On my way home yesterday, about a mile out, I back off the gas to go around a curve and the transmission SLAMS hard into third gear. Like i got rear ended hard. As I pull into the neighbor hood the engine stalls and I pop it into neutral and restart it while still rolling. Put it back into gear and, against my will, gradually roll to a stop. I rev the engine, and go no where. I get out and look and there is a puddle of transfluid under the truck. I got a quick tow home and and transfluid continues to puddle underneath the truck. I tried to find the leak with flashlight, but I had no luck. I tried again today since I have daylight and I cannot get any fluid to leak out. The dip stick shows I have plenty of fluid, but there was atleast a quart on the ground where I initially broke down and a very obvious trail leading to said spot. There was atleast another quart in my drive way after only 2 minutes of sitting yesterday. So i know I lost a lot of fluid. I added 6 quarts of fluid and I'm still not getting any leak anywhere.

There is transfluid splattered inside the lower portion of the passenger side wheel well, and a lot of fluid on a small section of the passenger side exhaust manifold right before it bolts to the turbo up pipe. The codes that came up with AE was for trans fluid over temp. The temp reading I got was 173 with AE.

What do I do next?

The truck is an 03 4x4, stage 2 injectors, swamps performance IDM, cold air intake, 4" exhaust, Banks quick spool turbine housing and compressor wheel, and DP-Tuner.

 

inside the passenge rside wheel well





passenger side exhaust manifold

 

I'm not sure what you should do next to fix it but it kinda looks like it might be a trans cooling line burst.

 

That was my first thought too. I looked them over and I couldn't find any obvious signs of failure. So I started the truck up and it didn't leak anymore. I figure it was just out of fluid so I put some in. Still nothing so I'll try adding more tomorrow.

 

pretty sure the trans won't slam into gear and die out if the fluid is low could be somthing else going on

 

I'm thinking that there is very little fluid left. I figure I'll start with figuring out where I lost all my fluid. Then I'm hoping the transmission is ok. I have my doubts. Prior to this I had no signs of transmission problems.

 

Hmmmm, I'm pretty sure it will.

 

ok, so after adding a total of 10 quarts I have finally replicated the leak. It is coming from the top on the back drivers side of the transmission. I have no clue how transfuid got to the places in the pics i posted before, but i have checked and rechecked, it is transmission fluid in the pictures.

So what is in that area of the transmission, and can I get to it with out dropping the tranny? The fluid is pouring out in a steady stream like I'm just pouring fluid out of the bottle.

 

ok, the fluid is coming from an open hose on top of the back of the transmission. I tried to follow it up towards the front of the transmission, but i lose sight of it about half way up. It looks like a vent hose. It is not the vent hose for the transfer case. I can see that one just fine. Can any one tell me what this hose is?

 

edited:

ok, so I've managed to trace this hose back to a fitting on top of the transmission by the bell housing. Why would i be dumping transfuid out of the vent tube? I put the truck into gear, and the RPM's drop down a bit as normal, but the truck wont go anywhere. I checked the shift solenoids with AE and solenoid 1 is constant on, and shift solenoid 2 comes on when i shift it 2nd gear. solenoid 3 stays off. Is there anything else I can check?

 

You could put a 0-350 PSI gauge in the pressure test port on the driver's side of the trans.

 

I'll find a gauge. Do you have a pic that shows exactly where that port is? What will that tell me?

 

I suspect it will tell you that there is no pressure.

The port is on the driver's side, towards the front, just above the pan. It has a black hex head pipe plug in it from the factory. Many people use this port to install a temperature sender.

 

It's been a while but I finally got time to get back to the truck. I've got 60 PSI at idle while in park. I've swapped a few transmissions and I have never seen fluid this dark. It almost looks like motor oil. I changed the trans fluid and filter when I bought the truck 50,000 miles ago. I've check the fluid periodically and it has always been good.

 

I found a post in another forum that says normal pressures at idle for park, neutral, and forward gears are 50-65, and revers is 70-100.

I had 60 in park and drive, and I had 90 in reverse.