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As I am going to change the tranny fluid in a Chrysler 300M this weekend, I drive to the dealer for fluid, filter and gasket. The parts guy says “Oh, these engines don’t use gaskets on the tranny :ohmy: , they use RTV.” All I could think of was Eric’s Subaru 🙁 . I don’t recall seeing a drain plug when I was under there either. I know that aftermarket gaskets are sold, but I am fairly unyielding for dealer parts on expensive items.
Seriously Chrysler? Why the hell did you make these cars so hard to work on! The oil pan to transmission bracket was a small chunk of metal that had more bolts than a hardware store.
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I have mixed emotions concerning RTV gaskets. It used to be that you could figure 5 to 7 years before the RTV let go. But my present car is an ’03 and its pan is stuck on with RTV and still no leaks. So maybe the sealer is getting better or maybe the makers know more about how to use it.
For factory assembly I’d think a gasket would be faster than applying RTV but perhaps they use a robotic RTV applier machine.
As much as I usually like to jump on the crap engineering that makes up a Chrysler, they are not the only ones to do this….
In the auto manufacturing business if it is $.03 cheaper to do RTV than gaskets, then they will go with RTV….
-Karl
I agree completely with you ToyotaKarl, especially since Damlier-Chrsyler needed every penny 10-15 years ago. It’s just frustrating this time as I’ve had to put a lot of work into one particular Chrysler recently. Most of the problem comes from it not having been taken care of for the past 50K miles and problems not being addressed by another local shop here in town.
Overall, I stand by it being a very good engine IF and ONLY IF proper maintenance has been observed.
In regards to the life of the RTV on the tranny pan, Chrysler does recommend replacing the filter/fluid ever 30,000 miles for this vehicle. So in most cars that should be well before the life of the RTV wears out. They totally could have given me a drain plug, there was a lot of space in that pan.
Speaking of drain plugs, my car has two in the fuel tank. The tank is sorta two tanks with the drive shaft going through the center. There’s an electric pump on one side and a jet pump on the other that pumps fuel to the side with the electric pump. So, if I ever have to empty the tank for some reason – no problem.
Well, one of the owners on the forum had to use these drains and he reports it is a mess. The fuel exits the drain, runs across the flat underside of the tank and drops everywhere.
I believe there would be a big after-market opportunity for some industrious entrepreneur to sell after-market transmission pans with big magnets, site glass/level, temp sensor (or integrated thermometer), drain plugs, and associated gasket as opposed to RTV.
Hey.. I kinda like that idea.. 😉
My 2nd gen 2.4L stratus had an RTV’d pan with no drain plug, but dorman sells an upgraded design with drain plug and felpro sells tranny pan gaskets for these transmissions. It’s been a year since I’ve changed the fluid/filter/pan/gasket, and no leaks (and it all cost like $50 total, not including the cost of the fluid).
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