So buddy of mine with a 99 Leggy GT called me this evening with an emergency, tranny was literally pouring out of the tranny!

 

He left a puddle in his driveway, a trail of ATF out of his cul-de-sac then another puddle while waiting to turn around to limp it back home. Gut feel is he lost 1 - 2 qts during this episode.

 

He says that the front diff dipstick was blown loose and ATF was blowing out of there.

 

My first thought is could it be a vent tube in that area? And the diff dipstick was just loose from a previous check?

 

But what is the worst case? Could any seal between the tranny and front diff be blown such that ATF is pushed into the front diff?

 

He sent me this picture:

There is a vent tube, but if it is blowing ATF out the vent that doesn't sound right. Was the ATF serviced recently or anything?

 

One thing that likes to happen on these, is the metal ATF cooler lines running up to the radiator can rust out in the rust belt areas. That will let you lose a lot of ATF fast.

 

Or if his has the external spin on ATF filter (4eat phase II), sometimes those get dented or could rust out too.

 

There is a double lip oil seal between the trans input shaft and the front diff. I think someone did say they had something like this happen when that failed....

 

Thanks for the info!

 

When the car was bought last Dec, the PO said he hit a pothole and the tranny fluid leaked badly. Then it stopped leaking, so my buddy bought it cheap but didn't drive it much. Maybe about 100 miles put into it since without tranny leaks till tonight.

 

Will be draining the front diff tomorrow to see if there is ATF in it.

If he hit a pothole he might have dented the transmission pan or possibly messed up the spin on filter (I think that car would have one).

... and then the p.o. filled the differential with ATF instead of the transmission. But how has this thing run for 100 miles like this?

Pulled the diff dipstick today and it was almost to the brim with ATF!

 

I guess the tranny has blown a seal into the front diff....time for powertrain removal!

Why would you do that?

 

Unless you are ABSOLUTELY sure the p.o. didn't put ATF on the wrong place (something that happens more often than you might expect), don't assume anything -specially if it's expensive-.

 

Drain the front differential, fill it with the right fluid, and make sure the ATF level on the tranny is correct. If after doing so you find large quantities of ATF on the front diff then start getting worried. The ATF leak can be located anywhere...

 

BTW: "Stopped leaking" = the level went below the leak point. I'm surprised the car still moves...

Why would you do that?

 

Unless you are ABSOLUTELY sure the p.o. didn't put ATF on the wrong place (something that happens more often than you might expect), don't assume anything -specially if it's expensive-.

 

Drain the front differential, fill it with the right fluid, and make sure the ATF level on the tranny is correct. If after doing so you find large quantities of ATF on the front diff then start getting worried. The ATF leak can be located anywhere...

 

BTW: "Stopped leaking" = the level went below the leak point. I'm surprised the car still moves...

 

What he said. I'm in the process of sorting out a similar issue in my 2000 outback. The pressure required to blow the seal between diff and trans would be far more than simply pushing up and out the dipstick. climb around under your car with a flashlight. Follow the trans cooler hoses. Look under the torque converter in case the leak is coming from the front seal. Check where the drive shaft attaches.

 

There are many much more likey (and easily fixed) places to lose trans fluid. If nothing else, Aamco does a free trans check. Not that I trust much from them, but I'd want some sort of confirmation before I dropped my trans and started taking it apart.

Is your car a turbo by chance? The reason I asked is because my old Loyale Turbo with a 4EAT was doing the same thing. But the PO had piped the vents of the transmission into the manifold , so therefore when I produced boost the positive pressure inside the trans would cause the dipstick to be pushed out and ATF would leak everywhere. After finding the vent tubes and following them, I was able to find out the problem, and I just removed the vents from the manifold and all was well. Probably not your problem, but something to look for anyways. PO's are really dumb sometimes...

Well, the motor is already out, so tranny is coming out too.

 

PO claimed that he had replaced the HG on the EJ25 but it was still bubbling the coolant in the expansion bottle and car keeps overheating even with thermostat removed. So a 95 EJ22 is getting shoehorned in!

If he replaced A head gasket then it's entirely possible the OTHER head gasket was bad. Yes some people will only replace one.

Yes flat rate payed techs sometimes replace just one HG to keep the time down.