Hey guys! I'm getting a burning oil smell when I accelerate quickly or come to a stop. I replaced the valve cover gaskets thinking that was the cause of the smell. I cleaned the engine bay and valve covers seem to be good.

I crawled underneath to replace the motor mounts and steering dampener and I noticed a decent amount of fluid on the bottom of the transmission. Looks and smells like motor oil. Looks to be leaking from between the engine and transmission (rear main seal). Is this common on these cars? Could that cause burning oil smell? I think it's lower than the exhaust?

If it's the rear main seal, I plan on fixing it. But I might as well replace the clutch while I am in there, right? 144k miles...

I can get an LUK clutch for $450, I used LUK on my last car, no problems. But I can't find a new flywheel for this car.

What do you guys think? Is it the main seal? If it is, should I replace the clutch? If I replace the clutch should I replace the flywheel?

 

I posted a comment on another thread. They said it could be transmission oil. I'm going to clean the bottom of the transmission and see what it looks like in a week.

I wanted to check the fluid level to see if it's low (I am getting clunky 1st-2nd shift, popping out of 1st and having hard time getting it in first.

They told me about a dipstick (I saw Woody's zip tie method, but I can't find a 3 foot long zip tie. I found this: eBay dipstick but I am unsure if it works for the manual transmission.

Any advice?

 

Okay .. ,Forget the dipstick . That is only used on the Auto tranny .

 

Not quite, we have had a few on this forum.

 

How do I check the fluid level? Is there a drain plug and a plug that the fluid leaks out of when it's full?

 

there is a drain plug on bottom and a fill plug on the side, one is 17mm I believe but can not remember the other, I didn't have a metric Allen that big, so I took a metric bolt and nut, welded the nut on and not I can use a socket.
I use royal purple in my 6 speed.
if not changed before I would definitely do it.

 

🤣 Geez Louise 180" that is freaking funny !!

 

I know it's been awhile, been driving the beater car I'm trying to sell. Also had bad weather. I'm going to clean the underside of the engine and transmission tomorrow. And if I see oil on the top end I'll clean that too.

Today it jumped out of 1st gear again and it was a clunk then grinding. I'm scared it's going to break a gear.

Should I drain the oil and change it to new MB transmission oil? Or... I've read some people used Mobil 1 0w40, I've heard some people use synthetic ATF.... I've heard one guy use something crazy like 80w70 (same as differential I believe)? Not sure what to use, or if this will fix all of my problems....

 

common for the nsg370 1st gear pop out, me either I put it in gear as I am rolling to a stop, or if stop, 1st, 2nd then back to 1st, if you pay attention sometimes you can feel a double click as it goes in 1st, when it pops out, it doesn't go completly into 1st.
scared the sh#! Out of me when it happened to me the 1st time.
use the reccomended oil weight.......
many manuals love the 80-90, 75-90, 90-140 etc. gear oil but it will eat through the brass synchros, as many light duty manuals have brass in them.
heavy duty trans with some Lucas 75-90 and you are good to go, but not with brass.
I have changed my oil 3 times in trans, some people never do it at all.
they are strict on engine oil, but I guess they do not worry about getting the shavings out of the oil in trans.

 

The manual recommends 5W-30 in the manual transmission.
What do you use?

 

Somewhere around that, can't remember off the top of my head, think I use royal purple synchromax,approved weight and additives and works with brass.
Was just saying gear oil only for heavy duty transmissions that do not have brass.