Club 80-90 Forums

Hi everyone, what a great resource this is for t25 owners! To introduce myself, my name is Kymbo and I'm an Aussie with a British 1982 water cooled 4spd T25 I purchased to go travelling around Europe in. I have been travelling for about 3 weeks through Holland, Belgium and Switzerland. Just arrived in gorgeous lake como, Italy. Love the heck outa my van but she has developed a gearbox oil leak that began just after I left the UK and has been dogging me ever since. I found a VW bus garage in Zurich and the mechanic put her on the hoist and topped up my gearbox oil and added some leak sealant additive. Was such a nice bloke and charged me only 20 Swiss francs because I was travelling. Unfortunately the Swiss mountain passes have taken their toll and she is still leaking. I just went under and had a look today and found that it's mostly coming from a mysterious hole in the bottom of the bell housing. Just wondering if this hole is infact meant to be there or whether it's developed naturally or suspiciously??(looks like someone drilled it)? Anyone had this kind of leak before and do I need to weld/plug this hole? Any help would be greatly appreciated! Photos attached...

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That hole shouldn't be there. There is already a drain notch at the bottom of the engine where it meets the bellhousing.
It also shouldnt be leaking oil, although its very close to the back of the bellhousing that closes off the gearbox. Its possible that a bright spark drilled it there for reasons unknown and just broke through into the gearbox side.
It all looks very wet under there tbh, not a good sign.

I'd say thats way off the gearbox so won't be a problem, it's just into the bellhousing.
most likely drilled because of a seal leak, sorry if it's oil box needs to come off to investigate but you may be able to identify if it's engine or gear oil by the smell, gear oil smels very strong,

I say if it's oil because it looks red and so maybe coolant (not auto is it)?, get some on your fingers you will know.

inside pic of manual bellhousing

Could you just tap a screw into it? (as in cut a thread, and put a bolt in the hole)

Or bung it up with some metal putty?

Thanks so much for the replies! Great to know that hole shouldn't be there! I'm thinking I'll plug it with a cut thread screw (may have had one before that's come out while driving) definitly only gearbox oil. Oily and Pinky colour and smells like a dock yard. Aside from this leak the engine seems in great codish. Passed MOT with no advisorys, has very clean engine oil and doesn't leak/drink coolant (although a bit rusty). Should the gearbox oil not be inside the bell housing? Like is it possible that there is a seal leak inside somewhere? Sorry I'm not very hip with the inner workings of gearboxes (yet)

Bell housing should be dry and clean.

If it's gearbox oil you've got a blown seal and it needs replacing, if you just bung up the hole to stop the oil coming out you'll most likely end up with the excess trapped in the bell housing and contaminating your clutch. Best course of action is to drop the box and sort it properly
Best regards James

Is it automatic?

Thanks for the advice guys. It's a manual. If I was to get it sorted over here in Italy, what would one expect to pay for such a job? Ballpark? To drop the box and replace the seal? Also I'm not really in one place for more than a few days hence my dilemma. Planning to sell when I'm back in the UK in October but there is about 15 countries to travel between now and then :-/

Depends how much its leaking but if I was travelling I'd keep the gearbox or engine (depends which is leaking) topped up as I went and sort the seal later.

Anybody ever seen red gearbox oil? Or perhaps the photo just looks red
I wonder if it has been filled with auto gearbox oil by mistake and as it's thinner it's getting past the seals

Check gearbox oil level as a priority. Looks suspiciously like oil to me. If box isn't holding much it won't last long.

That definitely looks like auto g/b oil, good chance it has worked it's way past the seals! For starters grab the nearest mechanic to confirm the oil, if it is auto g/b oil, get it drained and try a heavier grade oil (Fuchs Syngear 75w90 - GL4/5) or similar, it may buy you some time

Hi everyone, just to follow up on the issue, we are now up in Austria on our 3rd gearbox oil top up. Seems to last about 2 weeks/1000 km before it needs refilling. Fairly certain it's a gearbox oil seal as suggested on here. That is leaking into the bell housing and out the little hole and through the (probably busted) gasket between engine and box. We want to get this seal replaced and the issue sorted maybe a cheaper country like Hungary. The hard part is finding a the right mechanic who knows these engines. One mechanic suggested the engine needed to come out As well to fix the seal/gasket between each half of the engine at the base of the block but I don't think this is right. There may be a tiny engine oil leak In this area but it's not drooling out like the gearbox oil is. If anyone knows of any VW bus garages in Czech, Hungary or Slovakia i would love to know. Failing that we may just have to limp back to the UK. What would one expect to pay to drop the box and fix the seal? Going to sell the van when we are back but would rather fix this issue first. Any ideas or suggestions on VW bus garages in Europe/ UK of ballpark repair costs? Thanks guys.