Desperate and need help

:banghead

Well right now I'm pissed and not sure what to do......

93 Bronco....bought on July 4th......knew it needed a near rear main seal when I bought it from it being in the shop with the people I bought from....

So I take it to the local Aamco shop...which is supposed to have a good reputation. They replace the rear main.....its like $475 roughly .....and it is still leaking.......so I take it back the other day and the guy says that orig. they replaced the "rear main tranny seal" (??? ...is there such a thing?) because it was leaking tranny fluid (which I never saw....it was leaking oil)......so this time he says they replaced the rear main oil seal.....of which I was just charged $400....bring it back home today and BAM.....leaking oil in the same spot....:whiteflag

Here are some pics from last week showing the area leaking ..... You can see the oil droplet where it drips.....and it appears that the oil is running down the front of that plate and collects mostly where you can see the gap.

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d938b3127ccec7f3b9833bf600000040O08AaNnLhy0atg e3nww/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/

http://im1.shutterfly.com/media/47b9d938b3127ccec7f360e8fa5900000040O08AaNnLhy0atg e3nww/cC/f%3D0/ps%3D50/r%3D0/rx%3D550/ry%3D400/


I'm just at my wits end......and non mechanical.......and what do I do? Take it back to Aamco and have them charge me another $400 - $500 when they say its the so and so seal....??

I'm already skeptical on their explanation that I stated above.

Thank you for any help!!!:beer

That plate you refer to is the "Dust Cover" for the tranny, remove it and you gain access to the Torque Convertor bolts and flex plate........

Many oil pans have a long 2 piece gasket for each side and a 2 piece pan seal for front and back, if it's oil that's leaking there it might be the rear oil pan gasket/seal just above, take a paper towel and go up and wipe the rear part of the oil pan........I swapped in a new 302 EFI this past Sept....and even though I goobered plenty of RTV sealer there it still bleeds down on to the dust cover PITA ......

The exhaust Y pipe prevents dropping the oil pan straight down so the only way to fix it is lift the engine up enough off the motor mounts in order to drop the oil pan which is a real PITA in itself, real poor OEM Ford design IMO.....

Dropping the tranny gives you access to the Torque Convertor and seal which is behind it, another leak source..stupid little thing.....it's all labor...

You'll have to "arm wrestle" and negotiate with them unitl you're satisfied they fixed what you paid for, but they should have noticed if the rear oil pan gasket was leaking, you can see where it travels and they could have told you because any experienced mechanic knows that's a problem source area otherwise you may have to threaten them with small claims court.......but even with the transmission out there's little can be done with that rear oil pan gasket/seal properly......?

Don't give up, stand your ground ~ :thumbup

That sounds out of line. Trans fluid is red, oil is brown, & a trans shop knows it. You asked for & payed for a rear main seal to stop your oil leak, & they claim they did a trans seal that you didn't ask for. What does your paperwork from the first time say? If you authorized a tranny seal on the paper, then you probably don't have as much to argue. If your authorization says nothing about a trans seal, start working your way up the chain.

As for your current leak, in addition to JKossarides' suggestions, check the valve cover gaskets. Sometimes it'll leak from above & run down to that same spot.

I would take off the dust shield and clean rear main area. Make sure todo the pan also. Know problem is the oil pan rotting out. I had to replace mine when I replaced the oil pump. Run the truck and trace the leak down. As mentioned above you will have to jack up motor so the pan will clear the front suspension. I would suggest going to a different repair place if you are unable to complete these repair. Hopefully they will be honest and complete the repair as promissed. As far as the tranny rear main seal. Do they mean the trans output seal? Which is the drive shaft end. The only things that could leak from the trans into the housing like that would be the torque convertor, trans pump, or the trans pump seal. Sounds to me like a play of words to confuse you. Hold your ground and hopefully things will work out.

You're getting bucked in the futt. Seriously, if they made that kind of mistake, go elsewhere. AAMCO is notorious for ripping people off. Around here, it's like a four-letter word...except with five. :rofl:

It's hard to tell with the photos, but this might be a simple oil pan gasket leak.

what exactly would be your guys next step?? I'm so fed up with taking this Bronco in to the Aamco guy....and I've been under the Bronco with his mechanics showing them exactly where this leak is coming from.

Are the main rear tranny seal and rear main oil seal in close proximity?? When I first took it in I said "I just bought this Bronco and the lady I bought it from had it at the Ford dealer and they said it needed the rear main oil seal replaced"........now in just looking at the reciept it does say 'repair transmission seal'..... I honestly didn't look at the reciept as I never talked to them about a rear tranny seal so I just figured thats what they replaced.

It wasn't until I picked up the Bronco today did they even say the word 'rear tranny seal' and that is what they replaced the first time. There was no red tranny fluid leaking the first time......its been the same blackish oil leak from the time I bought this Bronco on July 4th.

I'm about to drive it over on Monday to a place thats close to my house and tell them exactly what I've been running into with Aamco and have them see if they can diagnose the problem.

I'm also guessing I have no recouse with Aamco at this point?? I mean I'm roughly $1000 into this with the same oil leak occuring as when I first took it in.

I have paid each bill with my mastercard (citi)......and at a last resort could dispute the charges....although Aamco has done work. Do you all think that is an option??

And should I deal with the local Aamco owner or start calling the corporate number and talking with like a district manager??

