[478]

A month ago around 6 oz of transmission fluid appeared on my driveway, under my 2000 Taurus 24-valve. I looked underneath the car, saw nothing unusual, and concluded some delivery truck did it!

For the past month, no leak.

Today, I backed the cold car out of the garage, and parked. When I looked an hour later, about 8 oz of transmission fluid had leaked, and I'm sure it's from the Taurus.

I looked for the source of the leak. I think it's pretty high, not near the pan. The low area near where the dipstick tube goes in had a puddle of tranny fluid. But the dipstick tube did not look wet.

What else in this area might cause intermittent leaks?

 

[Pletchaj]

Check Your tranny cooler lines and with just a small leak ... man this is just coming off my head but maybe ... your seal is starting it wear and the change in weather is causing it to leak a little before it seals again or it wears and reseals ... this is a funny one. check your level see if it corresponds, maybe your trannys not venting and it being pushed out ... wow ... im just digging for ideas here

 

[OlrustysGhost]

Maybe a little over full?

 

[royesses]

Read the attached pdf. That fixed my friends intermittent trans fluid leak. The cap on the vent had hardened and blocked the vent.

 

[478]

Thanks, That PDF looks promising for my problem, but after ten minutes of looking, I'm still not certain where the vent is. (2000 24-valve).

I presume the chain cover refers to the stamped steel at the driver's end of the transmission.

I see a round black plastic cylinder, maybe 7/8 inch diameter, axis vertical. Is that it? I also see something lower sticking in sideways. The diagrams are not very helpful, and all the junk cluttering the view does not help either. I'd rather not begin tearing out the MAP, etc., until I know where I'm going.

 

[478]

P. S. I have a column shifter.

And I recognize the brake master cylinder in the drawing. But I'm lost below that.

 

[royesses]

Below the master cylinder mounted on the transmission you'll see a bracket with the shift cable attached to it. Between the bracket legs and a bout 6 in toward the front of the vehicle you'll see a black plastic cap. That is the trans vent cap. The vent is metal and lightly pressed in. I used a 4" vise grip and pried up on it with a 6" rolling head pry bar to pull the vent-very easy to do. Then push the new vent in and lightly tap it home with a drift an small ball peen hammer. Run the hose between the bracket legs and up and around the master cylinder. You may need to replace the dipstick tube o-ring if it still leaks.