Red fluid everywhere

FJQue

FJQue

TJ Enthusiast
Joined
Mar 15, 2020
Messages
229
Location
Kansas City
Wife, the dog n me went for an afternoon ride to our land. Riding for about 10 minutes through curvy roads, 40 mph max. Then had to jump on the highway for about 3 miles 65 mph, took a left into our future neighbor hood and started seeing white smoke and smelling burning oil product. It was us
Pulled over immediately and my engine bay & drivetrain was covered in red oil.
I just bought this Jeep a few months ago. It's my 1st automatic Jeep. It has almost 157k miles and was shifting funny. 1st noticed it would take a couple seconds to engage into Drive after Reversing out the driveway. So I changed the transmission fluid and filter, haven't noticed any leaks at all & have enjoyed almost 1000 miles of decent shifting on nice sunny strolls ever since changing the fluid, until today, everything was so wet, I can't tell where it's coming front. Surprisingly, the actual transmission was pretty clean looking..??? Being towed home now..

IMG_20200513_191413.jpg
 
  • Sad
Reactions: JMT
I bet your power steering pump is empty. Check your power steering lines, especially the high pressure one.
 
  • Like
Reactions: J R
Did a transmission cooling hose at the radiator bust? Or power steering hose, there both up front.

Did you notice lack of power steering or pump whining? Slipping if the trans while this was happening?
 
  • Like
Reactions: matkal and Hunter Rich
Either the radiator where the transmission lines feed to it, or the power steering.
 
CodaMan said:
Are the transmission lines high pressure? That much mess looks HP even with the rad fan.
Click to expand...

Not sure, but having broken transmission lines on previous vehicles, I know that as long as the vehicle is running, they can really spew fluid.

Either way, I think it should be pretty easy to find the source of a leak this big.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FJQue and CodaMan
CodaMan said:
Are the transmission lines high pressure? That much mess looks HP even with the rad fan.
Click to expand...

High pressure no, under some amount of pressure not sure how much.

At the end of the day shouldn’t be hard to find that leak tho.
 
  • Like
Reactions: CodaMan
Chris said:
Not sure, but having broken transmission lines on previous vehicles, I know that as long as the vehicle is running, they can really spew fluid.

Either way, I think it should be pretty easy to find the source of a leak this big.
Click to expand...

I've never broke a transmission line ... oh wait, I have a manual transmission :)
 
  • Like
  • Haha
Reactions: jodomcfrodo, D M, Tob and 6 others
I took this pic after I turned it around for the tow truck driver, it's on its way home now. I guess the thing to do is clean the ish out of it, start it & see where it's coming from. I can't begin to tell you how much fluid was every where! Something gotta be close to empty. I checked the obvious while at the site.
Checked brake, power steering and transmission fluid but you know the dipstick was going to be obviously wet. The PS & brake reservoirs were full. Hopefully tow truck driver will be here soon. I'll reassess tomorrow, damn, just glad to have the pregnant wife and my needy pup home, haha
 
FJQue said:
Haha,
Haha, I wasn't going to say anything, all good.
Funny thing is, I've had a YJ throw out bearing leave me in the desert before. And not joy riding, like trying to just get the hell out of Death Valley, haha
Click to expand...
There are times to debate the merits of each, this isn't that time. The manual folks never get it right but at least they entertain us.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FJQue
What year? If it's the 97 only the transmission and transfercase could be red.

My guess is transmission coolant got hot and either expanded out of the breather or filler or a hose popped off the transmission lines up by the radiator and pumped out.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FJQue
I'd check your fluid levels and fill anything that's low, wash it all off with degreaser, and then lay on the ground and have somebody start it. If it's pooling down off the skids you may need to remove them or lay paper towels down in the skids to see where it's dripping from. You'll find that size of leak pretty fast.
 
toximus said:
What year? If it's the 97 only the transmission and transfercase could be red.

My guess is transmission coolant got hot and either expanded out of the breather or filler or a hose popped off the transmission lines up by the radiator and pumped out.
Click to expand...
Interesting you say that, btw, it is a 1997. The very last 2 things I did, the past 2 weekend was change the tcase oil & add the Savvy shifter. So, in essence, in the last month, it's got a tranny fluid change, tcase fluid change & Savvy shifter. So, think we can rule out the shifter.
When I looked under, while it was still light, all the lines were connected to radiator. I was actually wondering if it could come through the dipstick but that seems far fetch, at least I assumed.. I hope to learn A LOT more tomorrow after work. I really wish I would have took a pic or could explain how much red fluid is covering the engine bay top to bottom right now.
 
Does the transfer case have a breather like the diffs? How about female version transmission? I could see fluid spraying out a breather, running along the underside of the hood, then dropping there. Lets see some under hood pics.
 
I wouldn't just fill whatever is low unless you want to either spray the new fluid out the same as earlier or just drain it out and waste it.
You obviously have a major leak. And it is obviously near the radiator. And it obviously is transmission fluid. And you obviously had a shift problem. So to just add fluid makes no sense to me.
It appears to be the trans cooler lines at or near the radiator or trans cooler. That big of a leak should be easy to find once you get everything cleaned up.
Be sure to replace the acc drive belt if it got coated in oil too.
 
  • Like
Reactions: FJQue
Top Bottom
Back