I noticed the other day that I was getting drips of tranny fluid under my truck. It's coming from somewhere over the crossmember, so it's hard to see. I tightened up all the bolts on the pan (I just dropped the pan around 2 months ago, so I thought maybe I just didn't tighten them enough). It's been raining since then so I can't tell if it's stopped or not. I need to know what is up there that could be leaking. Any seals or o-rings on sensors that could have failed, or is it likely the back side of the pan is what's leaking? It's right around there that the tranny meets the transfer case, could there be any problems there? TIA.

Oh, 2002 4x4 4.6L

 

you have 4wd right??? check your transfer case end seal. where the driveshaft goes in. when those leak it whips fluid everywhere.not that hard to fix. look up and see if you have fluid all over your floorpan.if so, theres you leak.

 

That seal does leak a little bit, but It's a bit further back than where all the fluid is dripping out. Fluid is puddling up on the cross member and dripping off both sides of it. It's also dripping down the back side of the pan. It doesn't look like it's raining now so I'm gonna go try to get a better look.

 

I would say it's leaking from the pan. Wipe the pan clean with rags so you can tell where it's leaking. Sounds like it's leaking at the back of the pan to me. Did you use the Ford reuseable gasket?? If you find it is leaking from the gasket i would drop the pan again. It is possible you over tightened the bolts and f'ed up the mounting flange??? If that is the case you will have to make the mounting flange flat again.

 

It's leaking pretty bad, like 1 or two drops a minute. It does it way worse when the fluid is hot, but I think that's normal. There's grime and crap stuck all over everything so I'm gonna go under there tomorrow morning and douse everything with degreaser. Hopefully I'll be able to pinpoint it after I do that.

 

good idea,scrub down everything. finding leaks are a pain.its not like you can be underneath looking while its going down the road. if its is the pan make sure you tighten them in a criss cross type pattern, less chance of messing up the flange.

 

Well I finally got around to dropping the pan. The gasket was in great shape. I cleaned all the mounting surfaces thoroughly and bolted everything back up but it still leaks. I spoke to somebody who said I may have lost a bolt that holds on the tailshaft housing. Is that possible on this tranny? I'm gonna drop the crossmember and tranny mount tomorrow to get a better look. Anything I need to know before I do this?