Engine oil getting into the gearbox via leaking shift shaft seal. Interesting thing is, for the oil level to get this high up, it would appear it goes uphill as this is higher than the level of the engine oil in the sump. Maybe crankcase pressure tends to force the oil through the leak.
Fluid or vapors? And (either) there's a cap on the vent or the vent connects back to the engine oil separator...
Do a search on this and you will find that many cars have a rubber hose attached to the breather, run up to the shock tower, and then looped over. Common fix.
Thanks, it is not a lot of fluid, just a little seepage. [Originally Posted by tech4ferrari over filled with gear oil and or the shift shaft seals as mentioned above. ] No engine oil in the gearbox and the the gearbox has the correct amount of oil. I fill my gearbox from the fill hole on top of the transfer gearbox until oil runs out the plug hole on the rear of the tranny. I'll add the hose to stop the mess. Still don't understand how oil can get all the way up the breather pipe. Oh well, just another one of those Ferrari mysteries. Thanks for all the help.
As oil temps rise, the gear oil vapors need to go somewhere, hence the vent. Just ensure that that the transaxle oil level is correct...and don't worry about it.
I dont see that the statement was absurd. The OP didnt mention that there was a very small amount of fluid/vapor and that the oil level was known correct until later on. Last week in another thread someone drained 4 litres of oil out of the level plug after oil came out of the vent.
Actual experience says otherwise...With just shy of 30 years experience on these cars, say 1000 or so serviced, you would think that perhaps I would have seen actual fluid leaking/pouring from a vent in the past. Nope! Then again, there's always some yahoo that adds gear oil to the transaxle before draining it. I didn't get the impression that the OP was of that school. He had an intelligent question...I responded with an intelligent answer.
Each has their own opinion I suppose, me personally I think all of the above are good guess's since neither one of us have the car in front of us to know for sure. I see no need to be an a$$ about it.
Why are tech questions turning into pissing matches. Both overfilled or shift shaft seem like reasonable problems. Other problems possible too. Or accumulation of vapor, could be a lot of things. Sounds like we have two seasoned techs here and we value opinions, but..... Why the pissing match.
Don't be. You guys have given me some insight to my leak in that area, which I attribute to oil vapor and heat expansion. I'll check mine out this weekend. Now stop the bickering. O.K.?
