Hello.

I left the RR standing whilst I was away for the weekend and came back to discover some ATF on the road. Its hard to say how much has leaked but enough to cover 1/2m2. It appears to be dripping off the autobox dip stick tube. I replaced the autobox filter, o rings and gasket about 5 months ago, so I'm certain its neither of them. I checked to make sure the nut securing the tube on was tight, which is was. It looks dry at either end of the gearbox, so i'm fairly confident it's not either the front or rear seals. My only guess is that is it either the dip stick pipe is cracked (but not visable) or it is leaking where it mounts to the sump.

Has anyone had a similar leak? I will remove the dip stick and drop the sump at the weekend to have a look over (and replace the oil again, can't be a bad thing) but if the dipstick is a common failure, then I will order a replacement.

Its worth noting that the dipstick tube is, and has always been, missing the mounting bracket, so possibly the vibration from not being secured at the top has caused damage??

Please let me know your thoughts & experiences.

Thanks

Did you also check the oil cooler pipes? If it was the dipstick then gravity would allow the drip to build up at the lowest point of the said dipstick.

I briefly looked over all the parts including the oil cooler pipes but everything looked bone dry except around the area around the joint between sump and dipstick. I would take it off to look more closely but I am not in a suitable situation to drain and then replace all the ATF just yet.

It is not unknown for the boss that the dipstick tube nut screws on to crack away from the sump. Only way to fix it, is remove sump and braze it up.

If the engine is running and not over filled that should give you enough time to remove inspect, without draining.

Ok thanks. I'll have a go at removing it tomorrow should the time and weather permit. I knew I had cursed myself as I was only saying this weekend how 'leak free' she had been!!

Thanks to all those who replied. It turned out that I had a hair line crack in the dipstick tube about an inch away from the connection to the sump. I couldn't see or feel it was there until I removed the thing. Good old eBay & £12 later on and she's working again