Pulling the motor to sell, and I am keeping the tranny, which I have always thought shifted nicely and was the box that I would keep for my 2.0 and eventually, whatever six I put in.

Anyway, I loosen the clamp and pry away the plastic cover where the rod connects the the linkage on the left rear side of the box, and out drops about a quart of gear oil. No wonder the thing shifted so well!

I have only had 2 914s, and I have only removed engines a couple of times, but I have never seen this plastic cover full of oil, nor have I read that it should be. What was interesting is that the cover had sealant between it and the transmission, and the securing clamp/strap looked factory (aka something I have never seen before - metal strap tightened with what looks like a cotter pin). Records for this car indicate that it was always dealer maintained and fairly frequently, although it leaks fluid from every possible oriface, and this explains the spot toward the rear of the car.

So my question - should there be gear oil there, or do I have a bad seal on the shift linkage? Or worse, a wollowed out case?

No, there should not be oil in there. That said, it may not be anything too bad. You may simply just need a new seal.

Yup. There is a seal around the selector shaft that goes into the transmission case. The seal is bad on your trans, allowing the gear oil to leak out into that pastic covered housing.

--DD

good news is, it's a rather easy fix!
Andy

Boy that must have been a nasty (and dirty) lil surprise! Yup easy enough fix and are you sure it isnt motor oil? (dumb ? but these things COULD happen, with a full moon , Jupiter in alignment with Mars and a black cat screwin a poodle in the neigbors trash can!

Caught me off guard to say the least. Luckily, I wasn't right underneath with my mouth open. If you ever doubted that epoxy painting your garage floor is worth the effort, you haven't had something like this happen to you. What would have been a permanent stain was cleaned up in two minutes with about 20 paper towels.

If it was motor oil, then it was 80 weight and smelled like piss. However, I was putting the trash cans out last night and I saw a black cat buying a drink for a poodle across the street...