Transmission shift lever seal leaking
 

The shift lever seal on the side of my turbo 350 transmission is leaking transmission fluid. Does anyone know if this seal can be removed and replaced without removing the transmission. Any suggestions on how to remove it. :ack:

Remove nut from end of shift shaft; remove lever; place new seal over the top of the first one and drive into bore being careful to not cut the seal lip on the shaft flats; drive seal so that lip is just past the flats on the shaft; reassemble.

What happens to the original seal? Does it just compress? Is there room for two seals. Have you personally done this? This sounds pretty simple. I'll order a new seal tomorrow.

There is room for two seals in there. I have two in mine now. If it starts leaking I will remove them and just install one. To remove the shaft, you have to drop the pan and you will see a "s" shaped hook holding the shaft to another part of the tranny. Disconnect that, remove the nut on the out side and the shaft will slide out. Replace the seal and reverse the assembly.

When you put it back together, if you hook it up wrong or do not put the "s" hook in, you will only have park and drive. Did that once also. Dropped the pan again and hooked the s hook back up and it was all better.

As mentioned, there is room for 2 fully-installed seals. This is a common method for making this repair in the "corner transmission repair" industry. They charge you for disassembling half the transmission, but actually fix it in about 30 minutes (or less). Having 2 seals [one of them with a small leak] is actually more reliable than having just 1 good one. All the second one has to deal with is the leakage from the first one.

Anyway, 2 will fit in there....unless there are already 2 in there! :eek: At that point, you will need to pull at least one of them out. The easiest way to do so is to poke the point of a small ice pick through the rubber seal material [being careful not to scrape/gouge either the shaft journal or the outer bore that the seal fits in] and up behind the steel outer jacket. Then, press the handle of the ice pick towards the transmission so that it pries the metal casing out of the bore. Once it is cocked enough, it will just come out. If there is another seal in lower, this process won't work as well, so it would be simpler to just leave the "inner" seal in place and put another good one on top.

P.S. I have never seen a unit with 2 seals where the outer seal ever leaked again! But, sh!+ happens....

That was good and accurate information. I installed the new seal over the old one today and there are no leaks so far. Just as you stated, two seals have to be better than one. Thanks for the help. :willy: :willy:

Hello, I'm new in this forum. I had corvette C4 year 1985. I bought it in America in New York.
In 7 years I drove only 1.000 miles.
I observed oil lekeage on shifter shaft. I'm interested what the dimension is shaft seal and where can I ordered (buy) it (Rock auto, Eckler's, I know for only these shops).
Please, if you advise me on where to buy a middle front spoiler, as it is visible on the image that I miss.
https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...81c929339f.jpg
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...351e485268.jpg
https://cimg2.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...43e796ad74.jpg
https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...136dd36853.jpg

And then there is this tool to remove and replace the selector shaft seal. Problem is, on a Corvette there is not enough room to use the driver to install the new seal without removing the crossmember and lowering the transmission. I have had one of these for years and it works great.

https://www.napaonline.com/en/p/BK_7769250

Thank you very much for fast answer...