Ford Explorer 2003 4.6L engine: has an engine oil leak (more of a sweat) near the oil filter adapter. There appears to be a missing bolt/seal/sensor just below the oil pressure-sending unit. The missing part is affixed to the engine block; does anyone have an idea what the part is?

 

so it's not a problem with the filter? did you have work done recently? Sometimes mechanics get in a rush and forget stuff. might have forgotten what you are mentioning. But usually there are problems with filter adapters themselves.

 

Sorry, I replied to the wrong thread

I have the same 03 XLT / 4.6 liter

I had a huge problem with my old '95 tranny and decided to try and take better care of my 03.

The owners manual says that the semi-synthetic fluid in the 03 tranny is good for 100,000 miles (or maybe even 150,000, I'm not sure). I decided to have it flushed at 40,000.

I had the dealer perform it's fluid exchange service (at 40,000) I was never sure if they changed the filter or not (I was not even sure if it had a filter, maybe just a screen).

I had the tranny serviced again at 77,000 miles. Up until then I had no problem with the tranny at all. this time I looked at the bill and noticed that I was charged $130 for the fluid exchange and seperately listed about $20 for 6 quarts of trasnsmission fluid.
I asked about it and was told that the $130 included the fluid pump out (and replacement) and the seperate 6 quarts was for what was in the pan. I took this to mean that the pan was dropped AFTER the fluid pump out/replacement (which is what I wanted.

Anyway, I had the 77,000 mile work done on 6/21/07. sometime in the middle of July, I noticed a little puddle (maybe two capfuls) of fresh tranny fluid under my car. I was at a gas station pump and I wasn't even sure it was from my car. If it was, I thought that it might be a little that was trapped on the outside of the tranny after the service.
By two weeks later, I was sure my car was leaking tranny fluid. The tranny still felt fine, but there was fluid spotting my driveway every night.

I brought it back to the dealer and was told that my Torque Converter was leaking and my tranny was making noise. When I showed the leak to the dealer, I also noticed that the fluid seemed a little burnt.

The dealer is pulling my Torque converter and tranny and tearing them down. My bet is that there going to end up replacing a seal in the torque converter and installing a new transmission. All of this just 6 weeks after there routine tranny service. Pretty coincindental, HUH.

Anyway, I'm glad I got the 100,000 mile ESP ($100 deduct).
So far I've had:

• My rear axle rebuilt (at 77,000). Not a complete rebuild, but they have a kit for replacing clutch componants
• My rear hub Bearings changed
• My A/C condenser coil changed
• Now my tranny and torque Conv pulled apart

When they get done with the tranny, I'm definetly going to get specific details on what was wrong, and what there "tranny fluid exchange service cosnists of

 

lotta times I've seen a vacuum pump used at quick oil change places to suck the oil out of the engine faster. I always thought that this was a bad idea for the gaskets on their part. If they used one on the fluid exchange for your tranny do you think this may have been the reason your seals failed?

 

The proper way to replace the transmission fluid is to let the transmissions own fluid pump do it for you. Disconnect the return line, and let the engine idle. It will pump the fluid through the internals, and then through the cooler and out the return line. Keep adding new fluid till you see new fluid coming out the return line, about 11 quarts. Then drop the pan and replace the filter, and clean and inspect the bottom of the pan. Put it all back together and top it off. Have used this method myself on several for vehicles and it works like a charm. Also unlike the flush machines this method will not damage the transmission in any way.