I wanted someone’s opinion on this; do you believe this oil is leaking from the tranny or from the transfer case? Any help or suggestions will be great.

Thank you,
Phillip

 

Looks like your tranny. Could be your drain plug or your seals.

 

tranny, probably seal.

 

there is a small o-ring b/w the transmission and transfer case. its at the top, requires removal of the transfer case to fix it. very easy to miss if its been out before sometimes people have forgotten them.

have you had a clutch put in your car recently?

 

I’m the second owner of the car and believe the clutch has not been replaced. The car has 30K on it (2003). I know about the thin o-ring you are talking about. Do you believe that needs to be replaced and replacing the o-ring would fix the leak? Very little oil came out the TC when I drained the oil out of it. I would have to say about 16oz came out maybe a little more and the oil seemed extremely dirty. The oil that was drained from the tranny was clean looking and a significant amount of oil drain out, about 3 quarts. This comparison leads me to believe the TC is leaking like many other 2003 EVO transfer cases. Does the pic show a classic 03 EVO leaking transfer case?

 

The '03 TC's don't have a chronic leaking problem. If there was work done chances are the little o-ring is missing. The TC only has about 1/2 quart of fluid anyway, so it will not seem like alot drained out of it. Tranny takes just shy of 3 quarts.

If you want to try and pinpoint the source I would refill both TC and tranny, then clean the oily area. Check it after some driving to see where the potential source is. You may also want to contact your local mitsu ealer and see if there has been any warranty work performed that the previous owner didn't disclose.

 

most likely its the TC. Mine leaks there as well since the dealer replaced it.

 

this is because they are not doing the job properly. I've personally put 4 clutches in so far, and never had one leak.

 

Spray the entire area with brake cleaner, then after driving or overnight, you will be able to identify the source of the leak.

 

A mitsu dealer not doing the job properly....get out of here....YOU LIE!!

 

Funny you said that....the previous owner of the car worked at the Mitsu Dealer I bought if from. I believe the original owner was tired of the P300 check engine lights and gave up owning it. Al from Dynoflash fixed the CEL problem and got me more power and gas mileage. Thats the best part of these cars. You treat them right and they in return treat you better.

 

+1, thats what I would do.

 

I agree on the this troubleshooting. The only problem is that I started to take the Tranny and TC out for a clutch upgrade and the TC being shipped to Sheptrans for a Quaife install and rebuild. My feeling is the TC was leaking from the o-ring seal. I just wanted to make sure the tranny didn't need repair.

 

i had that problem my o-ring broke...changed it 3months later lol it came back.....grrrr....ill just top it off evrey oil change screw it