Quote:
Originally Posted by BlackWorksInc
Oh the actuator seal leaking due to colder weather might be indicative of the seal starting to fail. Seals become hard/stiff over time and don't rebound as properly as they should. My best theory on that is when they are starting to be come that hard/stiff they'll shrink a bit in colder weathers and not rebound as well as they should until they warm up causing a seep. At least that's the only thing I can come up with it being that temperature sensitive.
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Good point. I lived on the west coast for nearly half my life so I can fully understand how a west coast guy may not have get a true appreciation for what fluids are like at sub-zero temps. Once, back in 94, I started a nearly new manual trans Accura which sat outside overnight at -34f. It turned over sluggish but started well enough. However, due to the thickening of the gear lube I had to hold the clutch in for about 20 minutes before the fluid thinned enough to let the poor thing idle in neutral.
I use the above example to back a possible theory for the self-healing actuator leak. Thinking: the cold stiff rubber together with the cold stiff lube wrapped in the cavity around the spring caused fluid to leak past the seal or that extreme cold may have finally compromised the o-ring to the point to shrink enough to release some lube. But, what baffles me here, why cleaning it up stopped the leak but really I've never been inside an actuator case and thus ponder this question: could conditions causing a seal leak leading from the torque converter to the actuator case result in the case partially filling with fluid which would then slowly drip out over the next few weeks? I'd like to figure this out but I guess if the leak returns intermittent or not I'll figure "it ain't gonna get no better by itself" and bite the bullet and drop the thing and replace the seals and likely the input and out put seals as well while I'm that close. That is unless common experience suggest leave these alone if not leaking. But I know they have 17 years (yikes hadn't thought about that for awhile) on them. In an extreme climate no less.