Hi All,

In advance just like to say again I love this board as I have owned my first 99 PSD for 3 years now and have always got good advice form everyone here.

Here is my deal......while towing a car on my 18 foot trailer home from a buddys place the trans temp guage was running about 180-190, as I got closer to home in stop and go traffice it was about 195-200.....ok so I think.

When I pull into my yard (weird deal) I have to pull onto my neighbors side lot and back truck and trailer into back yard due to yard configuration.

So as I am backing up trans gauge goes to 200-210 and as I had to back it in more its almost 220.

So I park truck and trailer and I see a trail of tranny fluid running up driveway, pull dipstick and there fluid on it and ddint smell like it was burnt.

I put some cardboard underneath and see it leaking, not gushing out but you can see the drops.

So I let truck sit a few hours and start it and see nothing leaking.....let it sit overnight start it this afternoon and no leaks but I can see on the trans pan where it was from yesterday.

Any ideas what this might be? Years ago I had a 93 F250 gas truck that while coming into NJ from PA the trans got hot (no guage-my bad) and blew seal out of the pump and I was a smog machine, fixed trans and sold truck to buy my PSD and never looked back.

Thanks for any and all help.

Rich

 

It's that same seal. When the torque converter gets really hot, like when slowly backing a trailer, the torque converter makes A LOT of heat. That softens the seal and it leaks. Once it cools it almost always works again.

 

If you have a 4x4, put the transfer case in low range before you back up...it will prevent this problem.

 

Sounds like that darn transmission front pump seal, once cooled all will be normal and leak free again, until the next haul.

We warned they are limited to how many times they reseal, personally I bite the bullet and did it along with TRU COOL MAX and Tugger kit, now not seeing hotter than 160 with 36 foot 5th wheel in tow.

See my threads regarding this in detail, I got all my info here, great great site

 

Hi Guys,

Thanks for the info......it's a 2WD truck for what it's worth.

What am I looking at price wise to replace the front seal? I am supposed to tow from NJ to Ohio in a month and do not want a repeat of what I had a few years ago.

I thank you all in advance......love this site.

Regards,
Rich

 

Hey Rich, I too am 2WD I'm in the UK so can not really advise on the labour charges as here its a specialist vehicle, my labour was $1,000!!!

But parts all came from the USA of course and via E-bay, CT Powertrain supplied the complete trans pump seal kit for $20.00, that in itself will fix the leaking, but while I was there I went for the TransGo tugger HD2 at $113 and TRU-COOL MAX LPD4739 was $185.00.

Unless seal is really bad it seems the trucks can be driven without issue if not hitting hills with a load lol!!

My first leak was while pulling my Newmar Kountry Aire 36' it was my first time hauling and I had been heavy on the go pedal and found I had a sticking rear caliper, it was just a few drips and 1 liter topped it off.

I drove 70 miles home without issue being easy on the throttle, then did 150 miles without trailer over a few weeks without losing a drop of fluid.

I then did a 50 mile drive with the 5th wheel, all was well until I hit traffic for 10-15 minutes then went up a 1/2 mile 10% hill.... whoosh 5.5 liters everywhere!!

30 ton heavy wrecker had to recover me home!! which took three days to arrive (lucky I was on a site at a seaside resort in Scarborough)

Looking back I think my truck had leaked many times, because when I got it the trans fluid was super clean but everything else was in need of service, likely why the seller sold.

Anyways. all the best hope you get it sorted OK

 

>>> Hi Viper,

Thanks for the advice, I am going to do the seal and cooler. My truck has 218K on it, bought it with 204K and changed tranny fluid when I got it. I tow a couple times a year, longest haul about 500 miles one way to Ohio and after my experience with the F250 and being a crop duster I am a little gunshy of that happening again so I will do the seal and cooler.

My buddy has a shop so we can drop tranny and do it and my labor costs won't be too bad.

Did the new cooler you put in take place of the stock one or did you run in along with the stock cooler? Seems the split is 50/50 as to which is correct.

Thanks for the info I appreciate it and I appreciate this board.

Stay well.
Rich

 

Dont worry about the seal, just go with a 6.0 trans cooler or add an additional cooler, such as this Riffraff Diesel: Derale 20,500 GVW Transmission Oil Cooler

 

Hey Rich, yeah I know what you mean by the 50/50 with cooler being solo or double.

I have gone with the two as my original is good, I think people worry about the flow being restricted??? but trans shop said I'm totally fine.

My set up is stock 7.3 cooler first then the Tru-Cool max before returning to trans.

I know Alan is saying leave the seal which is fine, but for me it was piece of mind, especially as I only really use my truck to pull our 5th wheel, last thing I need is dropping my fluid in the middle of no where with 2 young kids, dog and wife, I was lucky I leaked 1/4 a mile from the site so managed to limp it into camp site.

Say, we also fitted that HD2 tugger kit and there was something upgraded on the actual pump??? did want a John Wood uprated pump but boy that company is soooooo hard to trade with (from Europe at least), spent neally two weeks trying to get it shipped to Clay at RiffRaff so we could get everything shipped in one box, but ran out of time due to a vacation where truck needed to be back on the road

so sadly once again I didn't get my intercooler pipe boots

 

Hi Guys,

Well did a couple things over the weekend. First off went to my buddys shop and put truck up on lift and pulled TC cover and it was not all wet with tranny fluid. it was dirty as we had dirt/crap on our fingers but I was expecting to see tranny fluid. On the 20 mile drive to shop tranny ran about 140-150 or so but it was also 6:30AM and I was not towing a trailer with a race car and truck full of car parts like the week before.

I then drove another 40 miles north to a friends house to pick up more car parts and tranny ran about 180-190 at it's peak with some stop and go traffic, temps in NJ were about 82-85 degrees Saturday afternoon.

My buddy said we can do the seal as it won't take long to drop the tranny and if I help he won't charge me. My problem is this, I bought this truck 3 years ago off Ebay with 204K on it, it has now 220K and performed great. However I have ZERO maintenance records on this truck, all I know it was a farm truck from Texas. I wrote to the previous owner off the title and asked him to contact me but he never did.

I am towing 3 weeks to Ohio and I think I will do the seal for peace of mind, throw another cooler on it, flush the system etc.

I talked to another diesel mechanic buddy tonight he said if we drop trans to look at back of TC for a discoloration ring, meaning the TC got hot and that might be bad too (again no maintenance records hurts).

Couple quick questions:

1. What does a new TC go for and where is a good place to buy it if needed?
2. What do the 6.0 trans coolers go for and who sells them?
3. Anyone know the part number for the trans pump seal?

Again I thank everyone who helped me with replies, this board has been a great help.

Regards,
Rich

 

Hey Rich, you have a cool buddy willing to help for free.

in regards to your questions

TC I'm not sure being british lol!! but sure a good one is approx $800-$1,000 others will let you know for sure

Ref the 6.0 trans cooler I hear they are not cheap and more expensive than the Tru-cool max, unless you buy used of course?

Part number for pump seal? here is a link to what the kit should look like and a part number I know of is Precision #16601EV, this being the up rated viton seal

Ford Truck 4R100 Transmission Front Pump seal Kit | eBay

Hope this helps in some way

 

Hi Viper,

Thanks for the info, again much appreciated. I will keep you posted how I make it.

Stay well and chat soon.

Rich