How hosed am I?

The Fiesta ST started  whining on the way home, I thought maybe a bearing was going south. Upon closer inspection, there’s transmission fluid sprayed underneath.  

Tracing it back to the source, I find this little gem.  A gouge In the housing hidden behind the axle shaft. It looks like a rock or dropped nut  got stock between the housing and the axle. It’s slightly dented with a big enough hole to leak fluid. 

My plan is to JB Weld the hole and refill the fluid.  Not sure if there’s any damage to the transmission from lots of fluid, I guess I’ll fill it and drive it gingerly and see if the noises are gone. Hopefully I dodged a bullet, worst case is the transmission rebuild, UGH. 

Ive had similar happen to a Volvo, i have my fingers crossed for you bud.

Well of you have to rebuild it. Time for a real diff in it.

The biggest challenge with JB Weld will be getting the spot clean and dry. 

Left field answer, could this be an insurance claim? An unintended "accidental" encounter with a rock may be causing you significant financial loss (especially if trans is bored. ) 

JB weld may be a temporary fix, but I think an insurance claim is in order if you have comprehensive insurance.

Barring that, have somebody TIG weld the transmission.

MrChaos said:

Well of you have to rebuild it. Time for a real diff in it.

It already has a Quaife LSD in there. Insurance claim might be the ticket on this one I'm afraid. 

I cracked one of my transmissions there in my turbo caravan by blowing up the inner CV joint with a clutch dump. Whooooops....

A friend from the racing community who is a skilled fabricator contacted me and said he would stop by with a TIG welder.  I got the car prepped and he welded the cast aluminum case and it is now fixed, pending a test drive. I am still a bit dazed at the generosity and awesomeness of this gesture.  I just love the car community! 

Contortionist and trapeze artist have nothing on a good tig welder. Note the pedal operation while laying down and working both hands under the car.

Pete

I was going to say you'll be fine with JB weld, but that looks like the proper way to do it!

pinchvalve said:

 

If this guy's name was JB, he's a whole lot better than 2 part epoxy! 

Are you hosed? Or is the trans doing ok?

The trans housing is properly fixed without a whiff of leakage anywhere. Fresh DCTF and it is back on the road like nothing happened. #lucky

Wow. This is awesome. Congrats on a big win!!

You might want to make some kind of splash guard to keep stuff from getting drawn in between the axle and housing again.

Wow, you got both unlucky (what a freak failure) and lucky (that the trans wasn't damaged). I had a similar freak transmission leak this fall in my Miata, when one of the the input shaft plate bolts rattled out and dumped all the gear lube into the bellhousing. I didn't notice until my transmission all of a sudden popped out of gear and started sounding like someone threw a fistful of gravel in the case. And did I mention that I was in North Carolina and that car was my ride home to New York?

MrChaos said:

Well of you have to rebuild it. Time for a real diff in it.

M Factory LSD here and LOVE it. Completely changes the car for the better. No more one wheel peel exiting corners.