Last weekend I planned to bring my travel trailer home after the season ended with my 2003 F350 V10.. Friday night I stopped at the liquor store, when I went to leave I stepped on the brake pedal and it went to the floor. Climbed underneath and found a leaking brake line. Towed it to the dealer and had them replace all the brake lines and a universal joint for $1500.

Picked up the truck Thursday and off to the campground Saturday to bring the trailer home before Sandy hits. Towed it about 55 miles out of a 70 mile trip, stopping at a light I noticed the truck made a hard left when I hit the brakes. About a half mile from the house after taking a 90 degree turn I noticed a lot of smoke. Figured it was the guy who passed with a bad exhaust system. Went another half mile and noticed the smoke again, crap it's me. Pulled into the yard and jumped out to look for the source. Looked at the brakes and didn't see anything, then my dad (who was following me) says "the truck is on fire" I look under the front and see bright orange flames. Get the trailer keys from the truck, open the trailer, grab the extinguisher from the trailer put the fire out. I waited a few minutes to collect myself and crawled under the truck. I soon pinpointed the fires location to the top of an exhaust pipe and noticed transmission fluid everywhere. The transmission fluid was the source of the fire.

It appears there is a leak in the torque converter. With hurricane Sandy about to hit I won't be able to look at it for a bit. Of course I hoped to have the truck available during the storm just in case.

 

Your front tranny seal is leaking. You can probably just have the seal replaced and still be ok. (It leaks when you run the tranny too hot for too long.)

Hard left when braking probably means your right front brake is seized. It could be the caliper slide pin or one of the caliper pistons. I just had this problem and it was BOTH front slide pins AND the left caliper piston was seized. (Mine was pulling right when braking.)

Would be a good time to upgrade to some Hawk SuperDuty pads if you do a bunch of towing. (If you haven't already upgraded your pads.)

Another good thing to upgrade would be the tranny cooler. Many upgrade (myself included) to the 6.0 diesel cooler. Direct drop-in except the fittings. Easy upgrade that will really help in keeping that 4R100 cool.

You should also think about getting something so you can keep an eye on those tranny temps. I got a Scan Gauge II as it just plugs into the OBD port and does so much more than just look at tranny temps. They can be had for about $150 right now.

 

It has a gauge on the instrument panel for the transmission temp, at no time did it read anything but normal. I'm hoping it's just a gasket somewhere in the transmission. It's a small leak so I'm hopeful.

Thanks for the suggestion on the brake pads. I only tow about 500 miles for the year but the trailer is heavy. Upgrading the pads is a great idea.

 

I think you should invest in an extinguisher for inside the truck!

 

Way ahead of you on that one.

 

Wow. When it rains it pours.

Glad the fire did not do any other damage.

I had my transmission fail on my F150 with my slide-in camper on it when I was 500 miles from home. It sucks to have trouble on the road like that.

Hope it is not too costly to fix!

 

Factory gauge will not show a problem until it is to late , get a scan gauge or a standalone transmission gauge you can look at the one I installed if you go to my albums. I also did the 6.0 cooler mode because I tow a 5th wheel all summer. As for your leak as said its most likely the front seal and most of the time it will return to its normal size and reseal after it cools down. I would top the fluid off and drive it you are probably fine. Now if the fluid is black or smells burnt then you should change it if not like I said just bring it back up to full.