I have developed a leak from the lower part of my Automatic Transmission. I do not think it was leaking before but recently I changed out the fluid because of its sitting for a while. I also had accidentally over filled and have since removed the excess. On short drives the leak was not very pronounced if any but recently on drives on the highway for 30 to 40 min the leaking seems to be more. I noticed this because of what I thought was a small amount of smoke seeking into the interior. At first I thought it was coming out of one of the rubber hoses that is attached to the filler spout but upon further looking it appears to be coming from the bottom from a grate at the bottom of the trans? Here is a picture of where it appears to be leaking from. Any thoughts?
ATF Leak
- Thread starter kys911t
- Start date
That's where the torque converter lives, inside the bellhousing. It gets inserted into the oil pump/gearbox through an oil seal. My guess would be that oil seal is leaking. It's part #9 in the parts diagrams, in section 24-7. Bummer is the gearbox needs to be pulled off to get to it... Why don't you wipe it all down very thoroughly and carefully asses where the oil is really coming from, in case it's dipstick tube/reservoir related.
Honolulu
Well-Known Member
The somewhat unlikely possibility is that it's just spills from your recent work, burning off from the exhaust.
It's also possible that the leak isn't what you think it is. I concur with the suggestion to clean the area. I use the "Gunk" engine cleaner in an aerosol can; best on warm parts, then scrub accessible areas and/or shoot water to wash all clean.
You can also tie a rag over the suspected drip point and see what color the drip is. This will tell you if it's ATF (red drip, suggests trans front seal, trans must be removed) or motor oil (brown drip, engine rear main, trans must be removed) or maybe if you're lucky, something else.
Trans removal is a messy job and you will likely spill a quart of ATF from the torque converter all over the garage floor. That said, it's not a job that requires substantial smarts; it's mostly muscle. BTDT, several times. If you have a good trolley jack, stands, and a set of metric sockets and combination wrenches, you have the material goods to do the removal and reinstallation, single-handedly if need be.
Trans off, if the engine rear main seal is bad it will likely show you a "river" or drip line down to the vent. You can replace the RMS yourself, and in fact I'd do it as a matter of course if the trans is off and the RMS hasn't been replaced in your memory.
If post-removal inspection points to a trans seal, that may be something best left to a shop, and they should reinstall the trans, etc. after replacing the seal. That way you'll have recourse if their job goes bad.
But hey, in this day and age, why aren't you running a five speed overdrive trans? AT removal is a prime time to make the switch.... just sayin'...
It's also possible that the leak isn't what you think it is. I concur with the suggestion to clean the area. I use the "Gunk" engine cleaner in an aerosol can; best on warm parts, then scrub accessible areas and/or shoot water to wash all clean.
You can also tie a rag over the suspected drip point and see what color the drip is. This will tell you if it's ATF (red drip, suggests trans front seal, trans must be removed) or motor oil (brown drip, engine rear main, trans must be removed) or maybe if you're lucky, something else.
Trans removal is a messy job and you will likely spill a quart of ATF from the torque converter all over the garage floor. That said, it's not a job that requires substantial smarts; it's mostly muscle. BTDT, several times. If you have a good trolley jack, stands, and a set of metric sockets and combination wrenches, you have the material goods to do the removal and reinstallation, single-handedly if need be.
Trans off, if the engine rear main seal is bad it will likely show you a "river" or drip line down to the vent. You can replace the RMS yourself, and in fact I'd do it as a matter of course if the trans is off and the RMS hasn't been replaced in your memory.
If post-removal inspection points to a trans seal, that may be something best left to a shop, and they should reinstall the trans, etc. after replacing the seal. That way you'll have recourse if their job goes bad.
But hey, in this day and age, why aren't you running a five speed overdrive trans? AT removal is a prime time to make the switch.... just sayin'...
Did an ATF change last year with a different brand (Shell). Now I have a slight leak in same place, albeit in an older MB. Wonder what the viscosity range is of different ATFs.
Well. I have been doing some checking and during the process discovered that the three hoses that come from the filler tube are cracked. I have replace two of them. One appears to be an overflow. Another small one goes directly from the filler tube to a tee fitting. The last goes from the tee to I think the expansion tank, base on what I see on the parts diagram. I traced it down along the fire wall but then it seems to disappear. Anyone know where it goes? Where is the expansion tank?