Gear Lube Leak

halifax212

It appears I have gear lube weeping from around the top vent screw on my alpha drive. I replaced the blue gasket and tightened firmly but still leaking. Anybody know of a quick fix(cheap) for this or am I buying more hardware? There may be some corrosion around the screw. Attached a few photos.

Liberty44140

I would buy a new screw and gasket set as a next step

halifax212

Good call.  Will pick a set up on Monday and let you know.

halifax212

@Liberty44140  I went to the dealer and asked for the new vent screw and another blue gasket. He questioned the blue gasket saying it should be a yellow one. He picked the service pack(screw with yellow washer) and took it home to try. It is holding oil now. The yellow washer is actually metal with rubber coating. Maybe the blue one is for the lower drain. Maybe blue has been upgraded to the yellow style now.  Either way I asked the forum for a cheap fix and got it! $15 bucks tax in.  Now onto that pesky BMW throwing some ugly codes at me....sigh.

zaverin1

Blue or yellow makes no difference 
hole counter  bore or vent screw is probably screwed up.
yellow just gives you more sealing surface vs blue 

halifax212

Must have been the screw then. Good call on Liberty's part to send me back to get one.

Willhound

Simple and cheap fixes are always the best!

Liberty44140

Glad it worked Halifax! Last spring I changed my lube and washers and I used blue washers. Seemed fine. Well I had some water in my stbd drive when I drained this spring and the upper vent screw was loose and I distinctly remember tightening them well before launch. Pressure and vacuum test came back good. So I replaced the screws with new oem this spring which came with yellow washers. I don’t know if the screw was loose from the screw being old or the blue washer but I’m watching the lube monitor closely right now. Held for over a month on the hard. All the best