Engine/Transmission (1994 - 1998) transmission leak

[dodge cummins]

i noticed a few days ago on my 96 4x4 ctd automatic that i had a transmission fluid leak. the driver side of the pan is wet and some of the front of the pan is wet. when i saw it i tightened all the bolts. i looked under it today and it still appears to be leaking. any thoughts? i don't wanna over tighten the bolts. i felt above the pan and it really doesn't feel wet. :{

 

[Jschafer]

Clean everything up, then look under truck with it running you may see were it is coming from, Front seal might be one place, the shifter rod going into the case could also be a spot, if it seems to be the pan it mite be time to do a oil and filter change

Joe

 

[Dieselnerd]

If you still have the old style trans cooler lines it could be the quick disconnect. Those nylon clips tend to melt or crack and leak where the line connects to the transmission on the drivers side.

 

[Joe G.]

Remove the little pan under the torque convertor and see if it's wet inside. If it is, then you may have a front seal leak. A common cause of leaks is the cooler lines rubbing together. It they are not leaking there they eventually will be. I put a piece of plastic hose over one of the lines and tie wrapped them together. One of them had not quite worn through so I did that to prevent it from happening. Be careful about tightening pan screws or you will strip them and need to resort to heli-coils. Don't ask me how I know that. As Ron said, if you have the plastic fittings they are certainly a suspect. There are two at the transmission and two at the cooler under the exhaust manifold. If the ones under the manifold are leaking then the ATF will run down the lines and drip on the passenger's side. Another leaker on the passenger's side is the seal at the bottom of the dip stick tube.



Have fun looking for it.

 

[WBusa]

As others here have said, the POS quick disconnects on the transmission cooler lines are always a prime suspect; you can count on them to fail sooner or later (hey, Dodge: why would anyone ever need to quickly disconnect their transmission????). Since the leakage blows everywhere, it can be hard to recognize that its coming from these. I diagnosed the problem by cleaning up as best I could, then wrapping clean paper towels around the suspect connections and securing them with twist-ties. I drove the truck for a day, then went back underneath and inspected... the paper towels around the connectors were soaked with transmission fluid, but everything else was dry.



In my case, I didn't feel like messing with this job myself, so I took it to the dealer and had all-new transmission cooler lines (with new improved slow-disconnects) installed. $550 later, problem solved. Oh yeah... the last guy who changed my transmission fluid (apparently 3,000,000 miles ago) installed a junky cork gasket, then overtorqued the bolts, which cracked the gasket. That didn't help the situation any. I replaced the cork with the new-style plastic-over-metal gasket and re-torqued to spec. Nuther problem solved.

 

[bmoeller]

I had a quick-disconnect that was seeping oil on my truck. I had all lines(with exception to the '95 cooler line I already replaced) replaced. They rubbing flat spots on each other.

 

[Stmpplr]

I got the same leak from around the fill tube. Bad O-ring. Only leaked when it was parked front end down hill. Cheap fix if that is it.

 

[dodge cummins]

as we speak i just removed the plate under the torque converter and the only part that is wet is where the 3 bolts screw into, and it is wet with what appears to be from the blow by tube which is right there. it was only wet where the bolts are it is not wet in the dip part of plate which makes you think that the front seal is not leaking. when i say wet i mean oil. there is no red fluid in that area. the torque converter from what i can see is dry and the area appears dry accept for a little grime. it is alittle wet (red fluid) where a steel line goes into the transmission on driver side. is there a particular procedure to fix this.

 

[dodge cummins]

the 1 pan bolt that is underneath the steel line going into the transmission on driver side,the connector in the front has the most transmission fluid on it and that connector appears to be alittle wet.

 

[WBusa]

it is alittle wet (red fluid) where a steel line goes into the transmission on driver side. is there a particular procedure to fix this.

Sure starting to sound like one or more leaking quick disconnects. At rest you'll see only a drop of ATF hanging from a disconnect, but at pressure runnin' down the road it will be squirting. Try the paper towel diagnosis I described above. If your connects are leaking, the only real cure is replacing the cooler lines completely. You can jury-rig a fix with NPT fittings, hose barbs, clamps, and oil/diesel rated hoses, but I sure don't recommend it... the last thing you want is for your jury-rigged repair to blow while you're tooling down the highway, dumping all your ATF and instantly frying your transmission.

 

[dodge cummins]

can i just replace the quick disconnects with new ones? how do i do this. i have never worked on a transmission ever so sorry for any question that seems stupid.

 

[Joe G.]