I want to thank you guys for reading all this and offering advice.....sure helps me out:beer

Didnt you say youhad them change the RMS after you found out they change the wrong one the first time. If i am not mistaken at the bottom of your receipt for the RMS AAMCO garuntees all there work and if i am noy mistaken it also says something about making sure your satisfied as well. BRing it bak and make them fix it again but just the RMS dont let them tell you something else is wrong and charge you for that to, AAMCO is notorious for that. If the tell you something else is wrong bring it somewhere else. BUt see there is a bigger problem here. RMS leaks are a common thing for the 302 and 351 and a lot of guys complain about them all the time and most just let them leak untill its just to much. See once its starts leaking you can replace the seal and it will stop for a while maybe even years depending how much you drive but your real problem is crank wear. The seal replacement may work for a whil but once it wears out a little you will get another leak pretty soon. Cause changing the seal isnt ading anything to the crank so once the seal wears a little you will have another leak and a lot sooner than it took for the first leak to start.

Why did you go to a transmission shop to get an engine repair done?
That's like going to a proctologist for brain surgery.

I went to the transmission shop based on advice from a couple guys here.....I was told you either have to remove the engine or remove the tranny to replace a RMS.....so take it to a tranny shop as they do this kind of work all the time......and the actual replacinig of the RMS is not a hard job in and of itself except for the removal of the tranny.

As for the oil leaking.....I'd say its a good three tablespoons of oil every 24 hours.......to me thats a lot.....as I don't like it to leak any oil.

I'm guess I'm just not sure if I call the owner of the Aamco shop who I've been dealing with or call and try to talk to whoever is the area rep / district manager with Aamco??

I do think I'll take it to another shop just to get an opinion anyway.....but anything past an opinion from another shop is just going to cost me more $$.....


I'm agreeing with above......I'm getting bucked in the futt....


just to add from above.....I'm not angry or anything about advice I got to take it to a tranny shop.....it made sense to me and still does...the act of replacing the seal isn't the hard part in this operation....its getting the tranny out of the way and seems to me that a tranny shop, where they do this all the time, isn't a bad place to have this work done.....plus this shop does all general automotive repair....

Are the main rear tranny seal and rear main oil seal in close proximity?? When I first took it in I said "I just bought this Bronco and the lady I bought it from had it at the Ford dealer and they said it needed the rear main oil seal replaced"........now in just looking at the reciept it does say 'repair transmission seal'..... I honestly didn't look at the reciept as I never talked to them about a rear tranny seal so I just figured thats what they replaced.



Rear main seal=crankshaft seal inside the motor.

Front pump seal=seal at the front of the trans where the torque converter slides into the trans.

If they repaired a rear transmission seal they were working on the wrong end. Did you ever tell them you wanted the rear main seal of the ENGINE replaced?



Why did you go to a transmission shop to get an engine repair done?
That's like going to a proctologist for brain surgery.

Exactly. You needed a rear main seal replaced and took it to a bunch of transmission "experts" to have it fixed.

so the rear main transmission seal is located farther back toward the rear of the Bronco then the area in the photos I posted above.

I'm not lying when I say I'm not mechanical.....

Could be the rear seal on the lower intake, too. You need a good mechanic.

You may have learned a very expensive lesson about AAMCO repairing what you tell them, not what they diagnose.

My lesson cost me $3550 in 1998. New transmission when I needed a new shift fork. Not happy when I learned about what AAMCO did to me...

Well guess my first action will be a trip to another shop tomorrow.....see what they say.....followed by a call to the owner of the Aamco shop....and then upward to a district Aamco rep......or whatever they are called.

Like most large purchases I put everything at the Aamco shop on my Citi MC.... so do I have any recourse to dispute the charges since they didn't fix what I asked them to?? Well they finally did at the last visit......putting in the rear main oil seal......but I never asked them or knew they did the rear main tranny seal......never asked them to do that.

I know.....I'm screwed.....:smilie_slap

You can dispute anything you want. The thing is, the shop can send you a bill, and then take you to small claims court if you dispute the charges. The judge will say you picked up the vehicle and that you deemed the work was satisfactory. Difficult situation.

Yeah, once you sign and pay for the vehicle you're kind of stuck....however the only slight advantage of disputing the CC charges is you force them to negotiate and possibly get some kind of resolve....

In a situation like this they really don't want the hassel of small claims court either because of the time, cost and bad PR it signals.....but if you lose then it'll cost you even more so you're only postponing payment down the road.........PITA

Sounds like it's time to start learning how to wrench and get familiar with your Bronco including all the parts terminology so this doesn't happen again.

Everything you need is right here at your finger tips FREE, all you have to do is take time and "search" and you'll be familair in no time....sorry you got burned Brother but we've all been there at some point......

Try these source sites:
FSB "search" anything for your year BKO, this will keep you busy for a while....
www.broncolinks.com aka: Ford Bronco and F150 links...
www.fordfuelinjection.com

Good Luck ~ :thumbup

I appreciate all the help fellas......I know....I'm stuck......just makes ya :banghead sometimes when stuff doesn't get fixed the way you'd like.

I've been in the sign biz for many many years and the few times I've messed up I go above and beyond to make things right....and when I first started out I definately lost money on jobs making things right.

So the Bronco is back over at the Aamco.....the owner has been good throughout this whole thing.......hopefully it will get fixed......;)