700R4 Leaking Profusely

[Dignan]

Quite some time ago, I was rushing to get to the airport and my 700R4 dumped all of its tranny fluid. I rolled into a shop that filled it back up and sent me on my way. I made it about a half mile before it dumped it again. I was about 2 or 3 miles from home. I had to make my flight, so I grabbed my bag and ran in my brand new cowboy boots (yeah, I had blisters). Anyway, I went out of town and had it towed to a shop to be fixed. The guy said that is was some sort of cap that blows off of the 700R4s all of the time. I can't remember exactly what it is called. That is the reason for this post. I am dumping fluid again, and that seems like a logical place to start looking. Does anyone know what this cap is and better yet, have a picture? Also, a good way to fix it so I don't blow it off and dump my fluid anymore?

 

[drdoom]

Servo Cover. You have to clean the groove out really well before you re-install it.

 

[Dignan]

anybody have a picture?

 

[bam22422]

I wish I could fit one in my explorer.

 

[Dignan]

I don't think it is the servo, but I will check that when I get a chance to crawl under there. I am racking my brain trying to remember what he called it. It was something very simple.

 

[Dignan]

Servo Cover. You have to clean the groove out really well before you re-install it.

If it is the servo, does it need to be replaced, or just cleaned out well and re-installed?

 

[drdoom]

Cleaning the groove & ring should be adequate.

 

[Dignan]

So last night, i went out and put some fluid in the tranny figuring I could drive it just far enough to get it up the ramps to give me more room to look under there and then crawl under and see exactly where it is coming from. Problem is, when I crawled under, there is no leak. There is fluid all over the place, but none coming out and this morning there is no spot other than the one that was left from before. Obviously I have a problem because it has lost a lot of fluid, but what could intermittently dump the fluid but then disappear?

 

[Dignan]

Does anyone have a picture of their heat shield? I don't have one, so I need to fab something, but would be nice to have a picture to work off of.

 

[drdoom]

Servo

 

[drdoom]

I don't think it is the servo, but I will check that when I get a chance to crawl under there. I am racking my brain trying to remember what he called it. It was something very simple.

Dave, could it be the governor cover?

 

[Dignan]

I think that may be what the transmission guy replaced. That does sound more familiar to me. I don't know if it is the same problem this time, but I think that was the problem last time. Where is that on a 700R4? I'll check that out.

 

[Maniak]

I think that may be what the transmission guy replaced. That does sound more familiar to me. I don't know if it is the same problem this time, but I think that was the problem last time. Where is that on a 700R4? I'll check that out.

Driver side rear of the trans.

edit: you can see it here

~Mark

 

[theshadowmaker]

Torque converter seal?

I have a blazer that has a bad seal where the torque converter goes into the pump. It usually doesn't leak, but if I get the trans hot, it will dump fluid faster than you can pour it out of the bottle. The good news is, it has happened several times, dumped a ton of fluid. I just let it cool about half an hour, then, refill it. The trans has never slipped a lick. it is an '89, with 280,000 miles, and other than the leak, it thinks it is still a new trans. I was tickled when I saw there was a conversion for the explorer.
bad news is that if your prob is that seal, trans must come out to fix. Which is why mine is still leaking.

 

[Dignan]

I had a neighbor look at it and he said it was the seal where the kickdown cable goes into the tranny. He helped me replace that and it seems to be ok for now. I'll keep an eye on it to see if it gets hot and dumps it like you described because that sounds like it could have been what happened although I don't think it was very hot when it dumped, but I'll keep an eye on it.