I have a 03 Explorer that leaks trans fluid at highway speeds only. 65+mph. I recently had my fluid changed and thought it was residual fluid from the change...but I cleaned it all off and took it for a 6 mile ride around town not goiung over 50 mph. I brought it back and there was no leak. a few days later I went for a long ride to the mountains with the kids and smelled trans fluid. I crawled under and the only place I could tell it was comeing from was the front trans seal. Once I was home I took the starter out and tried to look behind the flywheel but it looked pretty dry. This whole scenario happened twice. Are their issues with the converter bushings wearing and causing leaks? Any suggestions? Thanks, Scott

 

Take to a trans shop and have it looked at.

 

<TABLE><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="100%">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
</TD><!-- KEN: 1-13-2007: show 300x250 ad-block to non-Club FTE users in the 1st post of every page --><!-- / Ken, end of hack --></TR></TBODY></TABLE><!-- / message --><!-- no sigs except when logged in --><!-- sig -->__________________

 

Are you sure you don't have too much fluid in it? When the trans gets hot (long drive) the fluid could expand at which point it needs to come out somewhere. This is just a shot in the dark. Make sure you have the correct fluid type.

 

Thanks for the info. I've owned Fords since I could drive and to say the least, the newer they get the more dissapointed I am with them. The only thing that stopped my 86 bronco II from running was a gaurd rail at 60 mph!