2000 e46 GM Auto Tranny Spews Oil!!!???

Guys,
My GM-Auto-Trans 2000 323i will randomly shoot oil (ridiculous amounts) from the AT area. Its like someone almost poured 1/2 a qt or more on the floor. It happens ONLY when you start it from cold and ONLY when you put it in reverse. It doesn't happen all the time but happens once every 4-5 starts. The car runs fine, everything seems okay except that it shoots 1/2qt on the floor in seconds.

I've smelled the oil - its reddish-black and is def not engine oil (No leaks from the PS hoses either)

What the hell is going on? It seems to come from the top of the trans and is definitely not the AT pan seal.

Since this has bene happening for a while I almost always make somebody else start the car cold and put it in reverse. But it never happens until the car starts moving!!!

It stops leaking in 30-45 seconds and wont leak again till the next cold start.

Mechanic has no idea and says that maybe its time to change the transmission. Seems like some seal is blown somewhere.

Has anyone seen this before?

This happened to me this morning- mines 328 with 228k- i am assuming the tranny is dead- am i giving up too quickly?

How many miles does it have? I wouldn't be surprised if it was dead after 200K miles, but I wouldn't count it out just yet. Have you ever changed the fluid and filter?

Originally Posted by WDE46

How many miles does it have? I wouldn't be surprised if it was dead after 200K miles, but I wouldn't count it out just yet. Have you ever changed the fluid and filter?

Yeah I changed that out around 30k ago when the lines failed and dumped all the fluid...

Is it spewing oil? Mine were just loose tranny filter/pan screws :|

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Bimmer App

Hmm, that's unusual. There's a vent at the top, which may be where it's coming from. Sounds like the pressure is getting really high, possibly due to a blockage. What kind of fluid was used after that last service?

Just an update- my car lost a bunch of tranny fluid Monday in reverse after sitting all weeknd in 15 degree weather and not getting totally warmed up.

Its not leaking fluid now and is running fine.

Matchee, how is the trany still doing? I have the same problem. Did you have to do any repairs? If so what?

I forgot to add some info. I have an E39 2000 528i, but some of the 3 series use the same Trany. Mine is a GM 1-423-875-V0 Read from Green Metal Label. About 6 months ago the problems seems to have started, but might have been doing it longer because it used to be parked on the street, and might have not noticed it. Just like yours when it's cold and in reverse for maybe only 4 feet, it will at times, pump out through the BREATHER on top of the Trany, the breather is located down where the bell housing meets the transmission. I saw it leaking out of there, when it did it the other day. After it happened the first time, my son took the car to his mechcanic he could not find any leak and so serviced the trany. The car has done it to me at least 4 times in the last 3 weeks. It usually pumps out a 4 inch diameter drip and few other small ones. I'm going to take it back to the guy that serviced it and ask him to put it up and check the fluid level. I really don't think it's the problem, being that it had the problem before it serviced the trany.

Here's a link that I found that shows the GM trany.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/neil1138/4011723379/

Thx

You might want to check out this thread - http://forum.e46fanatics.com/showthr...737&highlight=

Thank you for replying. I edited my post to provide more info. I read the thread, but unfortunately mine has a GM trany and it leaking out of the Breather on top. Still trying to figure out what the Breather is for and what it's attached to? Thanks again.