Lots of fluid coming from top of transmission

[Bjeepz]

Hi,

Looking for thoughts on my suddently very wet transmission. Did the 1st oil change a couple of days ago, used the appropriate 5 quarts, checked level and all good. Today after driving for about 10 minutes I got home and smelled burning, thought that's odd that I didn't smell that just after the oil change from a tiny spill, then there was smoke. Popped the hood and nothing. Looked underneath and spitting out fluid so I backed it onto the road and left a small trail of fluid on the driveway. After some looking around I coudn't figure out where it was coming from, Tcase input and output look dry. Turned the truck on and saw the fluid leaking out from the top drivers side of the transmission. Will have it towed to the dealership tmrw. The fluid looks like engine oil to me, it is light brown in colour. Another note is the temps were all in normal range, the transmission was only at 75C / 167F. The truck seemed to be driving perfectly as usual. Pretty bummed with only 9000km on this one.

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[Bjeepz]

@ShadowsPapa I need to pick your brain for thoughts on this please!

 

[Cburd61]

Are you sure the oil filter housing didn’t crack? If you get it too tight, it can crack the housing, and oil will gravitate towards the rear of the engine and run down the backside.

 

[kevman65]

Check the oil filter cap. May not be tight, O-ring may be in wrong place, may be cracked as mentioned.

 

[AmosMoses]

Are you sure the oil filter housing didn’t crack? If you get it too tight, it can crack the housing, and oil will gravitate towards the rear of the engine and run down the backside.

What he said. Get a good light under the hood and check the filter housing.

 

[Bjeepz]

Thanks for the tips guys! I never would have started there!

I've been doing oil changes on my Jeeps for several years and try not to over tighten the oil filter due to the plastic housing, but I certainly did go get a light in there and have a look. No cracking that I could see but guess what was cracked in half, the new O ring on the new filter, so I took my old one out of the garbage and put it on. Went for a drive and noted a small clunk and thought what the heck and wondered if that was my driver side Mopar extended sway bar link again or something around the transmission, I did note the burning oil smell again but not a concern as I didn't go far enough to burn it off. I tightened the link and went for another drive, didn't hear the clunk this time but it was raining somewhat heavy by then, as in enough to mask the sound if it was still present as I had to have the window open to really hear it.

The second drive was a 5 mile loop, when I got back home the smell wasn't nearly as strong, not sure if that is the rain cooling things a bit or simply the fact that no more oil is spewing out. During the drive I monitored engine oil and trans temps, both normal. Shifting is normal. Everything feels good.

I will let it sit on the side of the road until tomorrow and go over it again.

Thanks again.

 

[drrags]

Don't forget that the o-ring goes into the 2nd groove on the cap, not the highest one.

 

[00Mutt]

What he said. Get a good light under the hood and check the filter housing.

When I bought my perty girl, I was told that a cracked housing was not unheard of. It was suggested to me that if it ever happened to replace it with a metal aftermarket one instead of the OEM plastic.

 

[Badunit]

I installed one of those Baxter filter adapters on mine a few weeks ago. Hopefully I'll not have to worry about a cracked housing, bad o-ring, or o-ring in the wrong groove from here on. Not that any of those were the reason I installed it, the real reasons were dry starts and not liking that the cartridge filter would be kinked/bent a little when I took it out, which made me wonder about how well they were sealing. I'll never know if it was actually worth the price or effort but I feel better about it.

 

[drrags]

This is where the oil/water cooler lives (the silver rectangle in the center). As you can probably tell, it's not trivial to replace.. The original, plastic cooler can crack for different reasons, including man-handling the oil filter cap. Many time though, it's the breakdown of the o-rings between the cooler and the engine block around the oil and water channels. I recommend the Dorman product over the Amazon specials.

When it cracks and leaks, the valley will fill up and run out the back of the engine, looking like a main seal and given up or some kind of odd transmission leak.

Another way to get oil all over the place is by putting the oil filter cap o-ring in the top (seeming the most logical place) groove instead of the narrower groove right below it. Sorry, I don't have a pic of that.

 

[Badunit]

 

[Bjeepz]

Everything seems to be ok today after driving about 15 miles, no new leaks. The O ring is in the correct position, so was the one that managed to crack in half, not sure why that happened but glad things seem ok now.

Thanks for the tips everyone!

 

[Blade1668]

I ordered a replacement filter cap before the first oil change... as a just in case. Hopefully never to be removed from box.

This is where the oil/water cooler lives (the silver rectangle in the center). As you can probably tell, it's not trivial to replace.. The original, plastic cooler can crack for different reasons, including man-handling the oil filter cap. Many time though, it's the breakdown of the o-rings between the cooler and the engine block around the oil and water channels. I recommend the Dorman product over the Amazon specials.

When it cracks and leaks, the valley will fill up and run out the back of the engine, looking like a main seal and given up or some kind of odd transmission leak.

Good to find that out, it looks like you have been down that road already.

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