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Leaking fluid after towing!

SkunkMagnum

Member
Joined
January 23, 2004
Messages
38
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City, State
Louisville, Ky
Year, Model & Trim Level
'99 4X4 and '02 XLT 4x4
I recently was towing a trailer in reverse gear up my steep driveway. I had to cut the wheel alot, I was pushing a mildly filled 16ft trailer. There was really not enough room to turn around. Anyway...about halfway up the hill my '99 X starts leaking a red fluid and I am forced to shut the car off. Steam is pouring out under the mid section of the engine, after opening the hood for me to take a peak at my steaming engine area. It was not the radiator or a coolant problem as I had thought. A huge amount of red fluid was streaming down the driveway at this point.

After taking a look under the X it looked to me like it was transmission fluid or something under the main section of the engine.
Bad news for me. :frustrate

How much am I looking at here?
It was a quick burst of fluid on the ground, and there was no noticiable loud clunking or ceasing of a part, it was shut off.
Could it be a cheaper fix, or is it REALLY bad. ( i.e. new/rebuilt transmission )

Could it be the combination of 31" tires and stock gears that caused this, or was it the fact that I had to reverse this trailer.
This is also one of the few times I actually have to tow anything, when I go back to college to move my stuff.
 



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Make sure that your Tranny fluid is not overfilled. It should be within specs on the dipstick. This can cause it to foam and overflow when under stress etc... if overfilled.
 






Also it will vent if it "boils". You may just have badly overheated the trannie. Fill it to the correct level and drive it normally and see if you notice anything. My money is on an overheat/vent situation. While not good for the trannie, it's not "toast" nor dead if I am right in my diagnosis.
 






If nothing seems wrong with it for a day or so, I would definitely do a pan drop and fluid and filter change if it did boil over.
 






THANKS people! I will try to replace the fluid and see if it still runs good. If I see anything bad I will post.
 






HELP! The tranny is slipping in mostly first and reverse. Also the overdrive light is blinking in the console. I took it to the Aamco Transmission place near my house and they say it is gonna be $499 plus a couple parts to fix this thing. And that is if the torque converter is still working. They said it may be up to $1000+ (PLUS PARTS!) if they need to do a lot of rebuilding...

Now the mechanic on the phone pulled a "Are you wheeling? just tell me if you are.."
type situation.
The only time that I can think that I would have caused a tranny problem offroad is when I was stuck in some muddy water. It only seemed like it was at the base of the trasmission at best. Or maybe if I redlined it too much???

I usually dont have a heavy foot...and my transmission has never missed a beat until I tried to tow my trailer...

Is this the right amount of work for that price???
What should I ask the mechanic?
They mentioned a tranny cooler too...???!!! get or dont get?

Thanks for all the help.
 






sounds like the front seal of the tranny blew out, if I guessed right, it should have dumped alot of fluid then stopped, but stuff is slipping still right? and $500 doesnt sound too bad to have it fixed, the last rebuilt tranny I had to put in my truck ('93 w/ a4ld) was $1200 total and they had the truck for over a week

Oh the 31" x trailer (any idea how much weight in it aprox) and grade of the hill probably did it, I blew mine out on a grass hill w/ 45 deg grade in 1st gear with stock 3.73, 31" tires and a 5000lb trailer
 






People are posting $2000+ on some of the rebuilds of their tranny's. A tranny cooler is a must on these transmissions, especially if you tow anything. I tow a 3000 lb boat all around with a tranny cooler and scheduled fluid changes and havn't had a problem (knock on wood).

Good luck with your problems and make sure they tell you what they are replacing etc... and don't just tell you "oh we rebuilt it." Keep us posted with what they say and we might be able to call the B.S. when we here it.
 






Turns out it is gonna be $2500, and the mechanic is also gonna put a cooler in too.
$1000 and $1500 parts. 4-5 days to fix.
Auto trans by the way.

He asked me about four wheeling again in the truck. I thought that red-lining the engine would be so much worse than four wheeling for a tranny? I know I redlined it when I was pulling the trailer, but the mechanic mentions 4 wheeling...
Plus it was in good condition before that....NO redlining it much, auto trans...

He also mentioned the replacement parts over the phone. It went in one ear and out the other after I heard the price tag. What I did catch was that he said he was putting in 2004 specification parts into it...to make it better. And the cooler I mentioned.
He mentioned that if he was gonna warrant the tranny then he would do the above.

Let me know how this sounds when u get the time.
 






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