2002 Transmission gush

[JasonPAtkins]

Hi guys, I started my car yesterday (first really cold day this year) and heard liquid sloshing around somewhere. I backed 2 feet to find I didn't have any power, and when I got out of the car, found transmission fluid, not leaking, but gushing out. I was in a hurry so I just shut it off and took a different vehicle, I didn't take time to notice exactly what part of the transmission it was coming from, but it was that area.

It's a 2002 AWD Mounty (V8 if it matters for some reason).

This morning I went out to start trying to figure out what went wrong, thinking maybe a pan seal had cracked from the cold or something, and found these two pieces on the driveway where the car was initially started yesterday.

I'm obviously in for more than a pan gasket. I've done a fair bit of car work and am mechanical, but have never messed with a transmission. Am I automatically into the territory where I need a real mechanic, or not necessarily?

 

[Sirdrofmaster]

Can you see underneath where those might of come from? might be just like a seal snap ring or something. Need to find out where it came from

 

[JK080]

Sorry there is nothing you can do at this point, the metal snap ring holds in a servo on the side of the transmission, the aluminum half ring is part of the case that held the snap ring.

The case has broken... at a minimum you will have to rebuild the trans and replace the case.

 

[imp]

Downer! JK, I recognized the snap ring, and thought, Oh, oh, busted case? Does this happen often? I can't imagine it!

Thanks! imp

 

[tankman67]

I stumbled across this post by doing a Google image search, and thought, that picture looks like my picture! After clicking "visit page" and reading through, I believe the exact same thing happened to my 2002 Ford Explorer Eddie Bauer v6 4x4 (@156,000mi) after starting it up on the coldest day of the year so far (it was about -2F at the time) I even laughed at the "gush" title.

 

[tankman67]

Just wanted to update this thread with a picture of the damage. I was able to crawl under it tonight and get my phone up there to snap this pic. Hope this is helpful for someone.

 

[AndyF]

Downer! JK, I recognized the snap ring, and thought, Oh, oh, busted case? Does this happen often? I can't imagine it!

Thanks! imp

Manufacturing defect. Caused by dissimilar metals in contact and aggravated by exposure to road chemicals(especially salt in northern states). The snap ring is steel and the trans case is aluminum. Over time one gets eaten away and ring pops out of groove. The typical garage fix here up north is to use a sharp pick tool and vigoursly clean out the groove, and put in a new snap ring.

Manufacturing solution. Use 318 stainless spring steel for the ring.

But this is all water under the bridge now to fix.

But this type of problem would occur in the transmission or out for other such contacts, and wherever there are dissimilar metals ask the technician to prove it wasn't caused by this problem, then get money back from Ford.

 

[tankman67]

...get money back from Ford.

Curious as to how one might go about that?? Could you lend any advice?

 

[LSN3]

Yup Same thing happened on a cold morning with a 2004 Ford Explorer