OK, after doing some searching, I think I am in a bad position here. I got stuck in some mud over the weekend, and now I noticed that I am leaking oil from somewhere. I looked this morning and it appears to be from the transmission area. I searched and found that it could be the rear main seal that got damaged in the mud. How can I tell for sure where the oil is coming from? The tranny uses a 30 weight oil as well as the engine right? The oil looked clean, so I suspect it came from the engine as I just changed the oil in there, and it has been a while on the tranny.

You super tech guys let me know. I don't want to drop the tranny if I don't have to ya know.

The engine uses 10W-30 and the tranny uses 5W-30.

You are going to have to look deeper to determine where the oil is coming from. The oil in the tranny does not get dark like engine oil, as it is not subjected to the same contamination from combustion. The fact it looks clean is not enough to determine where it is coming from.

Although, describing it as coming from the "transmission area" is a little vauge. That is an area approximately 4 feet long, between the block and the rear drive shaft. There are lots of spots for oil to exit in that span.

As far as telling exactly where it is coming from, usually you can do it by looking carefully. Oil only flows down, so find the highest dry spot and work down from there. Oil also only usually flows towards the rear of the rig. Again, find the cleanest spot and work aft. If it is really bad, degrease it, spray it clean and then check.

If it is coming from the bellhousing, it is more likely the rear main (or it could be the dizzy up on top). Mud will waste a rear main, and I have a feeling that is what happened. Time to drop that tranny.

I would also check the oil in the tranny to see if you might have gotten some water in there. Water will give the appearance of overfilling it and if it gets hot enough, it will start to boil off and cause a great big mess.

Michael

Well, I am going to pull the skid plate tonight. It is dripping from the hole in the tranny skid plate, but that doesn't do much for the situation either. I didn't see anything at the front of the bell housing, and I was parked nose down in the driveway last night. Maybe it is just water in there and it is dripping out the vent???? That could be bad too though I guess. I will try to get more info and maybe some pics of what I find tonight

I hope this will give you a little pick-me-up.

Mine was leaking where the bellhousing meets the engine for a month or so. It happened after I went on a trail that had some serious frozen mud and puddles. I then decided that it was my rear main that was leaking. I changed my clutch not too long ago, and the oil was not flowing out, so I decided to leave it.

A month after it started I went out again to a different spot and hit some mud. My leak stopped lol.

So far it has not leaked from the same spot! So it's not really fixed, but just on hold for right now lol. Goodluck with it!

OK, no pictures, but the tranny is dry. The leak seems to be in the transfer case area. I am not sure if it is where the housing meets the tranny housing or where the front driveshaft exits the case. I am fairly confident it is not the rear main, which is good cause I just replaced it about a year ago.

So now, what do I do?????? Do you think that I need to pull the tranny/tcase and do a bit of a rebuild, or just change fluids and see or what?

If you were stuck pretty deep, I would suggest changing your tranny/tcase/differentials fluid regardless. Drain everything and keep an eye on what the fluid looks like a before dropping trannies and buying rebuild kits.

I wouldn't start pulling anything yet. Oil can work its way out of the tranny and into the transfer case over time and high speeds, overflowing out of the t-case shifter and breather. That might not be the problem since this started when you got in the mud, but might be coincidental.


Another possibility is your t-case took on water somehow as been suggested and heat from driving caused it to overflow in the same manner.

Pull the t-case fill plug and see if a ton of oil comes out. That would be a good sign one of the above happened.

My advice would be to check the levels weekly if not daily, wash the whole area and see what happens.

Well, It looks like I will be draining some fluids this weekend and seeing what I have going on. Do you have to have a little pump to get the new oil in there? I think I have one from my bass boat days that I can use, that was 2 moves ago though. Might not be able to find that one <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Pull the boots and shifters. Leave out the fill plugs and fill through the shifter holes. It really is the easiest way to get it done.

Michael

Kevin, Check your vents on top of the tranny and T case too!
Would be a good time to extend your breather tubes since you have a propensity to get yourself in deep mud. You should do the diff breathers while your at it. Very cheap mod. <img src="/forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />
There's a good article here on the Wire about how to do the vent extensions.

CJ