Transmission leak

PalmettoStateBob

TJ Enthusiast
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Apr 14, 2020
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129
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Anderson, SC
Transmission fluid puddles up while sitting. I thought it was pump seal but a mechanic said it was the Pan gasket. I serviced transmission and replaced gasket, thought I had it. Start seeing a little fluid on garage floor a couple days after a ride. The a week went buy and it was a much larger area. Two weeks and it’s a lot. I think originally there were two leaks including the pan.
Where else would it leak while sitting?
 
I'd clean the whole trans good , and put some papers under it after you drive it and see if you can tell about were the fluids leaking. If the torque converter s not holding fluid when it sits for prolonged periods it can leak out in a few places, we're linkage goes in ,dip stick tube seal to case, trans pan seal.
Clean it up good , drive it and watch it. You may have to take it too a good trans man. Good luck.
 
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Original transmission and transfer case combination?

Far as I know, yes. I replaced filter and gasket, also did a flush. This is same transmission that had burned fluid on another post I did. No slippage, only put about 12-15 hours on it since servicing. Thought things were good until that red puddle started forming.
 
I'd clean the whole trans good , and put some papers under it after you drive it and see if you can tell about were the fluids leaking. If the torque converter s not holding fluid when it sits for prolonged periods it can leak out in a few places, we're linkage goes in ,dip stick tube seal to case, trans pan seal.
Clean it up good , drive it and watch it. You may have to take it too a good trans man. Good luck.

Mechanic that originally said it was pan checked dip stick seal, said it was okay. I’ll get it out of garage and get floor cleaned back up so I can put down paper. Clean transmission again too
 
Far as I know, yes. I replaced filter and gasket, also did a flush. This is same transmission that had burned fluid on another post I did. No slippage, only put about 12-15 hours on it since servicing. Thought things were good until that red puddle started forming.
Ok I asked because replacing the original transfer case with one meant for a manual transmission will cause a big leakage problem. Time to determine if the leak is coming from the front input or rear output shaft seals, or perhaps from the O-ring that seals the speedometer gear housing to the transfer case. A leak from there can get blown around enough that it's not obvious where it is coming from.
 
Everybody thinks every trans leak is a pan gasket leak because nearly every leak runs down to the lip of the pan and it doesn't take much for it to look really bad at the pan lip. I should save this somewhere so I can copy/paste it, but the best thing you can do is dry everything off completely. Like seriously completely dry. then stuff paper towels in & around all the places you might have a leak:

  • cooler lines
  • dipstick
  • shift selector
  • bell housing
  • NSS
  • TCC
  • plus there are a few pressure ports that don't ever seem to be the cause but really any opening could be a cause
  • speedo sensor
  • t-case output seal
I'm probably forgetting a few. Wrap those in paper towels and let it sit for a while. Like maybe even a few hours or more. Fine the one(s) that are now wet with fluid and address those issues. If NONE of those have ATF on them, then it's probably a pan sealing issue.
 
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My trans leak was a shitty original pan that had been torqued and it hit so many times the flatness was so out of whack it's a miracle it ever sealed. I bought a new pan and went ahead and spent the money on the Lubelocker reusable gasket. I tried the new pan twice with the factory method of RTV. Apparently I suck at RTV'ing and was pissed at the cost of trans fluid for having to pull it down again. Never had a problem since.
 
My trans leak was a shitty original pan that had been torqued and it hit so many times the flatness was so out of whack it's a miracle it ever sealed. I bought a new pan and went ahead and spent the money on the Lubelocker reusable gasket. I tried the new pan twice with the factory method of RTV. Apparently I suck at RTV'ing and was pissed at the cost of trans fluid for having to pull it down again. Never had a problem since.

for me the answer was 3.

The question? How many times do I have to drain fresh fluid from my trans before I switch to a pan with a drain plug. Ive done it at least 5 times since then. I'm also no good at using RTV on the trans pan, my lubelocker hasn't given me any problems after many re-installations. Importnatnt to know that the torque spec is way less than what your daddy probably taught you. :)
 
I went through this recently so thought I would share.

Thought is was a Pan Gasket, so decided to replace and added a deep sump to my RH32.
Still leaked. Cleaned it up and meticulously checked each day after work. Realized that it was my Gear Selector sensor.
Seems the screws that came with the steel deep sump were too long and after bolt passed through threaded transmission hole it then
pushed against the gear selector sensor and caused it to leak. Decided to pull it apart and found a ribbed Aluminum Deep Sump with flush drain plug and added a Lube Locker Gasket and near gear selector sensor. Leaked stopped....for a couple of months..... started really leaking and filling up my skid plate, only to pour our when I pulled out of my drive way. Completly frustrated I pulled the skid plate, pressure washed the transmission and transfer case. Realized that there was a small weep hole in the transmission to Transfer case adapter and that a drip of ATF was dripping out aggressively and then puddling onto the skid plate. Bought the Harbor Freight Transmission Jack and dropped the transfer case. Replaced the seal in the back of transmission output shaft and the transfer case input shaft. Two seals, cost around $25.00 or so. Skid plate and transmission/transfer case are now bone dry.
 
for me the answer was 3.

The question? How many times do I have to drain fresh fluid from my trans before I switch to a pan with a drain plug. Ive done it at least 5 times since then. I'm also no good at using RTV on the trans pan, my lubelocker hasn't given me any problems after many re-installations. Importnatnt to know that the torque spec is way less than what your daddy probably taught you. :)

Battery died on my torque wrench so I used a 1/4 inch drive ratchet. Learned that from someone when replacing glow plugs on my F350.
 
The first thing that has to be done is to thoroughly clean the transmission and transfer case and then monitor it to diagnose where the leak is coming from. As I said earlier, I thought mine was leaking at the pan but turned out to be wrong.

support the back of transfer case with jack/jack stand. Drop skid plate. 6 main bolts that go into frame on each side and then 4 13mm bolts that pass through skid plate and then into transmission mount.

Then Clean, Clean, Clean to be able to see where ATF is flowing out from.
 
The first thing that has to be done is to thoroughly clean the transmission and transfer case and then monitor it to diagnose where the leak is coming from. As I said earlier, I thought mine was leaking at the pan but turned out to be wrong.

support the back of transfer case with jack/jack stand. Drop skid plate. 6 main bolts that go into frame on each side and then 4 13mm bolts that pass through skid plate and then into transmission mount.

Then Clean, Clean, Clean to be able to see where ATF is flowing out from.

Very familiar with skid plate. When I serviced the transmission it turned into a rusted frame repair job too🤦‍♂️.
I looked a little yesterday. Fluid in the skid plate and fluid dripping down dust cover of bell housing. Thinking it’s puddling up on skid plate and dripping out while sitting. Going to clean it this weekend
 
recently had a bad front seal on my 42rle. that cheap little seal turned out to be a large and expensive headache as i have no place to work on jeep at the moment. the whole under side of the jeep from front of transmission back was wet with atf.
 
I went through this a while back. I traced mine to the transmission output seal - I could see the fluid dripping from the weephole on the housing.

I did the repairs myself, and I'm no mechanical ace. Trickiest part was mating the T-case back up the output shaft. I bought a cheapo transmission jack from Northern Tool and it solved that. It's bone dry now.
 
I found a white plug on mine not sure what it is but when you push on it it seems loose it clunks in but when it does transmission fluid comes out around it