trans leak for an engine novice

[mike3311]

If I didn't prove how much of an idiot I am with my "oil leak" post, here's the real kicker. The information in my previous post was tainted by the fact that I can't tell the difference between an oil dip stick and a trans stick. Nor could I distinguish between trans fluid and oil on the garage floor. I don't have an oil leak. I have a trans leak. Thank you mgross! for telling me not to drive it, because as a result of my earlier troubleshooting, I had 3 quarts too much oil in the engine. At least I managed to figure that out before driving it.

So to repost the same picture, I have *trans* fluid coming out of here:



It's not a lot (about 1/4 of a cup) and it doesn't seem to leak when the engine is off. My inclination for now is to top it off and see how fast the leak actually is by watching the dipstick for a while.

Any ideas on the likely cause of the leak in that location.

Thank you all for the advice. I'd probably be sitting on a destroyed engine right now if it wasn't for your input on the last thread.

[kenm78]

Looks like it might be the input shaft seal behind the torque converter pull the chrome pan off where your yellow arrow is and look up behind the big round looking thing that is your torque converter towards the rear of the vehicle with the truck running and in park with the e-brake engaged put a chock block on the tires (somthing infront and behind tires to keep truck from rolling foward or back) and watch to see if the fluid is running down there.

[edman87]

Good news, you are not an idiot, we all started somewhere, Bad news is you prolly get to learn a lot more when you drop your transmission.

[j hannah]

either a torque converter seal or front pump gasket leak

[joeymarkgraf]

Originally Posted by mike3311

If I didn't prove how much of an idiot I am with my "oil leak" post, here's the real kicker. The information in my previous post was tainted by the fact that I can't tell the difference between an oil dip stick and a trans stick. Nor could I distinguish between trans fluid and oil on the garage floor. I don't have an oil leak. I have a trans leak. Thank you mgross! for telling me not to drive it, because as a result of my earlier troubleshooting, I had 3 quarts too much oil in the engine. At least I managed to figure that out before driving it.

So to repost the same picture, I have *trans* fluid coming out of here:


It's not a lot (about 1/4 of a cup) and it doesn't seem to leak when the engine is off. My inclination for now is to top it off and see how fast the leak actually is by watching the dipstick for a while.

Any ideas on the likely cause of the leak in that location.

Thank you all for the advice. I'd probably be sitting on a destroyed engine right now if it wasn't for your input on the last thread.

WOW, you have the cleanest trans in the world! Good luck on pulling the tranny, I just finished pulling and reinstalling mine. It was fun to say the least. It was quite a valuable learning experience, so "get er done!"

[Billla]

Originally Posted by kenm78

Looks like it might be the input shaft seal behind the torque converter pull the chrome pan off where your yellow arrow is and look up behind the big round looking thing that is your torque converter towards the rear of the vehicle with the truck running and in park with the e-brake engaged put a chock block on the tires (somthing infront and behind tires to keep truck from rolling foward or back) and watch to see if the fluid is running down there.

that would be the first thing I'd check.

Go easy on yourself - we're ALL learning and we ALL make mistakes.

[Slonaker]

Originally Posted by j hannah

either a torque converter seal or front pump gasket leak

My TH-350 leaked from there twice. One time from each of the above.

I can't believe how clean everything is on your truck...

Slonaker

[mike3311]

Originally Posted by Slonaker

My TH-350 leaked from there twice. One time from each of the above.

I can't believe how clean everything is on your truck...

Slonaker

That's not my truck. I stole the picture from N2Trux because I couldn't manage to get a shot of my own.

Thanks for all the advice and help. The fluid level on the trans stick seems to be relatively stable over the last week, so I think I'm just going to keep an eye on it and try to finish off the interior before doing anything down below.

More to come...

[mike3311]

So I have to drive the truck tomorrow and I thought I'd be safe and run through a test that a friend told me where by I shift into every gear for about 30 seconds each and then check the trans fluid to make sure there's still some left. I did that and the stick was dry. Great...

So I add a quart of fluid and then go to check again and this happened:



Crappy picture. That's the end of my dipstick... in two pieces.

I guess it could be worse, it could have broken off inside the tube. Actually, yeah, it could be a LOT worse.

So it's 9:15 right now and I have no idea how to tell how much fluid I have. Does anyone have a suggestion on how to check it before the morning? I already tried a coat hanger wire... the fluid doesn't stick to it enough to show me anything. I suppose I could make one out of pine, I should really stick to the woodworking.

[joeymarkgraf]

I've been having some tranny problems of my own, and I would say don't drive it. Its really unusual to break off the dipstick like that. Make sure the engine is warm when you check, if it isn't you could get a dry reading like you did. If its a TH350 it will hold up to 10 quarts, so you could need a lot, but if you get too happy with the juice, you could end up with too much. (Which is really, really a pain)

Good luck!

P.S. - I'm new to this all too, and it seems like every stupid question seems like a good one to me!