I recently changed all my drivetrain fluids and just happened to notice one small drop of what appeared to be either transmission or transfer case fluid, i'm thinking its transfer case fluid to be quite honest with you.

So, I thought I had not tightened down either the fill or drain bolt. So i jack up my car
and crawl under neath it only to find that there are no residual marks ANYWHERE of any fluid near or around either bolts. I Simple Green everything after i'm done with fluid changes and there was no fluid that seemed to travel anywhere to where the drip was. I did notice one even smaller drip on the first half of the drive shaft, and the other was where the first set of hangers are for the exhaust, just before the cat. Again understand, I looked at all possibilities of where the fluid may have traveled from and found none.

Like a shmuck I wiped it clean when I got underneath the car, i'll take pics tommorrow of the location. Any help is of course appreciated.

 

 

Well since you wiped it clean, it may have been dripped from when you did the fluid change. If it comes back again then its time to re-inspect. Perhaps dripping from the steering rack?

 

I noticed the drip once and wiped it clean. I went out last night and when I got home I noticed it had re appeared. There is no fluid ANYWHERE around the area where the drip is hanging from which makes it harder to pin point. There was a drip on the drive shaft just above the hangers for the exhaust, but nowhere else.

 

The baton tip points to where the drip was, there was also a drip just above it that appears to be TC fluid. How the hell did it get there if both drain and fill bolts are clean as a whistle?





*Note that there is no fluid or drip marks above the hanger of the exhaust where the drip was located.

 

I knew I was'nt going nuts. I went to go eat breakfast with my wife and came home to see this. Where is this coming from?




You can see the fluid on the hanger again.... any ideas people?

 

Here are some more pics:


Pic of the underside of the drive shaft (note the TC fluid on it):


Pic of the drain (no residue):



Terrible pic of the fill bolt: (no residue):




Where the hell is this coming from guys?

 

All these pics and still nothing?

 

 

Okay well since no one knows where it is coming from and the bolts are clean, could it be possible that I overfilled it by a bit?

When I did the fluid change I had to jack up the car from the passenger side, meaning the fill hole was tilted a bit, I pumped fluid till it ran out, but it was not completley level.

If I were to have over filled it, where the hell is the fluid coming from? Someone has to have an answer to this.

 

you might have a bad seal leaking at the tranfer case tail.

 

To make sure its not just too full, jack the car up and pop the fill plug. Lower the car back down and watch with the fill hole with a flashlight. If its full just a little bit of fluid should flow but if its too full it should be rather apparent. If it's fine and not too full, then I agree with AMS - its probably a seal. Your tranny and tc look pretty mucky as it is so it's hard to tell from the pics...

 

I just did that again today. Kept the car on level ground and let it dribble out till it stopped. I'm just gonna rake it to AMS and have them look at it.

 

bad transfer case seal