Searched the forums, but making a post for any updated responses or tips.

I am going to dump some UV dye in and I already verified my VC and their gaskets are good along with the dipstick, oil cooler, and other common leaks. There is a very fast large leak on the driver side coming down between the transmission and the transmission pan has a good coating of oil on it. It's leading me to believe the RMS or the RTV on the upper pan is compromised and my car has almost 178K miles on it.

I don't have an engine support bar or transmission jack, I do have a set of QuickJacks on the way unrelated to this. Anyone have any tips, recommendations, or other things to change if I decide to take on this repair? I have never dropped a transmission before, so I am a little worried about that to be honest.

 

dropping the trans is not that big of a deal, you’ll need to unbolt the exhaust past the diff, unbolt the drive shaft at the diff, pull driveshaft, and pull trans out the bottom. The bolts sealing trans and engine together are kind of annoying to get off, but with the right extensions you can get it done.

ZSpeed has an excellent video on the repair process. Sorry to hear you are having that issue.

 

Cool, thanks. I dropped it off at my mechanic first just to verify what I think it is, since I didn't want to sit under the car with oil pouring down. He doesn't do rear main seals due to the time and labor involved and I am leery of taking it to places, since the few that I have I've always left unhappy afterwards.