Transmission pan gasket question
 

Okay guys, genius here had a screw-up and I could use some advice

Background:
Car is 1988 560SEL. Recently had transmission fluid leak. Since car has ~70,000 miles and is a recent acquisition I decided a fluid & filter change was a good idea too. Now, I think I find the leak around the dipstick interface. At little time and some gasket sealant and that’s taken care of. Filter change and fluid fill go by the book.

After service is completed I notice I still have a tranny fluid leak. This time it is worse. I get the car up on the jack stands and I notice that the leak is not in the same area. What had happened was the wire that comes off the back of my tranny got caught when I installed the pan and gasket and entered the reservoir from the rear of the pan and exited out the driver’s side. I now have the pan off and this would be a simple re-seal and job however, this leads me to:

The Problem:
The wire is pinched, but it is okay. Looks ugly but it works, so I’m going to stamp it FIDO. My gasket however has indentations where the wire was pinched. If this were a paper type gasket like on my oil-pan, it would be gone in a heartbeat, however it’s a thick gushy rubber gasket and the indentations are about half the thickness of a dime. If this wasn’t a spanking new gasket I’d have chucked it, but since it’s fresh I’m wondering if it will be okay and relax to its original molded form? Since car is still being "fixed up" the gasket/pan had been installed for 2 weeks before I filled with fluid last weekend, so it had 3 weeks to conform to the presence of the wire.


Any ideas? Is the gasket salvageable or should I order a new one?

Thanks!


Scott

Use some silicone gasket maker sealant and give it a try, you can always buy a new one

Pan checked out and flat before re-installation and after I took it off. All the bolts were properly torqued.

What is the major argument against sealant? It had sealant on it prior with no problem, and the last go round everything was clean.



Thanks for the advice!


Scott