Have you found the leak yet? That's the first thing to do. The paper towel test seems to be a good idea for testing if the connectors are in fact leaking. After you find the leak then it's time to talk about modifying things. Have you removed the clips that hold the cooler lines together and inspected for rub through leaks? No sense replaceing the connectors until you know if the cooler lines are any good. If they have rubbed through then you will need to replace them with lines with the proper connectors on them. Have you tied a paper towel around the base of the dip stick tube to see if it is leaking there?

 

[dodge cummins]

i haven't touch the dipstick tube because its not wet there and where it is wet, is on the opposite side of dipstick tube. driver side

 

[Joe G.]

Have you separated the lines where they cross over in front of the pan to see if they are rubbed so that there is a leak?

 

[dodge cummins]

i just finished cleaning up the area and wraped paper towels around the quick disconnects to see which one is leaking with twistes. going over the lines from the transmission and up its compleately dry,even where they are touching towards front of pan. when i really looked the area that has the most fluid is all around the disconnect on driver side front which wraps around and goes up the the rear part of manifold (the other disconnect is about a foot towards front).

 

[Joe G.]

OK, since the lines are good you will need to replace four fittings. I used compression fittings. Some have said they were a problem for them, but mine have lasted over 150K miles. The compression end is 1/2". The NPT end is 1/4 NPT on the two of them in the trans and 3/16 NPT on the ones on the cooler under the exhaust manifold. I think that is correct for the NPT end but take one of each of the old ones with you to the store to make sure you get the right size. The lines have little flanges on the ends for the plastic fittings. These will have to be cut off. Be carefull doing the job and this will work fine. The fittings are pretty cheap. If you would rather you can get new cooler lines from Dodge that use flange type fittings. Lots of bucks for those.

 

[CEdwards]

Just wanted to ask while we're on the subject. My factory quickdisconnects started giving out one by one. I replaced all my oil cooler lines with 3500psi steel braided hydraulic lines and plumbed them up with pipe threads. Was that a good idea or not? I thought that it was a lot better then the factory ones and a lot cheaper. at least no problems yet and i also tied them up where they wouldn't rub. Might be something to think about.

 

[WBusa]

The lines have little flanges on the ends for the plastic fittings. These will have to be cut off.

Point of order, Mr. Chairman. My original lines had metal quick disconnects, not plastic... both go bad with time. But the point is, I originally tried compression fittings, and followed the same advice that the flanges need to be cut off. NOT! On the lines with metal quick disconnects the flange is pretty far back from the end of the line, leaving plenty of room for the compression collar. If you cut the driver's side line past the flange you'll be too far into the beginning of the bend in the line to get a compression collar to fit right (the line starts to oval a bit well before the bend). Just my experience. I'm nervous as all heck about contradicting Joe G. though, because I worship the guy's understanding of the 2nd gen Ram CTD

 

[Joe G.]

My first attempt was without cutting the flanges off. It turns out that there is not quite enough room between the flange and the end of the line for the compression sleeve to work correctly. I had one of them persist in leaking. When I cut the flange off that problem went away. On my '95 the temp sensor caused a problem because it was too close to the pan flange. I had to add a 1/4 NPT nipple to the transmission to get clearance. The transmission in this case is on a '96. No temp sensor to get in the way. The bend in the line is a problem on a '95, but not as bad as a leak.



There were two different styles of plastic fittings. The first type had a plastic sleeve in the metal sleeve part with a thin wire clip to hold it on. One of those blew out on a Sunday in Carson City, NV for me. Last day of May Madness. I think that was in '96, but my memory is not quite what it was. Might have been a year or two later. No place open to get it fixed on a Sunday of course. I bought a case of ATF to get home with. Whenever the trans started acting funny I would stop and pour some more in. I used up the whole case getting home to Eureka. The Dodge dealer told me that those fittings had been replaced by another type. Not cheap. The "new and better" fittings had a lot more plastic. They didn't last as long as the original type. By that time, one of our members in Long Beach, CA had discovered that the compression fittings would work. If these fittings ever fail I will go with hydraulic hose to replace the cooler lines. No real need for extra high pressure stuff here since the pressure is pretty low in the cooler system. Normal hydraulic hose should work just fine. Actually, I'm a little surprised that my cheap fix has lasted so long. No sign of a leak since I cut the flanges off.

 

[LDPetersen]

trans leak

I think you are discribing my problem exactly. For the last year I have had a few drops of leakage show up every time I drive the truck. It does seem to be blown all over the mag-hytec pan. Three years ago I had the complete transmission rebuild and full BD kit. At that time the filler tube started to leak and they put in a new tube and o ring. I think my leak now is the quick disconects. Last fall I pulled a big trailer into the mountains and it did pump out some fluid. I have been very careful to never get low on fluid. I think Saturday I will do the towel trick . Hope that is the answer. Are the new lines really spendy? Thanks Larry.