Well, I found a little boo-boo in my truck yesterday....the tranny is leaking fluid. Luckily I caught it in time. I had it at the shop getting the rear end grease changed, and I was under floor with the guy that was doing it. I happened to see a little drop of fluid under the crossmember of the tranny. I touched it and red ATF ran down my finger. I though "oh crap" and told the guy I was going to check the fluid in my tranny. I unscrewed the fill and stuck my pinky in....nothing..."oh crap" again. He had to add two quarts of fluid back in it to fill it up. I don't think it hurt it, but I know I caught it just in time.

I cleaned the tranny off, but I can't seem to find the leak, it seems to be comming from the very top of the tranny. The problem is though, I have no Idea where. It's not from the rubber plug on the side, it's bone dry. It looks like it's behind the shifter (that's where all the fluid is), but I looked for at least 20 minutes trying to find it.

I was wondering where these tranny's leak besides the rubber plug on the side...is there anything on the top? I did see a little bolt that looked like some kind of star bit on the drivers side. I didn't know what it was, so I didn't mess with it. Could someone tell me what that is too?

This tranny has been rebuild within the past 10K miles, so I know it's in good shape, but I'm really worried about the leak. Can someone help me out???

Matt

 

On the surface, it sounds like a classic case of leaking shift rail plugs. These are rubber plugs located on top of the transmission at the back of the shifter housing boss. Unfortunately, I came up a little short on a search for "shift rail plugs", but it seems to me that someone on this website gave a detailed description on how and with what to change them. I'm thinking it was brass core plugs, but I'm not really sure.

Try a search for "shift rail plugs" and see what you come up with...you just might have better luck than I did.

Pat

 

https://www.ford-trucks.com/article/...e_Measure.html

This is a link to the description of the rail plugs. mine leaks from them and i need to change them but haven't yet.

Its funny. they didnt leak till i poked one with me finger when we were changing the clutch. stupid curiosity. Should have changed them then.

 

For what it's worth I had the same problem and thought the leak was from where the extension housing connects to the tranny, so I yanked the driveshaft and transfer case and then the extension housing. Cleaned all the mating surfaces up really wel and then resealed with anerobic sealer. Put it all back together and no leak. The next day my leak was back.

Then just the other day my slave cylinder goes out so the tranny comes out all the way. What i found is the top cover was leaking right at the very back. Couldn't tell where it was coming from by just looking under the pickup. I just thought I had a crack or something. That could be your problem too.

 

I know about this leaky plug thing, but mine has 145,000 miles and has yet to leak. I'll be watching it though.

 

Man, it seems like there's alot of places these tranny's leak, didn't know that. Hey ac700wildcat, where exactly was it leaking from at the top? It looks like mine's leaking from the top, but I'm not exactly sure. It doesn't look like the rail plugs. There's fluid on the top of the tranny.

Thanks alot for the replies guys, I really appreciate the responces. I'll keep everyone posted on where it's leaking. My next day off I'm going to probably take it to a tranny shop and see where they think it's leaking.

Matt

 

There is a cover on the top of the case that is sealed by a rubber gasket and anerobic sealer. It was leaking right at the very rear of that cover. I took it off and cleaned the mating surfaces up real well and reinstalled the gasket then applied anerobic sealer to both sides of the gasket and the primer for the sealer to the mating surface on the tranny. Let it all tack up a little and reinstall the bolts and snugged them down. After that i let the tranny sit for a day before messing with it.

To clean the mating surfaces i sprayed a cloth with brake cleaner and wiped them down really good to make sure there was no oil of any sort on them.