Transmission leaking!

[joleary223]

1996 F250 crew cab, 7.3 liter automatic, stock except for DIY intake. Towing around 8,000lbs in 97 degree heat with high humidity. 70mph slight hills on I-10. I traveled about 100 miles and noticed, while refueling, a steady stream of transmission fluid leaking from a small opening at the bottom of the transmission ( overflow maybe?) Anyway it scared the crap out of me. I don't know if this is normal for a hot transmisson or if something is really wrong with it. Does anyone have any Ideas or experiance with this problem?

[MrJohnWayne]

Where was the small opening? doesn't sound normal and I don't recall there being any kind of overflow except for a vent tube on the top.

[Diesel Nick]

How many miles on your truck? And could you see where it was leaking? Maybe your tranny pan gasket is leaking...

[joleary223]

The leak was from the front bottom of the transmission. The truck has 194,000 miles on it and the Transmission was rebuilt in 2003 before I owned it.

Attached Images

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[mustangz]

Itspossible that it just got hot and pushed some fluid out the front seal.That is a good bit of weight and if you were going up and down hills i bet it did just get too hot.It happens alot.After it cooled down was it still leaking?You need to change the fluid and filter now and you could be ok.Then I would suggest a tranny temp gauge,and maybe a bigger cooler.Hope thats all it was.good luck

[joleary223]

No leaking fluid today, but will check again on the way home from work. I run Mobil 1 synthetic ATF, does anyone know of anything better for the E40D? Also any other uprades I can do to prolong the life of my transmission? Gauges are 1st on my list.

[howardtm]

a guage for absolute, a secondary cooler would definately be a worthwhile investment, and I've heard that a deeper pan helps in cooling things down just a bit too.

[fast_st]

The hole is just a drain in the torque converter inspection plate. I've had mine overheat
while sitting in hot stop&go traffic, backing up with the boat caused fluid out the drain
and someplace out of the back of the tranny on the top. Checked it several times and
once it got to about 3/4 quart low, it stopped puking out when hot. I've heard that you
need to change out the front pump seal 'gray' ones are bad. My truck is a late 98 so
99 model year.

-Jason

[scottphillips88]

Same exact problem with my truck....Word for word. Started leaking after hard pull and from the exact same place. What should I do? Do I need to replace a seal?? If so which one?

Should I get a powerflush?? joleary223 - What did you ever end up doing??

[fast_st]

Scott,
I hear that its a seal issue, leakers have the dreaded 'gray' front
pump seal that needs to be replaced with a high temp version.

The most fluid I've ever had it leak has been a cup or two. Winter
seems to have cured the leaking problem as well. Near the end of
the summer I did haul the backhoe about 20 miles without any kind
of issues but feel confident that seal needs to be swapped soon.