Leaking Tranny and Smoke

[Bluefire16]

So driving on a road trip (2 1/2 hrs) i started to smell a odd smell, then a second later saw a hint of smoke. I pulled over and the car started smoking more (because of slowing down)

Im not sure where its leaking from, looked like under the tranny bellhousing but i also thought out of the tranny dipstick. Does anyone have any ideas? I have a FMIC and think that maybe the tranny is overheating due to a blocked tranny cooler.

I plan on getting a colder tranny cooler and relocating it WHEN I RETURN HOME.

(I am in NZ at the moment for a few more months)

I also just had the tranny rebuilt, so any ideas would be great. Should i pull bottom housing off and look for anything under the tranny? Any ideas are welcome! Oh and the car has felt fine though ever since.

 

[Bluefire16]

Any ideas guys?

 

[GDNF2ET]

Check your tranny hoses for a loose clamp..I'd start with the two on the top of the bellhousing...
Check the fluid to see if the tranny is overfilled.When the fluid gets hot, it expands, thus causing an overflow issue..

 

[Bluefire16]

Well i did have a loose clamp one time, but i had tightened them with the miniature clamps (ones you use a screwdriver to tighten) around the rubber part, i also have a tranny temp gauge.

I also believe that my stock tranny cooler is not functioning well enough, due to it being blocked now by my FMIC so i am replacing it with a colder one and positioned where the stock SMIC was.

Ive also recently learned and read that if the timing is off a little it can affect the heating of the car, which could be a problem maybe because it ran hot a time or two. Other symptoms are also bad gas mileage if timing is off a little, and i only get 180-200 on a tank (which i find low) so when i get home, im checking my timing, pulling the head, redoing the headgasket, new studs, t belt, water pump...the works. Oh and a new coolant sensor and flushing the whole coolant system.

Im trying to cover all my bases here and learn as much as i can so when i return home, i can tear into it and check everything over real well.

 

[tonyseagle]

I am having the same problem with my automatic transmission.


I was driving on the highway for about an hour and a half when I noticed a strong burning smell. I also noticed that everything behind me looked foggy. I pulled off the next exit and into a gas station. Smoke was everywhere...I was sure I had some sort of a fire so I grabbed my fire extinguisher. All the smoke was coming from the transmission side and I noticed my whole underside including my rim/wheel well area was convered in automatic transmission fluid.

Also, when I went to pull my dipstick out to check the fluid level....there was no plastic peice on the end. It was just bare steel wire.

Now...I'm sure I have a leak that much I know. I refilled it and babied it the next two hours and it wasnt smoking nearly as much...but I could still smell it through my vents. My question is, have I possibly damaged my transmission by continuing to drive it? I have already ordered another transmission pan gasket/filter and I plan on refilling the entire thing with B&M trick shift.

I know this may be a broad question...and possibly impossible for anybody to definitively answer, but any suggestions or answers would help me greatly. Thanks in advance!

 

[the_mork]

You're going to have to just jack it up and look around. I'd expect a line to be the most likely issue but if you smacked the pan on something, or perhaps some wheel hop caused the diff to saw into and crack the case.

I'm not really sure what you're talking about with the trans cooler though. Your stock trans cooler is on the drivers side in the wheel well in the same approximate configuration as the stock SMIC so your FMIC wont affect it. This also has nothing to do with your leak.

Also, you could check your timing and it is a good idea but it isn't related to your problem.

For Tonyseagle, same thing. Find your leak and fix it. If your dipstick doesn't have a top piece then yes, it is possible that some fluid came out there but I don't expect that to necessarily be the issue. Did you cause damage? Possibly but transmissions are actually pretty solid so as long as you keep it filled with fluid you're likely fine. It really depends on how low it was, what sort of driving you were doing, and how long it was low. Find your leak and fix it and then don't worry about it again unless you have problems.

 

[transdude]

The dipstick tube is the breather on these transmissions. When they overheat (like any other trans) fluid can come out of the breather.

Not having the plastic on top shouldn't in and of itself cause a leak, as the dipstick doesn't really seal completely, it vents to the atmosphere.

Not having the plastic top would be relevant if you used to have one and it melted off or something. Is that the case, I couldn't tell from your post.

