Thanks....I was all over the back of the motor earlier and didn't see anything leaking from the motor down to the tranny. It has to either be a leaking drain/fill plug, or the output shaft seal is leaking. Just going to bite the bullet and tear it down one evening this week. Great car, terrible seals! I just hope they last for another six years.......

 

Checked out the breather hoses, they are clear. Cleaned the bottom of the tranny and removed the heat shields. Took the car out, drove around town, no leak detected. Took the car out on the interstate for about 30 minutes, pulled back in the garage, oil was dripping on the cat. Looks like the drip is coming from the left side of the tranny near the top where the rear section bolts to the transmission. I can't get a mirror close enough to see where the leak is. Any thoughts on what could be leaking from the top of the tranny near the rear housing? The rear output seal is dry. I am beginning to think the tranny will have to come out of the car.

 

Well if the leak is coming from above the transmission it can't be the rear main seal, i would bet money on the valve cover gasket.

 

Looks like the leak is coming from the breathers on the top rear of the tranny. I pulled the inspection plug on the rear of the tranny and fluid poured out. Either it has been way overfilled, or there is a bad seal between the tranny and torsen section. I put in the correct amount of fluid and will check it regularly to see if the leak returns.

Thought you guys would like to know what I found so far.

 

thanks for teh follow-up.

 

My car has been leaking oil and smoking. I felt like the smoke was from the valve cover gasket seal leaking onto the hot exhaust pipes. I went to replace the valve cover gasket and the rear-breather hose was full of holes and pulled apart like gum. I came to this forum to see if anyone would be able to tell me the part name and I found this thread. Thanks for the help, three years later!

 

Its probably the PCV crankcase hoses, those tend to fall apart, especially when hot oil gets in them.

 

Guys. Can these breather hoses be replaced without removing the intake?

 

The rubber PCV hoses are easilly accessible, the only reason you would need to remove the intake manifold is to access the coolant pipes under it.

 

Was looking at this thread and realized I never followed up with the fix. Spoke with a local transmission shop and they thought it was related to a failed seal between the transmission and the rear final drive. They removed the transmission and sure enough, the seal was bad. The failed seal was replaced and the transmission has been perfectly dry ever since. Hope this helps someone else researching this problem.