So I take my truck in for an oil change today and asked them to just look at the 4x4 system to see if things are good.... the guy removes the transfer case fill plug and tranny oil come spilling out. They say the seal between the tranny and transfer case is gone. They also said this is somewhat common. Anyone experienced this? 2003 4.6L 4x4 ext. cab.

 

it is the transfer case input seal. yes it is quite common on F150s

 

Sky

Maybe I'm missing something, but the transfer case is supposed to have tranny fluid in it. I just drained mine and put two Quarts of Mobil 1 ATF back in it..........

 

Nevermind...I read your post too quick. It is only supposed to be filled to the point of seeping out of the "DRAIN PLUG".

 

Does anyone know if this was a recall or anything? I'm trying to get this taken care of under warranty. The truck only has 68,000km on it, and I've babied it every day of its life. It's being fixed next week, and they said it's cool to drive it to and from work and such as long as I keep an eye on the fluid level in the tranny. Is this true?

 

If you filled it only enough to seep out of the "DRAIN PLUG", then the case would be almost empty!! Think about it. There is a fill plug up top and you fill the transfer case until it runs out of the "FILL PLUG". When I changed mine a while back, it ran out of the fill plug pretty good. You can get those things full. Like biff said, the transfer case takes the same fluid as the tranny.

Instead of keeping an eye on the tranny, do this...remove the "FILL PLUG" and let fluid drain out until there's absolutely nothing oozing out any more. Reinstall the plug and drive it normally for how ever long. Go back and check the transfer case (not the tranny) to see if it's re-filling. That's the best, sure-fire way to tell. Then you will know beyond the shadow of a doubt if the tranny is filling up the transfer case. You could loose a couple pints or better out of the tranny and it would never show up on the stick, making it hard to tell for sure if the tranny is loosing fluid or not.

 

Galaxy

My bad, I did mean seep out of the fill plug, not the drain plug.....

 

I have the same thing happing on my truck, it is 2004 F150 72000km...Just over warrety OFCOURSE. I just recently noticed, not sure how long its been doing it for ?

Is this a big job ? Can I do this at home... I am mechanically inclinde, and have the shop access, I am just not sure if I should attempt. Any thoughs ?

Thanks
Frank

 

i would not attempt it. you need a special seal driver to get the seal in strait or it will just leak again.

 

Just got a call from the dealership where I dropped my truck off, and thankfully the work is going to be covered under warranty. Thank goodness I bought a 3yr extended powertrain warranty when I got the truck last year (it had come off a 3yr lease). Otherwise I think it would have been about a $500 dollar job. Only bad thing is that I am without my truck for 2 days. I know this is a fairly common thing with F-150s but once it's fixed once, does that remedy the problem from likely occuring again? Or do I forever need to keep an eye on this?

 

So you're getting this seal replaced?? Did you ever do the check I recommended to actually verify the case was being filled by the tranny?? At least it's under warranty either way!

 

Is the transfer case and the tranny a "married unit"?