Car Trouble

[E1Allen]

Pulled into the driveway after coming home from work. I park the car and see the steam pouring out of the hood so I open it to see what was going on. Nothing there, check under the car to find a nice large pool of transmission fluid on the concrete, not too happy to say the least. So I jack it up and see where the leak is. It's coming from the seal(assuming the seal is pretty bad off now) where the driveshaft(driveshaft on the passanger side of the car) meets the transmission. It's a 99 Saturn SC1 with a MT. Needless to say I need to get the car fixed. Anyone have an idea how much this might cost to fix, or how difficult it might be for me to fix it? I'm no expert mechanic, but depending how expensive a fix this might be I might have to become one. Just wondering any of you guys might have some input for me, any is appreciated.

Thanks,

Eric

 

[dcarver]

Sorry Eric, all my comments are not helpful...

1. Sell the POS.

2. Buy a rainsuit.

3. Ride E1, ride!

 

[dbvolfan]

I am afraid I cant answer with specifics or cost but considering it still operated fine and you didnt hear any strange noises you may get off with a simple seal and a lot of labor costs. I just had my front right suspension replaced from a curb hit and it was about $300 in labor to remove all the parts and reinstall them...I imagine they would have to remove the same hardware and perhaps pull the driveshaft, so maybe $100 more??

I pulled your car up at mycarstats.com looking for a TSB or recall on that part but there didnt appear to be any.

https://mycarstats.com/safetystation.asp#SafetyStation

 

[velvet fog]

It was $140 to put a half shaft seal in my wife's Celica.

 

[Geezer]

I never owned a Saturn, but I have heard that the automatic transmission is a weakness. On the front wheel drive cars I have owned it would be about two hours labor to pull the drive shaft and replace the seal.

Not sure why that would cause steam. Was it transmission fluid getting on the exhaust somewhere causing a nasty smelling smoke or was it actually steam from the cooling system? Hot antifreeze has a sweet smell. That bad seal may not be the only problem.

I am only a shade tree mechanic and my opinion is only worth what you paid for it.

 

[E1Allen]

I never owned a Saturn, but I have heard that the automatic transmission is a weakness. On the front wheel drive cars I have owned it would be about two hours labor to pull the drive shaft and replace the seal.
Not sure why that would cause steam. Was it transmission fluid getting on the exhaust somewhere causing a nasty smelling smoke or was it actually steam from the cooling system? Hot antifreeze has a sweet smell. That bad seal may not be the only problem.

I am only a shade tree mechanic and my opinion is only worth what you paid for it.

It's a manual transmission, but the steam was caused from all the fluid flying all over the exhaust. One of the other guys mentioned half shaft seal, that sounds right to me. Cheaper the better I guess. Know what to hopefully expect now.

Thanks for the help

 

[evil_henchman]

I'm sure there are forums for Saturns just like there are for FJR's or anything else. Have you tried those? When you say drive shaft it implies rear wheel drive and those seals are easy to replace. I would expect shop minimum labor and a $5 part. Front wheel drive is a little more difficult and expensive. Good luck!

Late edit: Oops, passenger side drive shaft implies front wheel drive. Ok I confess. I don't know s**t

 

[radman]

If there is access to the seal, it's an easy fix. Separate the ball joint from the lower arm, tap the shaft out from the knuckle,and the shaft should just pull out of the tranny. Might as well check the cv boots and do them at the same time if any cracking or leakage evident. Couple hours if you're somewhat competent. Oh, and the "steam"is pretty misleading. That was smoke, and gear/trans lube burns good. You're lucky you didn't have a fire. The steam had me thinking auto also, as a auto trans can overheat the cooling system quite a bit when failing.