-John
IPT Performance Transmissions
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[tonyseagle]

Its the plastic peice on the bottom of the dipstick used for measuring the ammount of fluid in the transmission. That part is missing. I know I had it on there when I changed the fluids at 60k. I'm guessing it melted off.

 

[transdude]

Its the plastic peice on the bottom of the dipstick used for measuring the ammount of fluid in the transmission. That part is missing. I know I had it on there when I changed the fluids at 60k. I'm guessing it melted off.

If it got that hot, I'd say you have big problems.

-John
IPT Performance Transmissions
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IPT Performance Transmissions Blog

 

[tonyseagle]

Hmmm are you able to elaborate? I was able to limp it back on a 2 hour drive. Didn't smoke as much. I havent been able to look at it as of yet, but I havent driven it since. I haven't noticed a loss of gear or anything...just that horrid burning smell coupled with a little bit of smoke.

 

[the_mork]

Heat kills transmissions.

If it got hot enough to melt that plastic (very hot) then it is only a matter of time before it does not do anything and has catastrophic failure. The likelihood that it actually did this is pretty small. I'm not sure what happened to your dipstick but it almost certainly didn't melt. Probably it cracked at some point then vibration made the plastic part fall off which isn't the end of the world so long as it doesn't get into your filter and start ripping up the element. It isn't hard to drop the pan though and changing the filter every so often is always a good idea. I'm still not sure why you would have the smoke but I assume you have a leak somewhere that isn't the dipstick.

 

[transdude]

Hmmm are you able to elaborate? I was able to limp it back on a 2 hour drive. Didn't smoke as much. I havent been able to look at it as of yet, but I havent driven it since. I haven't noticed a loss of gear or anything...just that horrid burning smell coupled with a little bit of smoke.

See if the fluid smells like total ass (forgive my description). When fluid gets superheated, which in my opinion based on what you are saying, it did- it will smell horrible. It is also quite possible that fluid can get better than 300-400 degrees F. At that point, it will melt any plastic components in your transmission.

Not only is the description of your leak an indicator of a severe overheat and expulsion of fluid through the breather (in this case the dipstick tube) you have also stated that you drove it for an extended period of time after that happened to get it home, which certainly couldn't have done it any favors.

I would be contacting the shop that rebuilt your transmission and have them take a look at your car, if I were you.

Also, you almost certainly don't have adequate cooler flow- you need to have at the very least 1 quart every 20 seconds or so coming out of your cooler return line with the car HOT running in neutral.

I apologize if I'm telling you something that you may not want to hear.
This is of course just my .02 based on what you have described.

-John
IPT Performance Transmissions
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[tonyseagle]

I forgot to mention that I pulled over to a gas station that had ATX fluid. I grabbed 5 quarts and put 3 in. I drove it back basically babying it on back roads. The fluid did in fact smell terrible. I have a B&M transmission cooler. The initial smoke was ridiculous, but it hasn't really been smoking since.


I'll look into it this weekend....till then I won't attempt to drive it.


EDIT: Also....I didn't have any fluid in the engine compartment. Zero. All the fluid was under the car and in the wheel well. However the smoke was coming from the transmission side...but I guess since I was driving forward it was going out the wheel well and off to the side...and some under the car.

 

[HeatedCargo]

I'm having a similar issue I drive a stick shift (only stating because I do not see a specific on that). Anyway I have been getting a smell of burning as well and I only get smoke when I torque it hard. But she drives normal, I was told I have a leak by a retard at Jiffy took it to my auto class and my teacher who is GM specialist and he didn't see a trany leak. Then I cleaned it up to see if it is leaking drove it for a week then checked again nothing. I just don't know if I should change the filter and seals just to be safe. I did bottom out before it started smokeing. I was going through some back roads and there was a dip I was going around 45 and hit hard it even hurt my back tail bone area. I put it up on the lift and there wasn't any noticeable damage no leaking issues. Also before that my speedometer stopped working before I bottomed out. Um I think that's everything, I'll edit and add if I remember more details.

Thanks for any help and excuse any punctuation or spelling errors it's hard to type on iPhone.


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