverse issue, and 2. Fixes my leak!

I know, I know... That second one is probably a far fetched wish but who knows- if the case was overfilled, and overfilled with a thin oil, then just maybe 'you're telling me there a chance'...

I'm going to flush twice as the index recommends, especially since I have no idea what was in there. Should be all wrapped up tomorrow afternoon. I'll report back!

[Digger]

No straight on shot for #2, 3/8 drive 8mm allen and a couple good universal joints with short extensions and if it's not already half stripped out you should be able to pop that free on the first good jerk.

Now that I have a good handle on most of the Saab specific things that can go wrong on my sportcombi I've been thinking about replacing my old half breed Maserati with a mid 90's Saab convertible, so I've been watching the auctions and found one on the west coast I would buy from pictures alone and one local that I've spent the past few hours researching transmission to see if it's inside my repair capability. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iOIYszyx8W0 and now that I know what GM number the tranny is, I'd swap in a good used one and not even bother.

Your hard to get into reverse could be worn teeth and the Redline will help with that if they aren't to bad, but more likely it's a worn linkage stop. You should know by the time you check the magnet and swirl one around in your old drained juice. Sometimes tough to get into reverse comes with this tranny, reverse is not a synchromesh gear and sometimes you need to slip into 1st before you can go to reverse. The one I'm going to check out doesn't go to reverse for the people at the auction and that could mean its been ground into reverse one to many times, or trying to pull it in has pulled the linkage way out of adjustment. More important to me is with my shoes on will I have room for my size 14 feet to work the clutch.

[Maciejman]

I didn't need to cut down an Allen to get to the drain plug, I had just enough room to slip it in there and I put a deep socket on the end of it for additional leverage and POP she went. Because of this however I couldn't get to check plug 2. If I had cut down an Allen I think I could have got to it, and I still may do this when time allows just to make sure I have the correct amount of fluid in there.

As for the performance now- I would say minimal shift smoothness improvement. Not all that noticeably better really. Reverse still hard sometimes, and at other times it slips in with zero effort. Plug magnet was pretty clean really. Nothing that would be cause for concern, just some minor 'dust' I would call it, no metal pieces. Also- I do still have my gear selector seal leak. I thought I would but there was always a little hope. So that fix likely comes next.

On the transmission- nice instructional video. Also well beyond what I would attempt to tackle! I hope mine lasts! Good luck if you pick up that local one with tranny issues. You'll have to let me know what comes of that.

On a side note- know anyone with a tech 2?