How to deal with transmission oil leak., It's slow now, will it get worse ? Options

[scoobie]

Hi folks, newbie to this forum, so if I inadvertently commit bad netiquette please give me some slack.

I have a 1972 1.7, I've noticed drops of oil on my driveway ever since I got the car 4 and 1/2 years ago, it's coming from the rear near the gear that drives the speedometer (so I am told, I'm not a 914 expert). I've recently changed the transmission oil (as I started noticing a whine in 4th gear and I suspect its due to the gear oil leak) and the tech told me I had only 1 quart of oil in there, where normally there should be 6 quarts.

So, my conclusion is that it leaked about 5 quarts in about 11000 miles (I filled the gear oil when I first got the car, and have driven 11000 miles since).

My questions are: am I correct in my assumption about the leakage, and if so, can I get away with not fixing it (at the present time) and just do the occasional gear oil service. Am I doing anything detrimental to the transmission or other parts of the car ?

Thanks for your inputs.

[cary]

I've done mine twice in the last couple weeks. Only a spoonful comes out if your not overfilled. Thats level on the lift.

Why twice ? I didn't have the correct o-ring. I tried one out of my $9.99 0-ring box from Harbor Freight. NOT.
So when I got the right one I put that and a different speedo drive in. Doesn't leak from there any more.

I did have a drop coming off the bottom nut of the end cover. I assume there is a bad spot in the gasket or seal in that spot. So a new nylock and some permatex fixed that.