Black light dye to see cracks?

[88K5Jimmy]

Is there some sort of dye or spray that you can use on the surface of a tranny where the pan meets the tranny and view it with a black light to see if there are any hairline cracks in it that would cause a leak?

If so, what are the details....I'm thinking about going CSI on that b!tch

 

[spearchucker]

Here's one. I've seen others too, but that should suit your purpose.

 

[sled_dog]

any dealership should have oil dye in stock. we use it all the time to locate oil/trans leaks that just can't figure out where they are coming from. or if there is a leak between the engine and trans and for some odd reason we can't determine whether its the rear main or front seal.

 

[6.2Blazer]

We use stuff like this all the time at work. There is specific dye for the type of oil that you actually put in the fluid (trans oil, engine oil, etc...) and then use a blacklight to see it. The reason it is nice is because it will show up with a black light before you ever would notice the plain oil seeping out.....and by that time it's usually a big spot.

There is also dye penetrant you can spray on stuff and it will seep through the metal to show small cracks easier, but you typically use that on dry metal surfaces and not if oil is leaking through.

 

[DPI]

I saw your post in the wanted section asking about a pan.

I don't see how the pan could be warped.

There are a couple things to be aware of when istalling the pan to make sure it doesn't leak.

Use a neoprene gasket!

Make sure the pan isn't stretched where the bolt heads attach. If they are, it will cause it to leak. You can fix it by using a hammer and flattening these areas. The pan bolts only need to be tightened enough to just barely start squeezing the gasket...

 

[88K5Jimmy]

Well, I actually won a NIB pan, gasket and filter....all AC Delco off ebay for $25 shipped. I'm going to try that and then see if it still leaks. I have replaced the gasket, torqueing to factory specs at least two times and it always seems to start leaking again. I even ran with the bellhousing off to make sure it wasn't the oil pump seal or the inlet seal on the tranny and it was coming from either of those two places. The only things left to eliminate are the tranny pan and if the case has a crack in it.