Transmission Flush

[go200mph]

Had the truck into the dealer yesterday for fuel filters and a transmission flush. 5 hours after my scheduled appointment the truck was ready and I drove it home. Today I go for a drive in the truck and when I get back to the house I notice read snow where I was previously parked. I get out and sure enough there is transmission fluid dripping from underneath. The rear 2/3 of the oil pan bolts are soaked and the front 1/3 are dry. The wet ones seem tight but not really tight, the dry ones seem as tight as one would expect. When I put some force on the dry ones the build up around the nut break as if these nuts were never touched. I don't believe the pan was off. The truck is an 08 Job 1. I though there was an external filter on these trucks but I cannot see one anywhere. Any ideas.

I checked the fluid level with the transmission at operating temperature with the truck running in park, running in drive and shut off in park. It doesn't matter which way I check I cannot tell what the level of the fluid is. The dip stick seems to be completely covered.

[Gigger]

When most places do what they call a trans fluid flush they don't even drop the pan to change the filter & clean out the pan & the magnet.They disconnect a cooler line and stick one end in an empty pail & the other end in new trans fluid,that,s why I don't like a flush,I like to see them drop the pan change the filter & the pan gasket,then pull the drain plug (if it has one) out of the torque & drain it too,then refill it with new fluid from the top where the dipstik is, Gigger (if the dipstick is completely covered then it's over full)

[Mark Kovalsky]

Newer trucks don't have a drain plug in the torque converter. The dipsticks are VERY hard to read.

[jeffy0023]

when dealer did mine they said the job 1 has the filter inside the pan, if I remember they cleaned the filter and put it back in. I did notice the trans temp was and still is a little cooler than before. I had it done at about 38000 miles.

[Mark Kovalsky]

There is no way to clean a filter. It isn't a screen that could be rinsed out.

[go200mph]

Mark,

Is there any method of these transmissions releasing oil if they are over full. Perhaps this is where the oil is comming from. I have checked the dipstick and can't read it because it is completely covered in oil.

[Mark Kovalsky]

You could remove the rear cooler line and start the engine. That will remove a gallon per minute. If you mean is there an overflow where the trans will dump excess oil, then no, there is not.

[Gigger]

the place that did the service for you should have a suction gun to remove fluid by putting a hose down the filler tube & sucking fluid out,Gigger

[go200mph]

Brought the truck back to Ford today. They over filled by 1.5 liters which they drained out. Apparently since it was quite over full, it was leaking where the filler tube goes into the transmission. It must bypass here fairly easily because there was quite a bit coming out.

[sbrennan007]

Hello-

Have a question here, I have had my '09 since September and it only has about 1400 miles on it. I work full time out of my house so I don't drive it much.

I have never had any leaks etc... until about a week ago. I was doing work at one of our offices that is about 100 miles away and it's literally all highway driving at 75 - 80 MPH for 2 hours strait.

When I got to the office there one morning, I stopped to get fuel so that I wouldn't have to stop and get it on the way home. When I got out, I got hit by the strong smell of burning trans fluid...?

When I got to the office after getting fuel (about 1/4 mile up the road from the gas station) I looked quick under the truck and could see that the rear bolts on the trans pan were wet and dripping just a little trans fluid.

At the end of the day, I drove back home, pulled it into the garage and checked things out. The only thing that appeared to be wet with trans fluid was the rear pan bolts. I wiped them clean and made sure that the bolts were snug tight. Everything stayed clean, and nothing was leaking after wiping it clean the first time.

So about two days later, I had to drive back out to this same office and as it was going to snow that day, I decided to drive my truck.

So off I go, another 100 miles there and 100 miles back home. I would say average driving speed is about 75 MPH with the cruise control set for about 1 hour 30 minutes. The last 30 minutes is more 'regular' driving once off the highway.

So in both cases (when I got to the office in the morning and when I got home) the trans was wet again on just the last bolts at the back of the pan.

So on Friday, I take it into the dealer and they clean things off and can't find any leak anywhere. They told me that they put a dye into the trans fluid so that they could see where it's leaking from when I bring it back.

Now here's the really weird thing. All the time I was driving it before, and even when I drove it back from the dealer home (about 10 miles) everything is dry and clean. No leaks or fluid. I checked the level and it does appear to look high on the stick, at least higher than I think it should be.

So with all this said, my question is, is there anything that could possibly cause the trans to leak with long extended highway driving at high speeds, and with possibly a tad too much trans fluid in it?

The only time it appears to be leaking is during and after long, extended periods of high speed driving...

Thanks for any help or suggestiongs...

[Mark Kovalsky]

Overfilling the trans will cause it to blow fluid out of the vent on longer drives.

[sbrennan007]

Thanks for the info here. Probably a silly question here, but where is the vent on the trans, and if this is the case, would it only affect the rear bolts on the pan?

Thanks!

[Mark Kovalsky]

It wouldn't only affect the rear of the trans. The vent is on top of the trans near the bellhousing. On 4x4 trucks there is a rubber tube that goes up the front of the cab to raise the vent point higher.