My wife an I took the 914 out last night to run an errand. As I backed out of the garage the wife stayed back to close the garage door. When she got in the car she said there was a puddle of oil on the garage floor.

This is new as my car has been spotless since I bought the car from Camp914 2 years ago.

When I got home I took a close look at the spot and it's trasmission oil. Since this only my 2nd 914 I'm not that familiar as to the source of the leak. I know from years of experience with VW they are notorious for leaking from the input shaft seal and the shift linkage bushing.

Any ideas as to what the problem is? I have been taking the car to Paul over at A&P Apecialties in Portland. It looks like I'll have to get it over to him to get this sorted out.

I would appreciate hearing any ideas.

Look at the speedo drive...the o-ring typically fails.
Also there is an o-ring around the shifter console.

Lastly for easy ones is check all the 13mm nuts that hold the rear tailcover on the tranny...for some reason they come loose..then they leak.

The two 0-rings are simple.

Rich

Input seal leaks from the front, output flange seals leak from the sides, speedo o-ring from the back passenger corner, and shifter console from the drivers side rear/middle. The speedo and console are obvious from just looking at them because the drops will be on them

Thanks for the input. I just went to the garage a took a closer look. I appears to be leaking from the spedometer cable area. Is this a simple fix ( can do it myself) or do I need to take the car over to A&P?

Easiest of the problems to fix.....as long as you can keep the tranny from peeing oil all over the place. 2 ways to do this, 1) Jack the rear of your car way up so that the oil is in the front of the tranny. 2) Get the 17mm allen socket and remove the fill plug first, then the drain plug and drain oil into a pan.

To get the speedo out is simple. You unscrew the cable from it, then you take the retaining bolt that is facing aft and is located near the hole for the speedo on the tail cone off. It is a 13mm and should not be torqued down hard. It only needs to be tightened hand tight.

Pull the speedo out. Dont unscrew the outer end from the inner end. Use a large wrench or adjustable wrench to wiggle it clock wise by the nut if you need to. When out, clean the bore where the speedo fits. Use light sand paper if it is not smooth. Then replace the O-ring and assemble.

Thanks Doc! I appreciate the info. I will tackle it this weekend.

I wanted to add a very simple and very important point that veteran mechanics already know...

Never take out the drain plug on anything, including the transmission first.
ALWAYS take out the filler plug first.
If you cant get the filler plug out, that is ok at that point, but if you already drained the tranny by removing the drain plug and you cant get the filler plug out, you are fubar.

Also, if you can jack it up really high...you dont need to drain the tranny, it wont leak out the rear if its way up high. You still need to add more gear oil, you have been dripping it.
Use only normal dino gear oil...no synthetics in our transmissions.

Rich

Didnt I make that clear? Jack up = fluid forward = no drain

I said take out fill first, I didnt explain, but that was why I said it.

Some people dont read....like me...
More important, I know two people with 914's that got stuck with this issue...
I just wanted to pull out your little one liner and add a bit of MEAT to the bones...

Rich

Your comments are always welcome