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[polilara]

So 2010 Astra J seems to leak Gear Oil from gearbox breather, what the hell is going on. Is the breather something you should change sometimes to the gearbox?

[polilara]

So, took the breather off, it was loose and tape around thread (if any) was brittle and broken. Put teflon tape to thread and tightened well. No leak anymore, hopefully job jobbed.

[polilara]

After three days teflon tape burned away and leakage was back. Now put GM black sealant (as used on Omega Cam Covers). Now dry again. Let's see...

[polilara]

Still wet, did something forbidden; I put towel paper inside breather (under plastic cap) and drowe 100 km. Still wet around it.  Then I turned breather off and heard "piff" so neither breather nor its thread is leaklng. Oil might come from selector shaft which goes through  selector housing cover. Vauxhall/opel catalog do not show any O-ring or oil seal there. Does anyone have better pictures or any ideas? This is really strange!

[Doctor Gollum]

If you heard pressure release as you removed it then you needs new breather valve.

The oil seeping out probably doesn't have a seal because it's not designed to be under pressure.

Replacing the breather and cap should be your next step along with changing the transmission fluid.

[polilara]

Thanks DG, yes I need breather, I took the paper off after this trial. Case is that even while having paper there, I got that leak from somewhere and I believe that breather is not leaking, but yes, already ordered new breather to see, however. I ordered also cover gasget as I will open it if nothing else doesn't come to my or anybody's mind.

[polilara]

Furthermore, if you check what Black Cat mentioned there, I am JOR in that discussion. What is the 'Turret' he is talking about?
https://www.zafiraowners.co.uk/threads/gearbox-oil-leak.1866/?post_id=62028&nested_view=1&sortby=oldest#post-62028

[Doctor Gollum]

He might be referring to the selector plate where the linkage passes through.

It's probably sealed internally but isn't a serviceable assembly. Presumably the designers didn't anticipated the casing becoming pressurised and so would only expect oil to be present after excessive wear as the contact surface between the shaft assembly and casing degrade over time

The whole purpose of the breather is to allow air/vapour/fumes out of the gearbox case. The fact that there's evidence of pressure build up suggests the breather is clogged.

After replacing it, you should really be asking yourself why it got clogged up.

[polilara]

Thanks again DG for your activity here. However, due to my bad English it seems to be difficult to explain the situation in a proper way or I do not understand what we are talking about. Once again:
1. My breather is not glogged
2. My breather was not glogged
3. I glogged my breather with paper (for a while only) just to see whether the oil is coming through it.
Breather is just a stupid bolt having a hole in it from top to almost bottom. In bottom area there is another hole which is pependicular to the vertical bore, then it have a loose plastic cap, see below.
So, glogged (by myself) or not, I have the same oil leak in the area seen in pic.
I ordered new breather only because I thought that the thread of it is somehow damaged and oil is "climbing" up though it. But it was not as I heard that pressure release when opening after having glogged it. Now I am thinking that cover plate has a minor crack somewhere, have to clean everything and check where the oil is really coming from.

[Doctor Gollum]

If it hissed on removal, it's blocked and you have pressure building up in the gearbox.

This extra pressure is causing your leaks.

Why is there pressure inside the gearbox in the first place?

[polilara]

There is no pressure in my gearbox. It just hissed once as I blocked the breather with paper. 

[Doctor Gollum]

Ok, that makes a bit more sense.

Would it be unreasonable for the selector mechanism to be worn and allowing oil to wick up the shaft?

Replacement of the selector and cover plate assembly.

[polilara]

Yes, thanks, that is possible, heard from local dealer that this version of F17 gearbox have just Bronze Bushings around selector  shaft, no seals like previous version (perhaps Astra G/H) which had selector coming from different direction and had oil seal which had to be changed when leakage occured. In J Astra the whole selector (part 1 in schema earlier in this thread) have to be replaced, no spares available. Have to remove the selector and see what is inside there if I do not find any crack on cover. Problem is that daughter drives this car 100km/day still next 4 coming weeks. I see the car once a week and control oil level in gearbox. In Sep I get the car back and try to check what is going on.