You guys are very knowledgeable and I really appreciate all of you sharing your experience!

Some more info:

1. The torque converter cover is off the tranny. I bought it that way. The TC and flywheel are both dry so I doubt the front seal is leaking.

2. The fluid is coming from somewhere above the transmission case. It gets on everything from the back of the engine oil pan back to the transfer case. The fluid is pink and black. When I wipe it off with a rag it leaves a stain that is pink around the edges and black in the middle.

3. I drained some of the tranny fluid out last week and replaced it with a quart of Lucas tranny helper and a couple quarts of Dexron. I was very careful to add fluid gradually and get the tranny up to temperature before adding the last bit of fluid so I could get an accurate reading.

4. When I checked the transfer case I had the rear wheels up on ramps, not the front. It would have spilled more fluid had the front wheels been up in the air.

5. I haven't checked the rear of the engine for oil leaks but I doubt the oil is leaking. I haven't seen any evidence of leakage when I've been under the Jimmy.

6. The fluid that came out of the transfer case is the same color/smell/consistency as what I drained out of the transmission pan and what has sprayed out over the underside of the Jimmy.

Next chance I get I'm going to stick a mirror up on top of the tranny so I can check for evidence of fluid expulsion. That will be another telling sign. I suspect there's some sort of problem with the transfer case because when I bought it the Jimmy was stuck in 4HI. I checked the vacuum actuator and it had proper vacuum. I took the hose off the actuator and the front axle released. I changed out the vacuum switch because the ball was stuck and didn't want to retract. The new vacuum switch didn't work properly either. I still have more troubleshooting to do but I have some other projects to work on so I don't know when I'll get to it.

 

Is the tranny fluid pink, like the color of Peptobismal, or red like new tranny fluid. Pink is the color you get when you mix anti-freeze with tranny fluid. Verify your anti-freeze level is normal. Your problem may be that your radiator may need to be replaced. The tranny cooler is located inside the radiator.

If you do in fact have a leaking rad, I HIGHLY recommend you pay a shop to flush the system, after you replace the radiator. Do NOT drive the truck. Water will eat your tranny in no time, and you may be looking at a rebuild by now anyway (black, clutch material, mixed in with tranny fluid).

 

The fluid is a dark pink. It's doesn't look like new tranny fluid; it looks very old. The next thing I'm going to check is the transmission cooler to see if it's plugged. Depending on the outcome of that check I'll figure out where to proceed from here. It definitely seems as though there's a bad seal between the tranny and transfer case as the same bad fluid has come out of both. I'm getting tired of dealing with this rig. I just want to drive it!

 

Hello again everyone!

I haven't had a chance to do anything with the Jimmy for the past couple weeks. I took my 92 GMC Vandura to a gig up in Canada and it broke down four times on the three-day trip. I had to replace the radiator cap, coolant temperature sensor, alternator and the front tires. It was not a fun trip!

Now that I'm back I've had a chance to do a little bit with the Jimmy. My previous theory that the fluid was coming out of the top of the transmission doesn't appear to be correct. When I went under the truck I did not see any fluid on the underside of the body above the transmission. Nor did I see any on the top of the transmission case. There was no fluid on the torque converter and no evidence of leakage from the front of the transmission. The cooler lines are completely dry and clean from where they come out of the side of the tranny case to where they drop down near the engine oil pan.

The fluid is on the exhaust crossover pipe, the back of the engine oil pan, the bottom of the transmission pan, the torsion bars and the bottom of the transfer case. Could it be that transmission fluid is coming out of the pan from a bad gasket? That seems like the next most likely scenario.