Transfer case leak repair?

[pushpole]

Just hauled the flats boat up from Florida and noticed a small puddle of transmission fluid on the driveway the next morning, hmmmmmmm. It looked like the tranfer case but could'nt be sure. I drained and refilled the transfer case and cleaned everything up. I parked the truck for a day and no leaks. I put the truck up on jack stands and took her for a 70 mph drive in the driveway.... I found a pinhole leak in the casing (casting porosity?). What's the real deal repair for a leak like this? Thanx!

[DmaxMaverick]

Get the dealer to take care of it, even if you are out of warranty. It may be an obvious manufacturer's defect, which allows for some descretion on the dealer's part to help you. Many cases find the dealer covering the repair, or at least a good part of it. If you have a porosity issue with the case, the leak is just the beginning of a more drastic failure.

[lookin2buy]

pushpole-

DmaxMaverick is right. Take it to the dealer and you might be suprised. No sense in letting it keep leaking, and adding fluid once and a while. It might be something that could still be covered even if it is out of warranty.

[Cliffee]

That is a known defect. GM should acknowledge it. They now have a diiferent transfer case that does not get this leak.

[pushpole]

The dealer and regional rep want to try a leak repair. I've reluctantly agreed. The repair looks like a epoxy smear at the leak location. I must admit it's a very good color match! I will monitor the results in around town driving for a while before I head out for an extended trip. I did get the key words casting porosity in the written diagnosis of the problem. Thanx for the input.

[DmaxMaverick]

Not acceptable!

Under these circumstances, I would demand a warranty extension (specific to the xfer case) to 100K miles. It WILL leak again, and possibly grenade on you. If they are confident that the fix will fix it, then they will be willing to extend your warranty. If they do not, then that should show you just how confident they are in the repair.

A patch like this only gets you outside of the warranty period in most cases.

[4diesels]

DO NOT give in until they make the fix that YOU want. I spent the better part of three days working over a "customer service" rep in order to get what I wanted. Rest assured, it was far more than what they "offered" initially. The simple argument about an ext warranty is the desire to not be stranded one day when the known problem suddenly gets bigger

If you are the original owner of the truck and better yet if it isn't your first GM truck, you might be surprised what they will do if you make enough of a stink. Not how it SHOULD be but, that is the road they force you to go down.

[DA BIG ONE]

What t-case do you have?

[letsgo]

Quite often pressurized aluminium pipes and tankes can be repaired with dedicated patch kits.

HOW EVER your transfer case is magnesium not aluminium SOOOO what patch kit do they propose using???????

good luck

[William Lee Gingerich]

The transfer case on our crewcab dually started leaking recently, took it to the dealer and there is a brass bushing inside that supports a shaft and if the bushing wears enough, the shaft can wear a pinhole in the back half of the case. That is what happened in our case. Dealer says it will cost $850 plus tax ,not very happy about it!!


02 3500 Crewcab Dually Duramax Allison 65k

[HELENA TRANSMISSION]

what we have found with these tfc's is in the rear case half is where the pump sits in the case.the fit here is not exactly perfect and the resulting"slack" and the on and of the gas of normal driving wears a hole in the case.the only correct repair is replace the case.epoxy will work for a while.we tryed to have one welded with no success.the material thickness there is too thin.good luck!

[DmaxMaverick]

Helena

Thanks for the info.

Is the wear caused by abrasion, or peening? Could the condition be improved/worsened by the type of lubrication or service interval?

I have heard of $850 for the repair by a dealer. What is the cost of parts to make the repair, not including any labor? Can you offer part #'s of what is needed to make the repair?

Thanks

[HELENA TRANSMISSION]

the wear is caused by abrasion.if i remember correctly on this certain tfc there is a clip type spring inside that is designed to dampen the back and forth movement of the pump assy and in this case it was broken.the new case 1/2 has a new spring in it.so it is possible that this is the same problem.good thing there is a magnet in the bottom of the case to catch these parts or else.fluid changes would not help this type of problem.is it a design flaw or driving style issue i guess time will tell.by the way it will only leak fluid while driving not when parked.the pinhole is high enough in the case that it is above the fluid level when parked.i will check on parts cost and possible repair cost in the aftermarket.

[HELENA TRANSMISSION]

rear case section part number is 12478092.my cost through gm was $274,retail at $365.should take about 5-6 hrs to complete job plus some fluid and an adapter gasket.

[pushpole]

The epoxy smear did not work. It started leaking in about 70 miles. So the aft section of the transfer case is being replaced. I can't get the regional rep to cover the whole thing. It's a 50/50 split with credit for the failed epoxy repair. It'll be about 3 bills to me.
Later, and thanx for the input.

[CHVYMAN#9]

THIS IS A KNOWN PROBLEM WITH THE TRANSFERCASES IN THE AREA OF THE OIL PUMP (USUALLY ONLY WITH HD 2500/3500 WITH NON-AUTO T-CASE). THE ONLY WAY TO GET THIS TO GO TO A SPECIAL POLICY OR RECALL IS FOR PEOPLE THAT EXPIRIENCE THIS PROBLEM TO MAKE A CASE WITH GM (POWER IN NUMBERS!) IT IS A DESIGN FLAW OF NEW PROCESS AND NEEDS TO BE ADRESSED. YOU MAY HAVE TO PAY SOME NOW BUT SHOULD GET REIMBURSED IF GOES TO A POLICY.

[jylars]

I recently replaced my transfer case for the price of $1221. It had ran dry and sounded like a theshing machine when I put into 4 wheel. I was told that this was at cost.

[hawkeye43]

Getting GM to stand behind the case is like the way they are handling the injectors. Its a pile of b-llsh-t that when my truck goes down and it takes 3 to 5 weeks to get it going because of a shortage of injectors that i have nothing to drive, all they say is sorry. They knew of this problem for what 8 or 9 months now and its a fix as they fail thing, maybe its is time to buy a Ford

[floridadmax]

what they need is for 3 or 4 to lock up injury and or kill some people then they will have a safety recall and such.

[mattb5150]

My truck is now leaking from the x case. Noticed ATF all over the bottom of the truck yesterday from the case back. Got on the site here did some reading about this. Drained the case and about a pint of purplish silvery fluid came out, didn't smell burned however. Wanted to post to see if there have been any successes in having GM fix this. My truck is at 89k miles now, GM wouldn't replace steering shaft a few months ago even though I had reported it and had the bearing replaced prior to 36k warranty. So I doubt they would touch this. I am going to talk to a few trans shops around here one owner has a Dmax/alli himself and see what this will cost me to have done.

Matt B.