Transmission leaked after a pull

[dcole]

Hello,

I have a 99 4x4 F250. This past weekend I was towing a camper down the interstate for about 100 miles. Everything went just fine on the entire trip until I stopped to back the camper up into a parking lot at the end of the trip. I noticed that there was fluid pouring out of the dust cover on the transmission into a puddle. We're talking steady stream coming out of that little hole in the bottom, not just a drip. I noticed where I first stopped there was also a puddle, but nothing before then, and not really anything in between the two stops where i backed up to park the thing. It seems like it was not leaking under load, just when it was at idle. The fluid didn't smell burned or anything.

I didn't know what was going on, so I had it towed to a transmission shop back home (100 mile tow..nice).

They finally got around to checking it and said it was low on fluid, which is obvious because it was on the ground back at the park. They put some fluid in it and drove it around and said it drove and shifted fine, and was "seeping" from the front seal they thought. (i wouldnt have used the word seeping at all the way it was leaking after we towed that camper..it was like a slow pouring like out of a bottle)

I have heard that some of these transmissions have a vent or something that can leak. I heard this after talking to them, can anyone confirm this? Does this sound like maybe what is going on with mine - fluid coming out of the vent when it's hot? I don't have an external cooler, and I just bought the camper. I was thinking if this was a non-catastrophic event, I might just put a big cooler on for now and give it some time to see if it really grenades and give me some time to save up some more funds for a replacement.

Any advice? They quoted me 2500-2900 for the rebuild. The ford dealer quoted me 3500 for a reman, with 925 of that being labor. The transmission place I towed it to told me they could also order a ford remanu.

[gcfd856]

i have a 2001 doing the same thing. It has done twice seems to do it when trans. get around 210-220 degress

[Harleyvl]

I just joined today having the same problem with my 99 F350 85,000 miles blowing trans fluid. I let a friend pull his camper 8K and he lost fluid when backing it up hill. I was told it just happens no big deal, so I just added fluid 4quarts. it drove fine around town and on the highway with no load. Well I did not want to get stranded on my next trip, so I took it to the local shop. I ended up replacing both front and rear seals while changing fluid and filter.
Now I take it on a camping trip through the mountians of Va and Nc. Going over the mountains the AC starts blowing warm air. After some reading I find out that the 99F350 no longer has a trans cooler in the radiator. Ford changed the cofig to use a stand alone trans cooler, mine is the width of the radiator but only about 1/3 as tall placed right between the inter cooler and the AC coil. So I assume (I know) that this is what has caused the AC to warm up. On the down hill side I was back to cold air.

After reading about so many others changing the cooler to one from a 6.0 F350, I want to know if i replace the cooler with one from a 6.0 how much if any does the inter cooler and water temp go up when pulling a long hill?

I am trying to decide on a 6.0cooler mounter in place of the existing air only cooler. OR Should I add a cooler lower and in front of the bumper or somewhere.

[timmyboy76]

you can install the 6.0 trans cooler to help the temps. Also, check to make surethe vent tube/s are not clogged.

[Harleyvl]

Thanks for the response, I am going to order a 6.0 cooler today. If I still have problems with heating I will add another cooler.