legacycentral bbs

I'm in the depths of pulling the engine on my BC Turbo to do a complete overhaul on the engine. While I was down there to look at the bell housing nuts, however, I noticed a droplet of yellowish liquid on the little protrusion towards the rear of the case, very near to the transmission drain plug. Wiped it off, and it smelled like the transmission fluid I had just put in there.

It was near the seam of the transmission case, nearest the first bolt/nut back (from the drain plug) that holds the bottom of the case together. This area is particularly grimey for whatever reason, but I'm thinking its from transmission oil. Is there any reason for the case to leak? Is there anything I can do?

I tried torquing on the case bolt there, but didn't want to go to hard on it lest I break it. Maybe its leaking from the drain plug (which I just replaced with a new gasket), how much torque to put on that?

Thanks. My engine is stronger than nails (maybe a little leaky, but that should be fixed in a few days) but the transmission noises worry me (no grinding except in reverse, just whine)

Forgot to mention, its a 5MT.

it could very well be blow back from the drain plug if you say it was the first bolt back. I'd wipe it off and see if it comes back, keeping an eye on it.

Yeah, a lot of relatively high-mileage Subarus have a little oil leaking from the transmission drain plug, and it could easily blow backwards while you drive. People change the gear oil without replacing the drain plug gasket like they should.

Yeah, the gasket was replaced though. How much torque should I give to the drain plug?

It's a little unclear. I've seen different torque specs, ranging from around 35 ft-lbs to around 50 ft-lbs. The difference may have to do with the fact that there are two different gaskets. The older style is aluminum and the newer style is copper. I would guess that the copper one would crush more easily than the aluminum one and so require less torque.

I just do it by feel, though. You can feel when the gasket crushes, and you only need to tighten a little further than that.