Well I took another 200 mile drive this weekend and about half way there I stopped to get some fuel and looked under the truck and tranny oil was dripping out of the inspection plate, AGAIN!
I was only about a pint low at this point so I put a pint in and continued on. At the end of my drive another 200 miles down the road I was another pint low.
I am goint to call Brian at BTS tomorrow and ask him what he thinks I should do. If he suggests replacement I guess I'll get 4-5 quarts of oil and attempt to make the 700 mile trip and Get Er Done, That is if I am still standing after I get a price quote! Wish me luck and I will post back with his suggestion.
This is a link to my original thread:
https://www.ford-trucks.com/forums/8...ny-thread.html

 

just asking, are you after a complete rebuild? or are you after replacing a couple of seals. if the latter then you can easily find a reputable shop to do a remove and repair job. if the latter, consider replacing with suncoast convertors in ft walton beach fl.

also, consider putting in a 6.0 tranny cooler, syn fluid and mag tek pan for extra cooling capacities.

 

Subscribing, because I am ready to do this too. Costa, I can load you up and we can get this done.

 

If my mine leaking and there were no other problems, I would probably just replace the front seal, possibly do the front pump mods & shift kit, and run her a while longer. Then again, I would be doing the work myself. If you have alot of miles, it may be worth it to go ahead and bite the bullet. I wouldn't put in a new TC without knowing the tranny was in good shape and wouldn't get contaminated.

 

Well Rick we may have to wait a couple of weeks before we do a road trip.
I talked to Brian at BTS today and he gave me a couple of tests he wants me to try to help determine why I may have the drips. He basically told me the only reason the seal would be leaking is because of too high a pressure in the tranny OR possibly a pin hole in the torque converter. He asked me to do the tests (I am going to do the tests this Friday) and call him back and give him the results.
With my tranny temps consistanty running at 160-180 he does not think there are any major problems with the tranny requiring a complete rebuild YET.

 

Is there a breather line on top of the trans? Possible for it to get plugged and push fluid at the weakest seal?
Can you share the tests you are doing for those of us with minor trans issues?

 

OK, keep us up to date on how its doing. I was talking with my brother yesterday and we were talking about the cost difference between my trans going out all together or just driving my truck up there now and have the trans rebuilt. I feel it will cost more to have the tranny shiped here and have someone pull and install it then me just driving up there and get er done. lol. I have the Diode in mine and 126,000 miles, plus a little more power. I think I am on thin ice here.

Good luck with the test.

 

Mike, he wants me to pull the lines at the radiator and back-flush the fluid and inspect the oil for debris. He said with the temps my tranny is running the seal should not be roasted, therefore the only reason for oil to come out of that seal is too high a pressure.
So first thing to check for is a clogged oil cooling passage in the radiator. If the oil looks good his next guess would be a pin hole in the torque converter that "expands" with the tranny heat and highway speeds and begins leaking.

My thoughts exactly Rick, I figure 500 or so for shipping and another 500 if you have to get someone to install it. Heck if she's still a runner it will cost less for a road trip, plus you will get to see exactly how the rebuild is done.

 

With Brians instructions I backflushed the tranny line in the radiator - no debris. Next test was checking the flow from the rear tranny line at idle and again at 2000rpm - no problem with the flow and no oil coming out the rear tranny fitting. The best educated guess is that the TC seal is just bad!
Brian gave me the part number for the "upgraded" tranny seal and a suppliers name. I checked with them this afternoon and the seal costs a whole $4.50. I also found someone that will drop the tranny replace the seal, flush and refill it for $450.00. The only thing I will furnish is the seal. The next couple of weeks for me are pretty busy so right after that I will get the r/r done.

FWIW- Brian does not endorse the method described on the tranny flush instructions that we all follow. He suggests after draining and refilling the pan to replace the oil in the pan then add 4 more quarts then start the truck and pump 4 quarts out the rear tranny line then add 4 more quarts and to keep repeating that untill it all gets flushed out.

 

How is Brian's method different than Mark K's method? The way I read it, both Brian and Mark are saying to do the same thing...

 

Good luck Costa, subscribing...

 

[quote=RedBoat;7527389]best educated guess is that the TC seal is just bad!
Brian gave me the part number for the "upgraded" tranny seal and a suppliers name. I checked with them this afternoon and the seal costs a whole $4.50. I also found someone that will drop the tranny replace the seal, flush and refill it for $450.00. The only thing I will furnish is the seal. The next couple of weeks for me are pretty busy so right after that I will get the r/r done.
quote]

You may or may not have seen my tranny threads. but after adding the Edge programmer, the increased line pressure blew my front seal on my factory reman with only bout 30k miles. After that I went to Auto Zone and purchased a new seal, made by Timken, thought it sounded like a good brand, dropped the trans and installed the seal. It turned out to be the grey silicone seal which from what madvan said the blue and grey seals dont handle the heat the way the the black viton seal does. Well I did'nt know it at the time but first gear was going out, and after about 25 miles of driving I got a flashing O.D. light. got home and the seal with 25 miles on it was leaking. I ran the codes for the blinking O.D. light and it was a transmission overheat code. The guage never got above 190 though. So I went to napa and bought the ATP seal (viton) Napa p/N# 1-6455 thinking that would do it. But first had to check trans fluid level to see how much fluid was actually lost. turned out to be bout 9 quarts. Now I was beginning to see I had a big problem, top off the fluid and took er for a drive and no first gear without manually shifting. Thats when I called John Woods and came to the determination that first was gone. Im getting lengthy here so to cut it short try the viton seal. If you have the time and tools try and do it yourself and $450 dollars in labor because there is always that possibilty you may have lost your trans.

 

Is this the PN for the Upgraded Seal that we should be using?

 

Marks method says to put a hose in a bucket start the truck and run thru the gears untill you see bubbles in the line then stop and add the amount of you you ran out untill you saw the bubbles, keep repeating untill you get clean fluid. Brian said waiting untill you get bubbles in the line actually runs the pump almost dry putting undue strain on the pump.

Dan I will go by napa tomorrow and check out the seal your recommending and compare it to the one Brian recommended and will post back tomorrow. Thanks for the heads up on the seal!!
I have done many clutches on manual tranny's and even rebuilt a few manuals but that was many years ago, I dont have access to a tranny jack or even an area big enough to enable me to do the job myself anymore. The tranny shop can get it done in 1 day where it would probably end up taking me at least two. plus i'm getting too old for that stuff and I know absolutely nothing about an auto other than I dont have to shift.

 

Yes, this is napa's P/N# for the Viton seal which is better than the silicaone seal.