Stopped to get gas while towing a LBC to our shop, came out after paying and
saw red. Trans fluid was dripping on the concrete, lost several pints right
there. Ran back in, bought trans sealer and every qt. of ATF they had and
filled the trans. Checked the level every few miles and made it to the shop
(over 30 miles) without losing a drop. After many hundreds of miles since this
incident, the fluid level remains constant.
Although this trusty '94 Exploder has 180,000 mi., the transmission has been
twice replaced. When my friend (an excellent mechanic) suddenly lost fluid
and my daughter suddenly lost fluid (the two previous owners). I think I
caught a break as I'd left the thing running while fueling and the bloody trans
started to leak as I returned to it.
What would cause this situation? I'm not a believer in snake oil (trans
sealer) and am paranoidically limited to short trips even though it's not lost
a drop in 2 mos. I'd like to fix this permanently and have a way of monitoring
the fluid on-the-go: some sort of temp or pressure gauge(s) or ??? The
rebuilt trans has maybe 20,000 mi on it, is out of warranty and too expensive
to replace! This Ford is way too useful and reliable in every other respect...
AND driving today from the middle of Iowa to Chicago with an engine in the
trunk of my SAAB (not an acceptable substitute) is not fun . TIA, Charlie
(Totally Ignorant of Auto transmissions)
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