Hole in bellhousing

I have a 5 speed 2000 with the 3.4 and there is a rectangular hole right in the bottom of my bellhousing that leaks a very small amount of oil (just above the steering rack). Just wondering if there is supposed to be a plug or something or if that hole is not supposed to be there entirely.

 

If you're leaking oil, from the bell housing I'm pretty sure you have a rear main engine seal that is starting to go. Good news is that you can probably go quite a ways with just adding oil to the engine.

The hole is on the edge of the bell housing on the motor side?

https://www.ebay.com/itm/184981699157

I think I see it in pic 6

 

Hole is quite a bit wider (left to right) than in the photo and directly on the bottom of the bellhousing. I can try to get a photo tomorrow.

 

looks just like holes in these pics
https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4256/35677027222_c104ed6bc2_b.jpg

 

Probably normal then.

If you don't have 4wd, the manual transmission is probably much easier to pull if you want to replace the rear main seal. Still wouldn't be a small job.

 

Thats the wrong transmission. OP says he has 3.4 with manual, so the transmission is the R150 or R150F (4wd)


I can check my fsm, it might be for access or inspection

 

I would agree that it sounds like the RMS is going. I would leave it until you need to replace the clutch, then replace at the same time. It’s basically a clutch job with one extra step. Just keep keep an eye on the oil and wash off the underside every so often with a degreaser so it doesn’t get nasty and you can keep track of just how much it is leaking